A Sardine Famine 307 



not be affected. The natural checks placed upon their 

 increase in the sea by the Creator will never do more 

 than they should do, when unmolested by man. It 

 is only when man thrusts his hands into Nature's 

 work that any great unbalancing of natural resources 

 takes place. The Sardines have just moved on a little, 

 that is all, and will, I hope, be as plentiful as ever 

 round the Breton shores again soon. 



The dainty little fish is also found in the Mediterra- 

 nean on the coast of Africa and about the islands of 

 Corsica and Sardinia, but in these localities is more 

 a matter of local consumption than of preparation 

 for export. This seems strange too, seeing that from 

 the latter island it takes its name, and its plenty there 

 is beyond question. But the Bretons have made the 

 Sardine fishery peculiarly their own, and nothing 

 apparently but a continuance of the present dearth 

 can take from them their premier position as the 

 world's purveyors of the finest brands. 



The Anchovy is also a Mediterranean fish of world- 

 wide reputation as an appetiser,- its piquant flavour 

 and the rather large quantity of salt considered 

 necessary to its preservation making it a much desired 

 adjunct to other fish in the shape of sauce. Its 

 peculiarly coloured flesh, too, helps it for this purpose, 

 the dark red of the Anchovy contrasting well with 

 the white flesh of cod, turbot, etc. In this respect 

 it differs widely from all of its congeners, and except 

 for the assurance of those who have made fish their 

 social study, I should hesitate to accept the statement 

 that it belongs to the herring family at all. In any 

 case it is but a distant relation, for the prefix Clupea 

 is dropped, and a totally dissimilar one, Engraulis, 

 is given. The principal fisheries are along the Riviera, 

 where the fish are pickled in tiny barrels and sent else- 



