3l8 STUDIES OF NATURE. 



*' the honeft folks of their terror. The natives 

 " talk of a fimilar appearance before that period, 

 ** only the quantity was much inferior." 



This immenfe glut of herrings is, undoubtedly, 

 matter of aftonifhment ; but how is that aftonifli- 

 ment increafed, when it is confidered, that this co- 

 lumn is not the half of what annually iffue from 

 the Seas of the North ! It feparates at the northern 

 extremity of Iceland, and while one divifion pro- 

 ceeds to difFufe plenty over the fhores of Europe, 

 the other pulhes forward to convey fimilar benefits 

 to the fhores of America. Anderfon informs us, 

 herrings are in fuch abundance on the coafts of 

 Iceland, that a fhallop can with difficulty force it's 

 way through the flioal by dint of rowing. They 

 are accompanied by an incredible multitude of 

 pilchers and cod, which renders fifh fo plenty in 

 the ifland, that the inhabitants have them dried, 

 and reduced to meal with a grind-ftone, to become 

 food for their oxen and horfes. 



Father Rale, a jefuit, and an American mif- 

 fionary, fpeaking of the Savages who inhabit be- 

 tween Acadiaand New-England, tells us*, "That 

 *' they refort, at a certain feafon, to a river not far 

 *' diftant, where, for the fpace of a month, the 



* Inftruélive Letters, vol. xxiii. page 199. 



" fifhes 



