20 The Commercial Products of the Sea. 



special commerce, we have some few official figures to work 

 upon. Taking the latest year for which full and complete 

 returns are given, we find that the imports into the United 

 Kingdom reach over ;£'6,ooo,ooo in value. Guano is in- 

 cluded because it is a deposit of sea-birds, and may, there- 

 fore, be considered to some extent a product of the sea. 



The exports of fish of British catch in 1 874 were valued 

 at £\,o'jJ,o6^, and if we add the export of salt for the 

 fisheries, fishing nets, hooks and lines, sails and cordage, 

 and other supplies, we shall have fully a value of ;£^i, 500,000. 



The great city of Amsterdam and the present unsur- 

 passed seaport of Liverpool arose from the industry and 

 enterprise of a few fishermen, who found those spots con- 

 venient for their dwellings and pursuits — a fact of history 

 thus poetically recorded : — 



" Where Mersey's stream, long winding o'er the plain, 

 Pours his full tribute to the circling main, 

 A band of fishers chose their humble seat, 

 Contented labour blest their fair retreat. 

 Inured to hardships, patient, bold, and rude, 

 They braved the billows for precarious food ; 

 Their straggling huts were ranged along the shore. 

 Their nets and little boats their only store. 

 But now perceive the alter'd prospect round. 

 Where splendid tracts of opulence are found ; 

 Yet scarce two hundred annual rounds have run 

 Since first the fabric of this power begun. 

 His noble stream inglorious Mersey roU'd, 

 Nor felt his waves by labouring art control'd ; 

 Along his sides a few small cots were spread. 

 His finny brood their humble tenants fed ; 

 At opening dawn, with fraudful nets supplied. 

 The paddling skiff would brave the specious tide, 

 Ply round the shores, nor tempt the dangerous main. 

 But seelc ere night the friendly port again." 



