UNDER-CURRENT OF THE BALTIC, zi 



them. The proper bait may be purchafed at home ; and provided we have fuffi- 

 cient quantity of fifli on our coafts, and exert ourfelves with the ceconomy and 

 induftry of the Dutch, we need never fear being rivalled by them. 



The bait for thefe fifli is the lefler lamprey of the Br. Zool. vol. iii. No. 2 ; 

 the petromyzon Jiuvlatllis of Linnaeus. This is a fmall fifli, yet of great im- 

 portance ; it is taken in amazing quantities between Batterfea Reach and Taplow 

 mills, a fpace of about fifty miles, and fold to the Dutch for the cod and other 

 fifheries : 400,000 have been fold in one feafon for the purpofe. The price has 

 been forty fhillings the thoufand : this year the Dutch have given three pounds, 

 and the Englifh from five to eight pounds ; the former having prudently con- 

 trafled for three years at a certain price. Formerly the Thames has furnifhed 

 from a million to twelve hundred thoufand annually *. An attempt was lately 

 made in parlement to fling the turbot fifliery entirely into Britijh hands, by lay- 

 ing ten (hillings a ton duty on every foreign veflel importing turbot into Great 

 Britain : but the plan was found to be derived from felfilh motives, and even on 

 a national injuftice ; the far greater quantity of turbots being difcovered to be 

 taken on the coafts o{ Holland and Flanders, from whence the Dutch are fuppofed ta 

 import annually to the London markets about 80,000 fiili. 



In the prefent century it has been proved by experiments, that the Baltic lx, 



has an under-current like the ftreights of Gibraltar. An able feaman,, belonging 

 to one of our frigates, went in a pinnace to the middle of the channel, and was 

 violently hurried away by the Current : foon after he funk a bucket, with a large 

 ball in it, to a certain depth, which gave a check to the boat's motion'; and fink- 

 ing it flill lower and lower, was driven a-head to windward againft the upper ' ^ 

 ftream, which had been forced through the found by fome ftrong gale. The cur- 

 rent aloft was not above four or five feet deep ; and the lower the bucket was funk,, 

 he found the under ftream the ftronger f . 



The herrings frequented the Livonian and Courland fhores in equal multitudes, 

 till the year 1313, when they drew near thofe of Denmark %. 1 hey deferted the 

 Baltic for fome centuries, but in 1753 began again to make their appearance on 

 the SwediJ}} coaft, and are caught am.ong the rocks and ifles (none at fea) from 

 Gottenbourg to Stromjiad, a fpace of thirty-five leagues ; and none farther north 

 or fouth. In the beginning of the fifliery they appeared about the epd oijufy^ 



* See thefe, and many other curious particulars, in the Reports of the Committees for our 

 Fiflieries, 17X6. 



t James's Hi&., Cihraltar, 1. 233^ J Anderfan-% Difl. Comm. I. 102. 351* 



