24 THE SILVERY HOSTS OF THE NORTH SEA. 



in the year, and the cheapness of the herring as a 

 food when compared with flesh foods raised on land, 

 the value from a national point of view of the herring 

 fisheries round the British coasts cannot be over- 

 estimated. 

 The following table may interest the reader : 



Number of herrings caught in Scotland 



in 1882, on the east coast, including 



the Lewis and Bara early fishings . . 584,578,400 

 At Great Yarmouth, not including spring 



or summer fishings 224,400,000 



* Exported from Norway, Sweden, France, 



and Holland to three Baltic ports . . 140,128,500 



Total . . . 949,106,900 



As the writer has no statistics for Whitby, Scar- 

 borough, Grimsby, and the frequent other fishing 

 stations on the English coast, the reader will under- 

 stand that the figures given above by no means re- 

 present the total catch of herrings ; they are given 

 simply with a view of indicating the probable magni- 

 tude and value of this one particular industry. 



* Statistics give these in number of barrels. Norwegian 

 barrels run from 450 to 550 per barrel ; a mean of 500 per barre 

 has been taken for this. 



