14 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



required a thousand trains of twenty-six ten-ton trucks each! 

 Up to the time of writing these figures (November-end) 457,212 

 barrels and 137,138 half-barrels of pickled (salted) Herrings 

 have been dispatched in steamers to Eussia, Germany, and other 

 ports ; one large steamer, the ' Indutiomare,' had gone to the 

 Black Sea with a freight of 18,175 barrels, worth £20,000. 



Thus it will be seen that with 999 drifters (Scotch and 

 English) fishing out of the port, the thousands of men manning 

 the boats, the thousands more working as coopers, carters, 

 curers, and others ; not mentioning the many incidental buyers, 

 traders, and mechanics attached to the building, fitting, out- 

 fitting and feeding necessities connected with this great industry ; 

 and the thousands of Scotch lasses engaged in gutting, pickling, 

 and other work, and the hundreds who lodge the girls and the 

 men, the turnover in solid gold must be immense. Had Bertram 

 lived to see Yarmouth the greatest Herring mart in the world 

 and to revise his entertaining ' Harvest of the Sea,' he would 

 have had to add matter to the book that his wildest dreams and 

 speculations could never have depicted. If the streets of London 

 are paved with gold, Yarmouth's roads and pathways are often 

 ankle-deep in the greasy, oleaginous mire and mud, permeated 

 with Herring oil and drip from the carts and baskets and 

 barrels. The hooting of outgoing and incoming boats, often in 

 continuous panoramic succession, with the rattle of wheels on 

 the quays, is like Bedlam gone riotous ; and the southern half 

 of the town reeks of smoke and effluvia of " an ancient and 

 fish-like smell." 



Up to December 6th over 808,000 crans had been landed 

 here, an increase over last year of more than 127,000 crans. On 

 this date Herrings were getting fewer ; but the record price of 

 91s. per cran — for a catch of sis crans — was realized ! Whether 

 the hosts of the Herring are greater than in days of yore, I am 

 not competent to suggest ; that there must be far fewer devoured 

 by Whales would seem to be an undisputed fact, when it is 

 stated that " so enormous have been the catches of Whales 

 [Rorquals, Humpbacks, &c] made in the Norwegian whaling 

 industry since the invention of the explosive harpoon in 1868, 

 the figures of 1911 being 13,800 Whales, that it is feared that 

 the animals are in danger of extinction." Such a slaughter 



