342 THE WORLD OF THE SEA. 
with small teeth; and the tongue is covered with papille strong 
enough to retain a hold on their prey. They love to thrust their 
noses out of the water, as if to inhale the air, and as the millions 
of their hosts rush along, a sound is produced as if a shower of 
heavy rain were falling. 
Certain species of whales and flocks of sea-birds accompany the 
migratory shoal, destroying the fish in great numbers. Wherever 
they go, they always find a warm reception; they are universal 
favourites; and yet, in spite of the triple alliance of men, birds, 
and fish, whose powers of destruction are all levelled against them, 
they seem not in the least diminished, but come on in intermin- 
able phalanxes. Their powers of reproduction are quite capable 
of coping with the vigorous efforts made to destroy them. When 
we find some of these fish carrying 70,000 eggs, we can very well 
imagine that as many are born as are captured, and thus the 
population of the herring nation is always kept up to its comple- 
ment, And is it not something more than chance which has 
ordained that a fish so admirably adapted for the sustenance of 
man, should exist in inexhaustible numbers ? 
From the earliest times the herring-fishery has been a source 
of wealth to maritime people; as far back as 709, we find from 
a chronicle of the monastery of Evesham, that the fishermen of 
that time were occupied in it. 
Authentic accounts record, that in 1030, fishing-smacks left 
Dieppe for the North Sea to catch herrings, and in 11095, the city 
of Dunwich equipped vessels for the same purpose. It was in the 
twelfth century that the Dutch discovered the mine of wealth 
the sea brought to their very coasts; ever since that time, the 
herring-fishery has been to that persevering people the main 
source of their income. 
It was a Dutchman named Benkel who first discovered the 
art of herring-curing, and laid the foundation of the great industry 
of his country ; in recognition of his services, 200 years after his 
death, the Emperor Charles V. did him the honour of eating a 
herring on his tomb. 
The quantity of herrings taken in our seas is astonishing. The 
fishermen of Yarmouth equip 400 boats, from forty to seventy 
tons each ; the largest of these are manned by a dozen men. The 
