CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY OF THE HERRING-FISHERY. 133 



thame, bot gif yai be lede to ye havyne with ye iischar, 

 he sail gif naithing for ye hering bot for his set." * 



The word " dry" almost implies that the herrings were 

 dried for sale, aud not smoked ; if the herrings had been 

 salted, the packages or barrels would likely have been 

 mentioned, or subjected to a toll or tax. 



We have sufficient evidence to show that herrings were 

 early an article of commerce in various other parts of 

 Europe, some of which we shall now specify. 



In Liimfiord (or Limphjor, in ancient acts) in Denmark, 

 a constant fishing of herrings existed twice a year for 

 many centuries ;t and mention is made of the inhabitants 

 carrying on commerce with Bremen for salt in 1054. 



A glowing description is given of the prosperity of 

 Denmark, in consequence of the herring-fishery, by 

 an ancient writer. He says : " The Danes, formerly 

 clad like simple seamen, are now clad in scarlet and 

 purple, and every nation carries them abundance of gold 

 and silver in exchange for their herrings. "| 



The Danish Sound, and upwards as far as Falsterbo, 

 seems to have been long, in ancient times, a place greatly 

 resorted to by fishermen of various nations. § The 

 earliest notice known of the fishery at the Sound appears 

 in the " Knytlinga Saga;"]] by it we are told that great 

 quantities were caught there in the fall of the year 1080. 

 We have also an account of the fishery in that quarter, 

 from a work in 1382, by a French traveller, who ad- 

 dressed his book to Charles VI., and who states that, on 

 the sea " between the kingdoms of Denmark and Norway, 



* Parliamentary Records of Scotland, Burghe Tallys, 1240. 

 t Gheymser Comp. Hist. Dan, apud Laugebeck, ii. 288. 

 X Arnoldua de Lubeck, Chron. Slav. i. cap. iii. v. 121. 

 I Dan. Rig. Chron., 165. || Page 67, 



