[5] THE GREAT HERRING FISHERIES. 345 



As regards the preparatiou of the herriug, it is particularly important 

 that it should be done in a city, as the different salters of one and the 

 same city act as a check upon each other. If one of them makes a mis- 

 take, it becomes known. Such matters cannot be concealed in a city 

 with the same ease as in an isolated establishment on the coast. The 

 places where herring are being prepared are, moreover, often visited 

 by the agents of the herring-dealers, and they are better able to exer- 

 cise a strict control over the preparation of the herring and their quality 

 in a city than if they are obliged, within a limited period of time, 

 to travel from one salt-house to another along a vast extent of coast. 

 This circumstance has also aided in making the Scotch herring famous, 

 because they are almost exclusively prepared in cities. This was early 

 recognized in Scotland, and during the last century the question was 

 agitated of encouraging the formation of fishing towns by granting large 

 prizes, as the idea prevailed at the time that there was no better way of 

 encouraging the fi^shing trade than by granting prizes. 



It is also evident that the fisheries are carried on to greater advan- 

 tage by persons who uninterruptedly and exclusively devote themselves 

 thereto than by those whose interest in the fisheries is, so to speak, 

 accidental. When, however, a fishery is secularly periodical, as, for 

 instance, the Bohuslan herring-fisheries and the Norwegian spring-her- 

 ring fisheries, it may be advantageous if others than professional fish- 

 ermen take a part in the fisheries. Otherwise they could not be carried 

 on to a sufficient extent during the comparatively short duration of the 

 herring period. The circumstance that others than professional fisher- 

 men devote themselves to the fisheries may, however, prove injurious 

 to other trades if these are to a great extent neglected, and if people 

 wish to live entirely by the income from the periodical fisheries. Thus 

 it happened during the great Bohuslan herriog-fisheries of the eight- 

 eenth century. In a short time people earned what they needed for 

 the whole year, and the consequence was that other, and, on the whole, 

 more important, trades were neglected. It is hardly to be supposed 

 that this will take place to the same extent during the present herring 

 period, for the circumstances are in several respects entirely different, 

 and the time which must be taken from other trades for carrying on 

 the fisheries is not so long as not to leave some time over for these other 

 trades. The inconveniences, as far as Bohuslan is concerned, will prob- 

 ably be great enough to call the attention of the persons concerned 

 thereto. In Scotland the herring fisheries are carried on by the aid of 

 hired men from the interior of the country, who are away from home 

 as long as the fisheries last, but I have been unable to find anything 

 to show that agriculture in Scotland has suffered thereby. 



National character has an important influence on the development 

 of the fishing trade. There is a vast difference between the national 

 character as developed in the Netherlands and its flat coasts and on 

 the rocky coasts of Norway and Bohuslan. It would be very hard to 



