56 ACROSS THE CHANNEL. [CHAP. n. 



herring-fleet in tlie world ; at Cornwall, again, we can view 

 the pilchard-fishery ; at Barking we can see the cod-fleet ; 

 at Hull there is a wealth of trawlers ; at Whitstable we can 

 make acquaintance with the oyster -dredgers ; and at the 

 quaint fishing-ports 011 the Moray Firth, to be afterwards de- 

 scribed, we can witness the manufacture of "Finnan haddies," 

 as at Yarmouth we can take part in the making of bloaters ; 

 and all round our coasts we can see women and children 

 industriously gathering shell-fish for bait, or performing other 

 functions connected with the industry of the sea repairing 

 nets, baiting the lines, or hawking the fish, for the fisherwomen 

 are true helpmates to their husbands. At certain seasons 

 everything that can float in the water is called into requisition 

 little cobbles, gigantic yawls, trig schooners, are all required 

 to aid in the gathering of the sea harvest. Thousands of people 

 are employed in this great industry ; betokening that a vast 

 population have chosen to seek bread on the bosom of the 

 great deep. 



Crossing the Channel we can see that the general sea 

 fisheries of France are also being prosecuted with great vigour, 

 and at those places which have railways to bear away the 

 produce with considerable profit. I am in possession of notes 

 and statistics pertaining to a large portion of the French sea- 

 bord, giving plentiful details of the modern fishing industry 

 of that country ; and the fisheries of France are greatly noticed 

 just now, in the hope of their forming a splendid nursery for 

 seamen, the improvement of the navy being at present one of 

 the dominant objects of the Emperor of the French. The 

 Marine Department, having this object in view, have sagaci- 

 ously broken through all the old protective laws incidental to 

 the fisheries, and now allow the fishermen to carry on their 

 trade very much as they please ; trawling has therefore be- 

 come pretty general at all those ports which maintain railway 

 communication with the interior : thus at Dunkerque there 



