132 THE BOTTOM OF TUE 8Ea. 



did not fail, in the following year, to make their pil- 

 grimage to the river which had given them birtli, 

 and afterwards both rivers were equally well fre- 

 quented. 



Tlie following facts will give an idea of the im- 

 mense armies of herrings which invade our seas. The 

 single city of Glasgow, in Scotland, exports annually 

 more than twenty thousand pounds' worth in value. 

 In 1773 the fishery in a single firth upon the Scottish 

 coast employed every night one thousand six hundred 

 and fifty boats, and the weight of the fish they cai> 

 tured was twenty thousand tons. On one occasion, 

 upon the western coast of the Isle of Skye, their 

 number was so great that it was impossible to dispose 

 of them in the usual way. Aiter all the smacks had 

 been filled, and the whole neighbourhood was suffi- 

 ciently provided, the farmers used the remainder for 

 manure. For a long time the shoal continued to 

 visit the same coast, and appeared in the Sound of 

 Sleat in such immense numbers, that they quite filled 

 Loch Hourn from one extremity to the other, though 

 it is more than half a league in depth. The tide left so 

 many behind it, that the shore was covered to a depth 

 wliich varied from three or lour inches to eighteen 

 inches, and at low-water they were visible as far as 

 the eye could reach. 



Herring-shoals are not only very thick, but the fish 



