CLTJPID^. 323 



forms but a very small item as compared with the whole- 

 sale havoc committed by birds and predatory fish ; for 

 these luckless clupeans have the misfortune to be ex- 

 ceedingly palatable both to winged and finned cormo- 

 rants, as well as man, against whom they are equally 

 unable to protect their dainty bodies. Betrayed by the 

 oily phosphoresence they exude, and the plungings of 

 marine monsters, and flocks of sea-mews which accom- 

 pany the shoal, their exact whereabouts is clearly pointed 

 out to the fisherman, who is thus enabled to make good 

 his claim for a share of the booty. Yet notwithstanding 

 all that thus perish by the persecution of so many dif- 

 ferent foes, no sensible diminution is made in the dense 

 shoals, as they float from shore to shore. 



Whilst many nations are largely benefited by their 

 herring-fishery, none have turned them to such profita- 

 ble account as the Dutch. In Holland, where the laws 

 imposed upon this department of the marine are very 

 wisely conceived and strictly enforced, they may truly 

 be said to contribute largely to the wealth of the state. 

 On setting out for the expedition, the sailors pledge 

 themselves not to let down a net before the twenty-fifth 



twenty millions have been the product of a single fishery. Bloch 

 computes that the Grothenhurgians, in Sweden, alone catch seven 

 hundred millions, which will make hut a small figure if compared 

 with the united takes of all the fishermen of Holstein, Mecklen- 

 burg, Pomerania, France, Ireland, Scotland, England, the United 

 States, Kamtschatka, and, above all, of Holland, where the 

 crews, instead of awaiting the arrival of the herrings on their 

 coasts, proceed, in large fleets, to meet them in the open sea. 

 ' Thomas Nash quaintly assumes,' says Moule, 'in his herrings' 

 tayle, that this fish brought more ships to Yarmouth alone than 

 were assembled at Troy to bring back Helen.' Let us add that 

 thus it ought to have been, their object being at once more dig- 

 nified and useful. One cask of herrings was worth a whole ship- 

 load of such loose fish as Helen. 



