50 INTRODUCTION. 



and pursuing them in the deep recesses of the 

 ocean, withdrew the constant charm, which no- 

 velty of form threw over the branches constituted 

 by those animals which inhabited the same ele- 

 ment with ourselves ; and unless almost as a 

 necessary article of sustenance, few fishes were 

 taken from their proper habitations. In the 

 earlier ages, fish were most extensively used as 

 an article of food, and, at the present time, 

 among several northern tribes, they form a great 

 part of the support, not only of the natives them- 

 selves, but also of their beasts and cattle. Ac- 

 cording to Frecynet, the inhabitants of the Sand- 

 wich Isles devour fish when newly caught, and 

 when they are scarcely dead. (Voyage autour 

 du Monde.) In other parts, they were the only 

 money of the country, and dried fish were paid 

 as a current coin. These circumstances natu- 

 rally led to the distinction of the more excellent 

 kinds of those which were noxious when eaten, 

 and of those which were difficult or dangerous to 

 capture. Again, in other regions, the minds of 

 the inhabitants assume a more serious or rather 

 superstitious turn they fear them as river deities, 

 or worship them as ocean gods, carrying their 

 enthusiasm so far as to embalm their bodies, and 

 like the inhabitants of Java and Sumatra, in 

 the propitiatory offerings to the tiger ; those of 



