SARDINES. 107 



last of January; detachments then begin to move eastward, and 

 by the end of April, the whole American sea-board is lined with 

 them. 



35. The herring fishery is one of great importance. It occu- 

 pies every year entire fleets, and formerly, it was carried on with 

 still greater activity. About the middle of the 17th century, the 

 Dutch employed not less than two thousand vessels, and it is 

 estimated that eight hundred thousand persons, in the two 

 provinces of Holland and West Friesland, derived their living 

 from this branch of industry alone. The Norwegians, the Ameri- 

 cans, the Scotch, the English, and even the French embarked in 

 this fishery in considerable numbers, and though its importance 

 is now considerably lessened, it is still a great source of wealth 

 to the people bordering the northern seas. 



36. This fishery is ordinarily conducted with nets five or six 

 hundred fathoms in length, the lower edge of which is loaded 

 with lead, while the upper edge is made to float on the surface by 

 means of buoys ; the meshes are just large enough to receive the 

 head of a herring as far as the gills, but not allow the pectoral fins 

 to pass. The fish, in endeavouring to overcome the obstacle that 

 this great vertical partition opposes to its passage, is thus meshed, 

 and, not being able to advance or recede, owing to the gills and 

 fins, he remains a prisoner, until the fishermen draw the net on 

 board. This is termed a gill-net. The number of herrings, 

 taken in this way, is sometimes so great, that the net bursts under 

 their weight. Generally this fishery is carried on at some distance 

 from the shore, and, for this reason, the herrings are salted on 

 board. It is a prejudice to suppose that the herrings caught on 

 our own coasts are interior to those that fall into foreign nets. 



37. The Sardine, Chipea sordino, is a small species of 

 Herring, celebrated for the great delicacy of its flesh. It inhabits 

 the Atlantic, the Baltic, and the Mediterranean. During winter 

 it keeps in the depths of the sea; but about the month of June it 

 draws near the shore in immense shoals. As many as forty, and 

 even fifty thousand have been caught at a single cast of the net. 

 Sardines are caught in the same way as Herrings, but the meshes 

 of the net are smaller, and the fishermen, to attract the fish from 

 time to time, throw into the sea, a peculiar bait, which is prepared 

 from cod-fish eggs. From the mouth of the Loire to the ex- 

 tremity of Britany, this fish abounds every summer, and gives 



35. Is the Herring fishery important ? 



36. How are Herrings caught ? What are the qualities of American 

 Herring ? 



37. What are Sardines ? How are they caught? 



