THE OCEAN AS A SOURCE OF FOOD SUPPLY 177 



thing to be marvelled at exceedingly. Here are to be 

 found fishing grounds as prolific, I suppose, as any in 

 the wide ocean; and the fish are of the same high 

 quality as those in the north, owing to the fact that 

 the temperate zone has again been reached. Every 

 mile of the shores of South Africa above, say, 28 S., 

 is simply infested with the most delicious fish there 

 are supplies, if needed, for all the peoples of the world 

 which are not drawn upon at all. And that is by no 

 means all. Eight off the Cape of Good Hope itself, 

 out in the great Southern Ocean, is to be found the 

 Agulhas Bank, with an area as large as Wales and 

 an average depth of about forty fathoms, which is 

 teeming with splendid fish that are never molested 

 save by the becalmed sailing ship, which, dropping 

 a deep-sea lead-line, with a couple of hooks attached 

 just above the lead, seldom fails to secure a couple of 

 magnificent cod in the momentary interval between 

 sounding and hauling up. Perhaps some day, when 

 South Africa comes to her own and has a great popu- 

 lation, this great reservoir of good food will be drawn 

 upon ; meanwhile it lies fallow as it were, only kept in 

 equipoise, prevented from overcrowding the seas by 

 the natural checks ordained to that end and constantly 

 in operation. But, indeed, as I am never tired of 

 pointing out, those checks need continually to be 

 exerted, for man's toll of the wealth of the sea is so 

 utterly trifling as to be safely disregarded in the 

 oceanic scheme of life. 



Now we enter upon an ocean, which laves the 

 shores of some of the most hardly bestead peoples in 

 point of food. As we go up the East African littoral, 

 passing between the great island of Madagascar and 



