186 OUE HERITAGE THE SEA 



half of Saghalien Island, and their consequent free 

 access ,to the prolific fisheries of the North, they will 

 be able to extend very greatly their supply of this 

 nourishing food for their hard-working and meritorious 

 population. As it is, it is only stating the bare truth 

 to say that in no country in the world is such great 

 and careful attention paid to the fisheries; and now 

 I see that an attempt is being made to compete with 

 France in the supply of sardines preserved in oil, for 

 it is said that the finest sardines in the world are 

 found in the bays of the coast of Japan. An amazing 

 fact, too, may be noted in connection with this, viz. 

 that about one-twelfth of Japan's teeming population 

 is engaged in her fisheries. I should not be in the 

 least surprised were Japan to revive the sperm-whaling 

 industry, to her own great benefit, since her business- 

 like people cannot be ignorant of the fact that, for a 

 century, the "Japan Grounds" were the richest and 

 most favoured of all the whaling-grounds of the world 

 visited by American and English whaling vessels. 



The Arctic regions of the Pacific are, like the corre- 

 sponding latitudes in the Atlantic, wealthy beyond 

 account in fish, but, unlike the Atlantic, there is a 

 dearth of fishermen and of markets. I can never 

 forget the infinite abundance of the finest fish in the 

 shallow waters of the Okhotsk sea, where by day or 

 night anywhere a line had only to be let down to 

 secure instantly some splendid specimen of the finny 

 tribes. All were large, and all were delicious, the 

 salmonidas predominating. Here, I think, must be 

 the great feeding-grounds for the salmon, which, as- 

 cending the Columbia River, in Oregon, furnish so 

 large a proportion of the peoples in Western lands 



