1 1 8 THE HERRING. 



subsist, is the cause of their annual migrations. About the 

 middle of winter the great colony sets out from the polar seas, 

 composed of such numbers, Jhat if all the horses in the world 

 were loaded with herrings, they could not carry the thousandth 

 part of them. However, they no sooner leave their peaceful 

 abode, than they enter into a world of warfare and depredation ; 

 and numerous enemies appear to thin their squadrons. The 

 cachalot swallows thousands in an instant ; the porpoise, the 

 grampus, the shark, and the dolphin, with the whole tribe of dog- 

 fish, suspend their mutual hostilities, and unite against the easy 

 prey. The numerous flocks of sea-fowl that inhabit the northern 

 regions, also watch the outset of the dangerous migration, and 

 spread destruction among their defenceless shoals. 



After proceeding about as far as the northern extremity of 

 Europe, the colony separates into two great bodies, one of which 

 directs its course westward, and pours along the coast of America 

 as far southward as Carolina, which seems to be the utmos 

 limit of their progress towards that quarter. In the bay of 

 Chesapeake, the annual inundation of herrings is so great, tha 

 they cover the shores and become a nuisance. That body whicn 

 moves towards Europe, first approaches the coast of Iceland, in 

 the beginning of March. Upon their arrival on that coast, their 

 phalanx, already considerably diminished, is still of a prodigious 

 extent, depth, and closeness, covering an extent as large as the 

 island itself. The whole sea seems alive to a vast distance ; and 

 imagination can scarcely conceive any limit to the numbers 

 which cover the watery surface. 



The shoal which arrives on the British coasts begins to ap- 

 pear off the Shetland islands in April. These are the forerunners 

 of the grand shoal, which descends in June, and of which the 

 arrival is also announced by the swarms of its greedy attendants, 

 the gannet, the gull, the shark, the porpoise, and numbers besides 

 of the same predaceous race. When the main body approaches, 

 its extent and depth are such, as to make a visible alteration in 

 the appearance of the ocean. It is generally divided into dis- 

 tinct columns of five or six miles in length, and three or four in 

 breadth ; and the water curls up before them, as if forced out of 

 its bed. Sometimes the whole column sinks for the space of 

 ten or fifteen minutes, then rises again to the surface, and in 

 bright weather reflects a variety of resplendent colours, resem 

 bling a field bespangled with flowers of purple, golden, and azure 

 tints. On their arrival, the fishermen are ready for their recep- 

 tion, and, with nets made for the occasion, sometimes take 

 two thousand barrels at one draught. 



There are few persons who have formed any conception of 

 the importance of the herring fishery ; and we have expatiated 



