344! ANIMAL I^OOD RESOURCES OF DIFFERENT NATIONS. 



a considerable article of commerce, and is sent salted all 

 through the interior. This fish also abounds in Hakodadi, 

 and great quantities are caught in all the rivers of the 

 province of Niagatsl arid those to the north-east. 



So far as the bounty of Nature goes, fish in Victoria 

 should be as plentiful as it is in Kamschatka, where 

 the law forbids any dog having the roes of more than 

 six salmon given to it in a day. Yet there is scarcely 

 any part of the civilised world where fish is at such 

 a price. In London fish and poverty go together. As 

 the experienced navigator recognises his approximation 

 to the coast by the successive specimens of gravel, sand, 

 and mud brought up by the lead, so the wanderer in ^he 

 giant metropolis may pretty accurately estimate his dis- 

 tance from the opulent West End by the increasiiig 

 number of stalls covered with ancient flounders and 

 ofl"al fish. 



From 1,500 to 2,000 tons of fish are taken annually 

 by the fishermen of San Francisco, and as there are 

 about ninety difierent kinds of fish brought to market, 

 the population would seem to be well supplied. 



Brazil, with its long coast line and bays, and immense 

 rivers and lakes, is abundantly supplied with fish, crus- 

 taceans, and mollusks. The spawn, salted, of many fish 

 forms an article of commerce. The Bay of Rio Janeiro 

 abounds occasionally with sardines, which are equal to 

 those of Nantes. The river Amazon alone and its tribu- 

 taries furnish more than eighty species of fish. Notwith- 

 standing this abundance of fresh fish, there is a large 

 import of salt fish for the supply of the negroes, aver- 

 aging in value about £400,000 a year. 



The whole valley of the Amazon abounds in streams 

 that help to make up the entire volume of waters. 

 These spread out into lakes, lagoons, and swamps, that 

 extend over large regions of country. This is especially 

 so in the rainy seasons or flood times. 



The channels and lakes are abundantly supplied with 

 flshes. Even large ones are often left in the swamp 

 lakes and streams when the water is low. A hundred 



