SALMON-FISHERY OF SCOTLAND. 31 



in their stomachs, and they all return fat and full fed, which 

 shows that their migration is performed to regions abounding 

 with food. Even the herrings fall off when they come into our 

 seas. Dr Walker observes, " During the residence of the her- 

 rings on the coast of Scotland we know of no food they use, no 

 sort of palpable aliment being found in their stomachs, and 

 during all this time they become gradually leaner." These are, 

 therefore, not seas for salmon to get fat in. 



But the case is very different in the arctic seas. We have 

 been informed by the crews of whale ships that those seas 

 abound with a sort of mucilage, evidently intended by nature 

 as food for fishes. Mr Pennant, as we have seen, remarks, 

 "Those seas swarm with insect food, in a degree far greater than 

 in our warmer latitudes ; " and Dr Walker states, " In the 

 seas in those parts a vast profusion of a singular substance 

 is seen floating on the surface, to such an extent, as to make 

 the sea appear as if covered with oil, but has been no- 

 where observed on the coast of Scotland. If this account, given 

 by persons of observation and veracity, is correct, we need no 

 longer be surprised at the retreat of the herrings to those tracts 

 of the Northern Sea, nor at their return from thence in a full 

 fed and fat state." If, then, the salmon migrate thither they 

 must have food in great abundance. 



Those seas, indeed, appear as if formed by nature as a grand 

 nursery of fishes, which abound there to an infinitely greater 

 extent than in more southern latitudes. The numbers taken on 

 the coast of Norway, all the way to the North Cape, show this. 

 Von Buch states, that the fishery at the Vaage alone employs 

 18,000 men and 4000 boats. "The yearly arrival," says he, 

 " of the cods at the spawning-banks takes place with regular- 

 ity. After spawning they return to the ocean, either in quest 

 of herrings, or to unknown regions of the deep ; " and Brooke 

 tells us, that " the fishery at the Loffoden Isles gives employ- 

 ment to 25,000 men and 5000 boats." " The fish," says he, 

 " come invariably from the north, and pass on to the south- 

 ward." The great numbers of seals, too, found in those seas 

 by the whale ships, whose cargoes are often in a great degree 

 made up of them, also shows that fish must abound there ; and 



