2 The Commercial Products of the Sea. 



dried, smoked and potted, preserved in oil, and pounded 

 into a dry mass. 



In Catholic countries the consumption of fish during 

 their fasts and festivals is very large ; all other food being 

 then prohibited by their priests. 



To a great part of the civilized world the taking of the 

 herring, the pilchard, the mackerel, the cod, the tunny, the 

 salmon, the sardine, and other fishes is of great value, and 

 gives employment to many hundreds of persons. The oil 

 obtained from the shark, cod, herring, and other fish is 

 used for lamps, medicine, and in industry. Many parts 

 of fish are employed in the arts and manufactures as 

 the scales of the bleak for making false pearls, and those 

 of other fish for making ornaments ; the skins for tanning 

 and other purposes. Isinglass is obtained from the air or 

 swimming bladders of many. Fish roes are not only used 

 as food delicacies, but also for bait in the fishing grounds. 

 Fish maws, shark's fins, and beche-de-mer or trepang (a 

 species of Holothuria} are considered great food delicacies 

 by the Chinese, forming the chief ingredients for their 

 gelatinous soups. 



The sea is more abundantly stocked with living crea- 

 tures than the land. In all parts of the world a rocky 

 and partially protected shore perhaps supports, in a given 

 space, a greater number of individual animals than any 

 other station. The sea is filled with animals of several 

 kinds, and each layer of water in depth seems to have its 

 own varieties, thus resembling the changes which take 

 place according to elevation in the organized portions of 

 the land. 



The animals are among the mightiest and among the 

 smallest. There are swimming beasts, as whales, seals, 

 and walruses ; there are fishes <5f various kinds and sizes, 



