General Introduction. 15 



the product of the New England fishery is estimated at 

 ;^ 1, 600,000 yearly, of which Boston alone handles more 

 than half. 



At the Cape of Good Hope fish forms the principal 

 article of the food of the population, and the poorer classes 

 live almost entirely on it, its price being lower than in 

 almost all other civilized countries. 



It is difficult, nay, almost impossible to form an estimate 

 of the probable consumption of fish within the colonial 

 borders. Judging, however, from the great quantities used 

 in a dried, pickled, and smoke-dried state, as an article of 

 internal traffic, and taking into consideration that fish is 

 almost the chief food of the lower orders in Cape Town and 

 the other ports, the consumption must necessarily be very 

 considerable. 



The principal foreign market for the fish trade of South 

 Africa is the Mauritius, the exports of dried fish to that 

 colony being from 2000 to 2500 tons annually, of the value 

 of ;£^30,ooo. The average import of fish at the Mauritius 

 in the three years ending 1870 was about 44,000 cwt. 

 There are also fisheries carried on from the island, for in 

 1870 there were 329 fishery works, and at Rodriguez 44, 

 employing 90 boats and 193 men. 



At Ceylon the imports of fish are about 77,000 cwt. 

 annually, and at Singapore about 40,000 cwt. of dried and 

 salted fish are imported yearly. 



On the coasts of some of the Indian presidencies there 

 are extensive fisheries. 



How many a locality in the Indian Ocean is there to 

 which the lines of Milton are applicable ! — where 



" Each creek and bay 

 With fry innumerable swarm, and shoals 

 Of fish, that with their fins and shining scales 

 Glide under the green waves ; . . . 



