592 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
as the “great fishery ;” whaling is known as the “small fishery.” 
The great fishery is a golden mine to Holland. It is, besides, a very 
ancient occupation with ourselves; we find it flourishing in the 
twelfth century ; for, in 1195, according to the historians, the city of 
Dunwich, in the county of Suffolk, was obliged to furnish the king 
with 24,000 herrings. We also find mention made of the herring 
fishery in a chronicle of the monastery of Evesham in the year 709. 
Towards the year 1030, the French sent vessels into the North 
Sea from Dieppe for this fishing, nearly a century before the Dutch 
made the attempt ; but as early as the thirteenth century the latter en- 
terprising people employed 2,000 boats in this industry. The Danes, 
Swedes, and Norwegians also occupied themselves with this trade 
at an early period. The French, Danes, and Swedes furnish them- 
selves at the present time with only sufficient for home consumption. 
The monopoly of the foreign trade belongs to the English, Dutch, 
and Norwegians. ‘The quantity of herrings gathered every year by 
our neighbours beyond the Channel,” says Moquin-Tandon, “is truly 
enormous. In Yarmouth alone 4oo ships, of from forty to sixty tons, 
are equipped; the largest being manned by twelve men. The 
revenue derived from this fleet is about £700,000. In 1857, three 
of these fishing-boats, belonging to the same proprietors, carried 
home 3,762,000 fishes.” 
Since the beginning of this century, the Scottish fishermen have 
emulated the zeal of the English. In a paper communicated to the 
British Association in 1854, Mr. Cleghorn, who has paid great atten- 
tion to the subject, states ‘‘that there are 920 Wick boats engaged in 
the fishing, and that the produce was 95,680 barrels” in one week 
alone ; this being, however, a falling off of 61,000 barrels from the 
previous year. ‘The cause of this immense falling off was ascribed 
to a storm which had swept along the coast at the height of the 
season; but Mr. Cleghorn was inclined to ascribe it mainly to 
over-fishing, which had gradually diminished the number of herrings 
captured. 
The boats employed by the French and Dutch in the herring 
fishery are about sixty tons burden. They generally depart for the 
Orkney and Shetland Isles. They afterwards betake themselves to 
the German Ocean, and fish the Channel in November and De- 
cember. These boats carry up to sixteen hands, according to 
their size. Arrived at their fishing-ground, they cast their nets, as 
seen in PLaTe XXVI. 
The lines of the Dutch fishermen are 500 feet in length, composed 
of fifty or sixty different nets. The upper parts of these nets are 
