THE OCEAN AS A SOURCE OF FOOD SUPPLY 187 



with delicious food in tins. The salmon is a river- 

 caught fish, but he attains his fatness in the sea, and 

 therefore I have a right to claim him as a portion of 

 the wealth of ocean, lavished in overflowing measure 

 for the food of man. But he is not caught at sea to 

 any extent, for the simple reason that there is no one 

 there to catch him. Such fishermen as there are in 

 those wild and inhospitable regions are busy taking 

 the whale for oil and baleen and the seal for fur, and 

 fishing for food as a matter of commerce is practically 

 non-existent, with the exception of a few scattered 

 Indians who catch the dry fish to feed themselves and 

 their dogs upon. And all down the Pacific shores of 

 the United States, although fish are very plentiful 

 and there are huge numbers of people to be fed, so 

 great is the wealth of the land in food, and so small 

 are the gains to be made in the catching of fish, that 

 fishing as a business is very much neglected even 

 now. And so it is all the way down to Cape Horn, 

 the monotonous tale of the bounty of the sea being 

 thus lightly passed over must be told and retold, but 

 with one pleasant reflection, which is, that whenever 

 the hungry peoples of the earth need food it will 

 always be there awaiting them, for the gifts of the 

 ocean are never withdrawn. 



It may possibly appear as if I had too lightly 

 passed over this vast extent of coast, where, indeed, 

 there may be many ways of fishing, and many races 

 of fishermen ; but I hope it will be remembered that 

 I am not considering so much the many modes of fish- 

 ing practised in the world, as the capabilities of the 

 ocean for supplying the needs of all who may apply 

 to it. There are few places, indeed, where, given the 



