FOOD PRODUCTS OF THE SEA — FISHES. 281 



rapidly extending to other places, and continually in- 

 creasing quantities of young herrings and young sprats 

 are annually consumed in various parts of this kingdom. 



There are tons of whitebait caught in the Thames 

 about Greenwich and Gravesend. They are much more 

 numerous than they were. At one time they were con- 

 fined to the estuary from Blackwall to Gravesend ; now 

 they have extended to the Medway and the Crouch to 

 Harwich. 



The fishery for whitebait commences when Parliament 

 meets, and ends with the session, or from February to 

 August. About £40 a week for twenty-six weeks is 

 paid at Queenborough for wages in catching whitebait. 

 From £1,500 to £1,800 is expended in catching white- 

 bait. The average quantity of fish caught during the 

 season is about half a ton a day. It fetches from Is. to 

 to 2s. a quart wholesale, and a pint will weigh about 

 eighteen ounces. 



Twice a year the coasts of the South Sea Islands are 

 visited by innumerable hosts of tiny fish, which, from 

 their resemblance to the small fry caught in the estuary 

 of the Thames, and so highly prized during the " Lon- 

 don season," have been christened by the general name 

 of " whitebait." Nobody knows really of what species 

 this little fish consist ; but there is no doubt that, like 

 their English prototypes, they consist of the young of 

 many different varieties of fish in the earliest stages of 

 their growth. Their appearance is hailed with delight 

 by the natives, who are inveterate fishermen, and who 

 take advantage of the harvest while it lasts. The waters 

 of the South Pacific teem with many kinds of edible fish, 

 and most of the other islands of the Pacific are visited 

 by shoals of these " whitebait " in one form or another. 



The Fiji islands boast of a special delicacy in the shape 

 of a species of annelid, known to the natives as " balolo " 

 (Palolo viridis. Gray), which swarms round their coasts 

 about September, and is eagerly sought for by both the 

 natives (who cook them in ovens dug out of the earth) 

 and by European settlers and visitors. Although not an 



