HERRING FISHERIES. 17$ 



when they begin to depofit their fpawn. Thougb 

 we have no particular authority for it, yet a? very 

 few young herrings are found in our leas during 

 the winter, it feems mod certain that they muft 

 return to their parental haunts beneath the ice, 

 to repair the vaft deftru&ion of their race during 

 Summer, by men, fowl, and fifh.'* 



Review of the Herring Fijhtries. 



The whole coaft of Scotland may be confi- 

 clered as one continued fifhcry, diftmguifhed how- 

 ever, by various names : 



1. The Shetland, or Northern Fifhcry. 



2. That on the call fide of the kingdom, from 

 the Pcntland Firth to Benvic. 



3. The Weftcrn, or Loch Broom Fiihcry. 



tte Shetland, or Northern Fijhery. 



The Shetland Ifles are fituated between 60 and 

 6 1 degrees of north latitude, about one degree north 

 from the Orkney Ifles, 100 miles from the mam- 

 land of Scotland, and nearly the fame diftancc 

 from the coaft of Norway. Of thefe iflands forty- 

 fix arc inhabited, bcfides a number of letter ones, 

 which afford a little grafs, and are called holms ; 

 others are mere rocks, the refidence of voracious 



fowls, which, like the human fpccies, reibrt 

 hither after the herrings and other fifties that abound 



thefe fhores. The principal iiland of this divi- 

 fion is called Mainland - t and it extends about fixty 

 miles from north to fouth, is in general very nar- 

 row, and much interfered with bogs or open- 

 ings, fome of which penetrate almoft from fi 

 fide. The furface of thefe iflands is rock, or ; 

 and in the valleys, a fcanty portion of clay 

 which produces fmail crops of barley and blark oats, 



but 



