63 
There are certain local taxes under Ordinance No. 2 of 
1868, which may be viewed as telling indirectly against the 
fish industry. I allude to the licence of fishing boats, 
whale boats, etc. There are no customs dues on imported 
fish or on salt. 
Coral is remarkable for its absence, one species (Phy- 
mactis) being found on the coast, and two or three kinds 
in the surrounding seas. 
With the means lying at their very door, I may say— 
viz., the fish, which in other countries would be, and is, turned 
to profitable account of considerable proportion—the in- 
habitants of West Africa, including her archipelagoes, 
are, from the want of education—may be from other addi- 
tional causes—regardless of it. An industry, true, is pursued 
but not with the energy the field deserves. 
An extensive sea-shore, rivers, and lagoons ; streams and 
inlets to permit of ascent of spawning fish; absence of 
manufactories to pollute waters ; little traffic disturbance of 
the waters, present perhaps favourable conditions for the 
development of a large and wholesome fish trade. 
Against the migration of fish however we have the action 
of almost a constant thundering surf in the Gulf of Guinea, 
and we must not forget the cataracts so often met during 
the dry season in West African rivers; they are however 
covered with water in the “rains,” and then should offer 
little obstacle. 
Sufficient, I am sure, has been advanced in support of the 
fact that there is an abundance of fish. 
It would seem to me that the herring, for instance, offers 
an industrial opening that should prove remunerative. 
