i Class IV. H E R R I N 0. 



i$7 



TIOM- 



alter the appearance of the very ocean. It is di- 

 vided into diftinct columns of five or fix miles in 

 length, and three or four in breadth, and they 

 drive the water before them with a kind of rip- 

 pling : fometimes they fmk for the fpaee of tea 

 or fifteen minutes, then rife again to the furface, 

 and in bright weather refled a variety of fplendid 

 colors, like a field of the mofl precious gems, in 

 which, or rather in a much more valuable lights 

 fhould this ftupendous gift of Providence be con- 

 fidered by the inhabitants of the Britijh ifles. 



The firft check this army meets in its march S^i»ara^ 

 fouthward, is from the Shetland ifles, which divide it 

 into two parts \ one wing takes to the eaft, the- 

 other to the weftern fhores of Great Britain^ and 

 fill every bay and creek with their numbers i 

 others pafs on towards Tarmouth^ the great and an- 

 tient mart of herrings •, they then pafs through the 

 Britijh channel, and after that in a manner difap^ 

 pear. Thofe which take to the wefl, after offering 

 themfelves to the Hebrides^ where the great ftati- 

 onary fifhery is, proceed towards the north of 

 Ireland^ where they meet with a fecond inter- 

 ruption, and are obliged to make a fecond divifi- 

 on J the one takes to the weftern fide, and is fcarcc 

 perceived, being foon lofl in the immenfity of the 

 Atlantic, but the other, which pafTes int.o the 

 Irijh fea, rejoices and feeds the inhabitant^ of mofl 

 of the coafls that border on it, 



Thefe brigades, as w-e may call them, which are 

 Vol. III. Z thus 



