THE 



IMPORTANCE 



OF 



THE FISHERIES 



It was an opinion of Pliny, " that nature's 

 great and wonderful power is more demonstrated 

 in the sea than on the land." This power is dis- 

 played in forms of exquisite beauty, and awful 

 grandeur. It is exhibited on the mountain wave, 

 and in the unexplored caverns of the deep. It 

 appears, in an eminent degree, among the myriads 

 of tribes which traverse the ocean with a veloci- 

 ty far surpassing that produced by human power, 

 equalling almost that of the tenants of the air. 

 Science has not so far penetrated this field of 

 agreeable research, as to induce us to suppose, 

 that we have anything like a complete history 

 of the watery tribes. We have indeed new 

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