THE HERRING AND OTHER FISH 341 
a most marked impression on the mind. One of those fat 
herring, taken straight from the water, then split and grilled 
on a gridiron over an open fire, will actually catch fire from 
his own fat. 
But in Labrador our herring have won a well-earned 
reputation for being facile princeps among the world’s her- 
ring; only those from the Icelandic and Shetland waters 
can compare with them. The Labrador fish run to seven- 
teen, or even more inches in length and weigh nearly one 
pound apiece. 
Kings and queens have worshipped at the shrine of the 
herring. William Berkelzon of Flanders, in about 1300, 
discovered how to cure red herring, and generally how to 
preserve them better for food. After his death, Charles 
the Fifth erected a monument to his memory, visited his 
grave, and there prayed for his soul. Mary of Hungary, 
in a somewhat appropriate way, paid tribute to our bene- 
factor by sitting on his tomb and eating a red herring. In 
North Scotland there is an old saying, ‘‘No herrings, no 
weddings.” The “common” herring is not taken in the 
Pacific or Mediterranean, but, nevertheless, has a great 
range, — from Cape Hatteras to Spitzbergen and the White 
Sea. 
The one failing of the herring, and the one thing that still 
keeps hope up that he may return to Labrador, is his incon- 
stancy. He seems to disappear according to some subtle 
law of nature which has baffled all the skill of scientists, 
and has eluded all the speculations of fishermen. History 
records that European herring were to be found in vast 
quantities in the year 1020 a.p., and during the following 
periods: the twelfth century, 1260-1341, the fifteenth 
