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VI. Of the Herrbig Fishery. Translated from ofi Essay 

 in Dutch, entitled " Beschryving van de Haringvis- 

 scherye*." 



JL HE herring inhabits the Northern seas, and probably 

 amidst die 2,Teat Ice islands, spawns in the months of Au- 

 gust and September, and multiplies so astonishingly, that 

 notwithstanding the great destruction of them by the fish 

 of prey and men, the species is not sensibly diminished. 

 The herrins belongs to that class which emigrate. They 

 make their appearance yearly in prodigious numbers. The 

 great shoal, in its progress from the North, divides into two 

 principal branches; the right wing goes westward, falls 

 towards the coasts of Iceland in the month of March ; the 

 left inclines to the eastward. These two grand divisions 

 are afterwards split into several subdivisions : some bend 

 their course towards Newfoundland, others towards the 

 coasts of Norway, and partly fall into the Baltic through 

 the Sound ; while another part turns the north point of 

 Shetland, where it stretches along the coast, until it joins 

 the division (through the Belt) which entered the Baltic. 

 They separate again, to cover the coasts of Holstein, the 

 Texel, the Zuiderzee, &c. 



The westerly column, or right wing, which is also the 

 greater, goes on straight forward towards the Orcades (where 

 the Dutch fishers impatiently lie in wait for them), and 

 from thence to Scotland, where they again separate, one 

 wing steering by the coast of Holland, England, and France, 

 the other taking the route of Ireland. After passing all 

 these islands, they again meet, and form into a column, 

 which stretches along the Atlantic ocean and disappears. 

 But what justly challenges our admiration is, that after se- 

 parating into so many different branches, they know how 

 to rally their scattered squadrons, and find the way back to 

 their native abode. The time of meeting, and the place of 

 rendezvous, are settled, so that after the general retreat liot 

 one straggler is to be met with in these seas. 



How regular soever the period of yearly emigration ap- 

 pears, it is nov free froni anomalies. It may appear sur- 

 prising that these animals, who are secured from the perse- 

 cution of their enemies, in the unfathomable depths of the 

 Northern ocean, by an impregnable rampart of ice, should 

 forsake their safe retreat yearly, in myriads, exposed on our 

 (;oasts to great and unavoidable havoc. Is it not a strikino- 



• From the Ty^inJliSlions of the Jiublin S.ocici)', vol. i. pnrt 2. 



instance 



