FOOD PRODUCTS OF THE SEA — FISHES. 29D 



clearest waters. The dingy yellow and the deep sallow 

 green, are very inferior to the clear coppery brown-backed 

 eel, and even to the bronze-coloured. Welled vessels 

 often bring over a cargo of 15,000 to 20,000 eels from 

 Holland. The consumption of eels in Great Britain is 

 very large, amounting to 4,000 or 5,000 tons a year. We 

 get the largest portion from Holland, but the best come 

 from Ireland. One thousand packages of eels were sold 

 in Dublin in 1870, worth 30s. a package. 



The eel is the oiliest of all fishes, but is correspondingly 

 deficient in nitrogenous matter, containing only 10 per 

 cent, of the latter, but having at least 14 per cent, of 

 fat. The Jews were prohibited from eating eels by the 

 Levitical law, which forbade the eating of "whatsoever 

 had no fins nor scales in the water," although in other 

 fish-eating countries they form a favourite dish. Espe- 

 cially is this the case in England, where the demand for 

 eels always exceeds the supply, and where no fewer than 

 ten millions of them are annually brought to Billingsgate 

 for the supply of the Metropolitan market. The eel is 

 also a special favourite with the Italians, who cultivate 

 it in the great lagoons of the Adriatic, and the Nea- 

 politans import it to the extent of a million pounds 

 annually. 



The eel, with its many varieties and sub-species, is one 

 of the most common fishes in Italy ; it is caught in the 

 sea, in brackish waters, and in fresh water, but more 

 especially in lagoons and estuaries, and forms one of the 

 most important items of the local fisheries. In the 

 valley of Commachio are extensive salt and brackish 

 waters, lagoons about thirty miles in length, at the deltai 

 of the Po ; eel fishing there is an ancient and important 

 industry. The mean annual produce there is about 

 2,000,000 lbs. of preserved eels. In 1871, nearly 

 3,000,000 lbs. of eels were got there. They cultivate here 

 also soles, plaice, chub, dory and other fish. In 1878, 

 44,000,000 kilos, of fish of different kinds were imported 

 into Italy. 



There is a large trade carried on in this valley of 



