2io THE INHABITANTS OF THE SEA. 



that branch of trade which had chiefly raised the fortunes of 

 their fathers. 



In the year 1814, when the Dutch first began to breathe after 

 having shaken off the yoke of the modern Attila, ■ they made a 

 faint attempt to renew the herring-fishery with 106 boats, which, 

 up to the year 1823, had only increased to 128 ; since 1836, how- 

 ever, there has been a steady progress, and herring-catching in 

 the Zuyder Zee during the winter months is yearly increasing in 

 importance. 



During the second half of the last century, while the her- 

 rings began to desert the Dutch nets, they enriched the Swedes, 

 who, during the year 1781, exported from Gottenburg alone 

 136,649 barrels, each of them containing 1200 herrings. But 

 some years after, the shoals on the Swedish coasts began also to 

 diminish, so that in 1799 there was hardly enough for home con- 

 sumption. And now commenced the rapid rise and increase of 

 the Scotch herring-fisheries ; and it is certainly remarkable 

 that this should have taken place at so late a period, since the 

 British waters are perhaps those which most abound in her- 

 rings. When we think of the present grandeur of British com- 

 merce, which extends to the most distant parts of the globe, and 

 ransacks all Nature for new articles of trade, it seems almost 

 incredible that up to the middle of the sixteenth century the 

 herring-fishery on the British coasts was left in the hands of 

 the Dutch and Spaniards, and that the acute and industrious 

 Scotchmen should have been so tardy in working the rich gold- 

 mines lying at their gates. But if their appearance in the market 

 has been late, they have made up for lost time, by completely 

 distancing all their competitors. In 1855, the Scotch herring- 

 fisheries employed no less than 11,000 smacks or boats, manned 

 by 40,000 seamen, who were assisted by 28,000 curers and 

 labourers, exclusive of the vessels and men bringing salt and 

 barrels or engaged in carrying on the export trade. 



The English herring-fishery is also extremely important, for 

 Yarmouth alone employs iu this branch of trade about 400 

 sloops, of from forty to seventy tons, the largest of which have 

 ten or twelve men on board. Three of these sloops, belonging 

 to the same proprietor, landed, in the year 1857, 285 lasts, or 

 3,762,000 fishes; and as each last was sold for £14 sterling, it is 



