Statistics, 
—— 
Pairs, 
Fisheries. 
Cod fishery. 
728 
fairs, which are in various parts of the kingdom : 
a if oe yn wanting, that this country is far 
ind Great Britain in commercial industry, habits, 
and capital. We cannot pretend even to enumerate all 
bee eral rma but the fair of Beaucaire 
must not 
was formerly 
over entirely without notice. It 
pt within the city of Beaucaire, in Lan- 
guedoc ; but, when the reputation of it increased, it 
was found n to keep it principally in the open 
country ; and the Revolution has affected it, yet 
it is still much frequented. It begins on the 22d of 
July, and continues three days, The conveniency of . 
the Rhone, on which Beaucaire stands, draws to its 
fair the merchandise of Bu dy, Lyonnois, Switzer- 
land, and Germany. The , from which it is but 
seven distant, brings the merchandise of the 
Levant, Italy, and Spain ; and by the canal of Langue- 
doe, it receives all that comes from Upper Languedoc, 
Brittany, and the ocean. Besides eptals from most 
parts of continental Europe, before the Revolution, 
there used also to be there Armenians, Persians, &c. 
The chief articles sold here are spices, drugs, hard ware, 
woollen and silk stuffs, Spaniah ‘ecth- Rathebeypcoeeel; 
French wool, &c. 
The French fisheries, as they existed previously to 
the Revolution, naturally divide themselves into two 
branches. The first branch comprehends the distant 
cod fishery on the banks of Newfoundland, Iceland, 
&e. and the whale fishery in the Greenland seas and 
the Southern Ocean ; the second branch comprehends 
the near fisheries, on the coasts of France, in the Me- 
diterranean, and inthe ocean. These consist of the 
fisheries of the herring, the mackerel, the sardine, the 
anchovy, the tunny, &c. 
The French government does not to have 
id any attention to the cod fishery on the banks of 
ewfoundland till the year 1660 ; and then a monopo- 
ly of it was granted. A few after the peace of 
trecht, that is to say, about the end of the reign of 
Louis XIV. the whole produce of the cod fishery did 
not amount to more in value than a million of livres. 
When France Jost Newfoundland, she established these 
fisheries at Breton ; and, in 1745, more than 100 
vessels arrived there from the mother country to 
inthem. There were, besides, at this period, from the 
Gut of Causo, down along the shore to Louisburg, 
and thence to the N. E. part of Cape Breton, annua 
employed at least 500 shallops, containing in all 2500 
men ; and 60 brigs, &c. containing 900 men; in all, 
3409 men. The total number of fish annually caught and 
salted at Cape Breton was estimated at 186,000 quintals. 
There were also cod fisheries at other harbours on these 
coasts ; so that, on the most moderate estimate, it was 
reckoned that there were 1,149,000 quintals of salted 
cod brought to France from all her North American 
fisheries ; the value of which, and of the oil made, was 
estimated at upwards of £800,000 sterling. The war 
of 1756 was ruinous to this fishery ; nor did the treaty 
of peace in 1783 quite re-establish it. ‘In 1786 there 
were cured 426,400 quintals of fish, and upwards of 
1000 tons of oil were made. In the following year, 
the quantity of both had greatly diminished, there ha- 
ving been only 128,590 quintals of fish, and 323 tons 
of oil. In 1788 and 1789, the quantity of both in- 
creased ; but, during the first years of the Revolution, 
both had fallen almost completely away. At the pe- 
riod of the Revolution, the produce of the French cod 
fishery was valued at 15,731,000 livres. In this sum is 
in the value of the sedentary fishery, as it is 
FRANCE. 
termed, of the inhabitants of the isles of St Pierre and , Statistics. 
os 
Maquelin, which is rated at 1,300,000 livres ; that of 
the inhabitants of Dunkirk, near Iceland, which is rated 
at 1,200,000 livres. — ‘ 
With to the whale fishery, it we 
in the begmning of the 16th cen pon. 
tants of Biscay, toa considerable with gr 
pre tye or oe ier and, corals thdentaaie 
of the 17th century, was very productive. The inha- 
bitants of St Jean de Luz, Bayonne, and Ciboure, sent 
there between 50 and 60 ships, the Dutch not having 
yet embarked in it. In 1690, it wore a different aspect : 
the Basques scarcely sent out 20 
Dutch gent out more than 
reign of Louis XIV. the 
to this 
i 
the South Seas ; which is 
nually sailed yee weber deem ! ' 
The produce was valued at 700,000 livres. In 1794, 
40 vessels were employed at Dunkirk in this fishery, 
= — afterwards it was totally aa by te re vt 
herring was pursued by French 
the 11th. cen , chiefly on the coasts of the ( 
never found in any of the rivers. They are met 
both in the ocean and the Mediterranean, especially in 
frequently cure their sardines in red wine, and when 
thus prepared, call them 
anchovied sardines. Fresh sardines are conveyed on 
horseback from the ports of France to the i iti 
and towns of that . Anchovies are fished for 
on the coast of Provence in the months of May, June, 
and July, at which season shoals of this fish come re- 
places in Provence. Vast quantities 
to foreign countries. Pilchards are taken on 
the coasts of Brittany, and employ annually about 300 
small vessels. The bom! of Dl om 
nean 1s a singular an important ustry : 
the manner in which this fish is t, has been 
called a sort of hunting at sea; the best and most cer- 
tain methods are the thonnaire and the . The 
former in many places is only an inclosure by 
nets for catching the tunny; but at St Tropez, and on 
the coast of Provence, the thonnaire is a net placed in 
the name of anchoisées, or . 
