308 The Herring 



where to be made into sauce or paste, or eaten au naturel 

 as the Dutch eat the pickled Herring. But the fish 

 frequents the whole of the adjacent coasts eastward, 

 being caught all down the Italian shore as far as Sicily 

 as well as on the African shore. 



Of the Large Herring frequenting the inclement 

 shores of Labrador, alluded to in the early part of this 

 chapter, there is very little to say, except that, like 

 the Menhaden, they are far too full of oil to be relished 

 by us, even if it were worth while to send them over, 

 which it emphatically is not. They are, however, in 

 great demand in America in their pickled or salt 

 condition, and are to be found all over the interior 

 of the United States and Canada. Scattered members 

 of the herring family are found in many parts of the 

 world, none calling for comment but the Fresh- 

 water Herring of some Australian rivers. Many of 

 these I have caught with a hook and line from the 

 wharves on the Clarence River, and do not remember 

 that they presented any essential difference from the 

 herring caught in the British seas. But then I did 

 not attach any importance to the fact that I was 

 catching them in fresh water, a point which should 

 have claimed my attention even at that early age. 



I have left to the last the mighty and majestic 

 Tarpon, beloved of wealthy anglers and frequenting 

 the shores of the Gulf of Mexico and adjacent islands. 

 He is undoubtedly a herring ! But such a herring ! 

 Specimens have been caught weighing two hundred 

 pounds, and the sport of landing such a monster as 

 that with an ordinary salmon rod and line calls for 

 the highest skill, strength, and patience on the part 

 of the angler. It is such a splendid game fish too, 

 leaping high into the air like a huge bar of silver when 

 hooked, and endeavouring to shake the galling hook 



