176 OUR HERITAGE THE SEA 



or, as an Irishman would;, say, kills it to save its life. 

 It is then placed in the refrigerating room, where the 

 natural process of decay is at once arrested, and in 

 due time the frozen body is landed, fetching a good 

 price, if not so great as it would obtain were it living. 

 This, of course, can be done, no matter how high the 

 temperature may be at the time. 



It is a curious confirmation of the statement of the 

 greater value of the northern fish, that a large trade 

 is done with the West Indies in salted cod and 

 herrings, and even mackerel from the United States 

 and Canada, although only the lower grades of fish 

 are sent. The people inhabiting these islands and the 

 coasts of the Spanish main, though loudly vaunting 

 the merits of fish caught locally, crave for the northern 

 fish hard, bitter, briny, and tasteless as they may 

 seem to us. But, indeed, with the exception of the 

 flying-fish industry at Barbados, the fishing in these 

 islands, and all around the shores of the Gulf of 

 Mexico, is almost entirely neglected, although why 

 it should be so is a mystery to me. Of the wealth 

 of these seas in fish, however, there has never been, 

 because there cannot be, any question whatever. 



Crossing the equator and coming south on either 

 shore the same thing is observable. Fish there are 

 in abundance, but as far as man is concerned there 

 might as well be none. Truly the land is but sparsely 

 inhabited, and consequently there is but little demand 

 for this valuable form of food, but still the absence 

 of enterprise in this direction is very plainly marked 

 everywhere. It is not, however, until we reach the 

 Southern Horn of Africa that this indifference to 

 ocean's bounty becomes to the fish-loving observer a 



