HERRING. 520 



Important as is thi3 fish to the inhabitants of modern Europe, it 

 is doubted whether it was distinctly known to the ancient Greeks 

 and Romans : at least we find no certain description in their writings 

 either of its forms or uses. The herring fishery however is of very 

 considerable antiquity : the Dutch are said to have engaged in it 

 so long ago as the year 1164, and were in possession of it for 

 several centuries, and Flanders had the honour of discovering the 

 method of preserving this fish by pickling it. One William Bue- 

 kelin, of B : ervelet, near Sluys, is said to have been the inventor 

 of this useful expedient, and from him, according to Mr. Pennant, 

 is derived the word pickle, which we have borrowed from the 

 Dutch and Germans. Buekelin died in the year 1397. The Em- 

 peror Charles the Fifth is said to have held his memory in such 

 veneration for the service he had done mankind, as to have paid a 

 solemn \Wit to his tomb in honour of so distinguished a citizen. 

 " The Dutch (says Mr. Pennant) are most extravagantly fond of 

 fish when pickled ; a premium is given to the first vessel that 

 arrives in Holland laden with this their ambrosia : we have been in 

 the country at that happy minute, and have observed as much joy 

 among the inhabitants on its arrival, as the Egyptians shew at the 

 first overflowing of the Nile." 



Mr. Pennant, in his British Zoology, has so well detailed the 

 general history of the herring, and its supposed migrations, that 

 it is impossible to do better than to repeat his own words. 



" The great winter rendezvous of the herring is within the 

 Arctic circle : there they continue many months in order to recruit 

 themselves after the fatigue of spawning, the seas within that space 

 swarming with insect food in a far greater degree than in our 

 warmer latitudes. 



" This mighty army begins to put itself in motion in the spring: 

 we distinguish this vast body by that name, for the word herring 

 is derived from the German, heer, an army, to express their 

 numbers. 



" They bpgin to appear off the Shetland isles in April and May: 

 these are only forerunners of the grand shoal which comes in 

 June, and their appearance is marked by certain signs, by the 

 numbers of birds, such as gannets and others, which follow to 

 prey on them : but when the main body approaches, its breadth 

 and depth is such as to alter the very appearance of the ocean. 

 It is divided into distinct columns of five or six miles in length 



vol. v. 2 m 



