ORKNEY ANi) SHETLAND ISLES. 149 



shoals of this tribe peacefully glide along, and, glittering 

 like a huge reflected rainbow or aurora borealis, attract the 

 eyes of all their attendant foes*." 



Let it not be thought that this swelling description ex-— which is 

 aggerates the amount of the shoals : let it be coolly con- ^°^^^^^ *^^ 

 sidercd that for more than a century the Dutch annually 

 loaded above a thousand decked vessels out of this grand 

 northern shoal, and yet that this immense capture never in 

 any year sensibly diminished the number of herrings around 

 Shetland, which, after these foreigners were glutted, regu- 

 larly continued to press forward toward the islands in vast 

 bodies, frequently crowding into every creek aad bay ! 



The Dutch, it is well known, accounted this fishery their Amount of the 

 *' gold mine." It seems generally agreed among authors, " *^ * ^' 

 that it yielded them, for a long course of years, 3,000,000/. 

 sterling yearly. Dr. Campbell, after premising that the 

 value of the Dutch fishery has often been exaggerated, and 

 that he will therefore give a " modest computation," pro- 

 ceeds thus : " It would however be no difficult thing to 

 prove, to the satisfaction of the candid as well as critical 

 inquirer, that, while it continued to flourish in their hand, 

 they drew from their fishsry out of the ocean washing the 

 coast of Shetland, to the amount of two hundred millions 

 sterling*.'' From 1500 to 2000 sloops were employed in 

 fishing : this gave occasion to the freighting of 6000 more ; 

 and thus the herring-fishcry gave employment and subsistence 

 to above a hundred thousand personsf . 



Captain Smith, who was sent to Shetland so long ago as ijeoortof 

 1633, expressly to report on the Dutch fishery, says, " I Capt. Smith, 

 was an eye-witness of the Hollanders' busses fishing for ^J.^'l^? °° 

 herrings on the coast of Shetland, not far from Ounst, one 

 of the northernmost islands. Demanding the number of 

 them, I was informed that the fleet consisted of 1500 sail, 

 of 80 tons burden each, and about 20 armed ships, carrying 

 30 guns a piece, as convoy." The conclusion drawn by 

 the captain, is quite characteristic of a British sailor ; it is 

 stated with much spirit, and though his plan is not a practi. 

 cable one, his language forcibly shews how strongly his 

 mind was impressed with the vastness of this fishery, and the 



* Bewick, Introd. 



t Political Survey, Vol. I, p, 69F. | IbJd. 



absurdity 



