BOOK OF NATURE LAID OPEN. 155 



eel; for while our lakes, and rivers, and streams, 

 abound with these living treasures, the ocean con- 

 veys them in myriads to the ends of the earth, and 

 presents the bounties of an indulgent parent to his 

 numerous children, however scattered among the 

 isles of the sea ; and if the Turbo t has been styled 

 for its exquisite relish the Pheasant of the waters, 

 the Sturgeon, even in pickle, has been denominated 

 a luxury, and while the Salmon is held in much es- 

 teem by the great, the poor have reason to praise the 

 Almighty for an abundant supply ot cheap, whole- 

 some, and nutritious food, in those prodigious shoals 

 of Herrings and Pilchards which visit our coasts. 



When the great colony of Herrings set out on 

 their migrating journey from the Polar seas, it is 

 composed of such numbers, that it all the horses in 

 the world were loaded with them, they could not 

 carry the thousandth part ; and when the main body 

 approaches the coast, it is generally divided into 

 distinct colums of five or six miles in length, and 

 three or four in breadth ! 



Vast shoals of Pilchards (a small species of Her- 

 ring) appear about the middle of July, off the coast 

 of Cornwall ; and Mr. Pennant was assured by Dr. 

 Borlase, that on the fifth ot October, 1767, there 

 was at one time enclosed and caught in St. Anne's 

 Bay, no less than 7000 hogsheads of Pilchards, each 

 hogshead containing 3500 fishes ! 



Nor have we less reason to be thankful for the in- 

 calculable number of Cod, and other white fish, 

 which are drawn from the ocean ; and for those in- 



