STUDY VI. 313 



Derate Latitudes, and they are divided into much 

 more numerous fpecies. There are computed as 

 high as twelve fpecies of the whale tribe ; and 

 plaice are caught in thofe feas of the enormous 

 weight of four hundred pounds. But I fliall far- 

 ther confine mvfelf to thofe fifhes which are beft 

 known to us, herrings, for example. It is an in- 

 conteftable fad:, that the Seas of the North every 

 year fend out a quantity more than fufficient to 

 feed all the inhabitants of Europe. 



We are in pofTeffion of Memoirs which prove, 

 that the herring fiQiery was carried on fo far back 

 as the year 11 63, in the Straits of Sunda, between 

 the Iflands of Schonon and Seeland. Philip de 

 Méfières, Governor to Charles VI. relates, in the 

 Old Pilgrim's Dream, that in the year 1389, dur- 

 ing the months of September and Oftober, the 

 quantity of herrings in thofe Straits was fo prodi- 

 gious, that, *' For feveral leagues together you 

 " might," fays he, " have cut them with a fword; 

 " and it is credibly reported, that there are forty 

 *' thoufand boats which are employed in nothing 

 " elfe, for two months, but in catching herrings ; 

 *' each boat containing, at lead, fix perfons, and 

 " many not lefs than ten ; and befides thefe, there 

 '^ are five hundred great and fmall veflels of bur- 

 " den, employed wholly in picking, faking, and 

 " barrelling up the herrings." He makes the 



number 



