347 
Yorkshire Natural History 200 Years Ago. 
South, which comes from the Pool Seinitr with a strange 
Murmer. Sr. Christopher Mcdcalje, the Chief of the Family 
of- that Name, (which was so numerous in his Time, that when 
he was the Sheriff of this Shire, he met the Judges with three 
hundred Horse with Men of his Family and Name) brought 
Crey-Fish from the South parts of England to stock it with 
them, which have wonderfully increased in it since. This 
River at a Place called Att-scar. running between two Rocks 
with great Violence, makes an hideous Roaring, and so passes 
by Bolton. Besides Crey-fish above mentioned, this River hath 
diverse other Kinds, which are no small Convenience to the 
Inhabitants, who are some of them Fishermen. 
4. The Derwent, which is the Boundary to this and the 
East Riding, hath a Right to be taken Notice of here, as well as 
there. It gave Name to a City in the Roman Times, which 
stood on the Banks of it, called therefore Derventio. where a 
Company of Derventienses under the General of Britain was 
quartered. Auldby is thought to stand in the same Place by 
our Antiquaries. Battle- Bridge lies over it at Standford. 
This River is so plentifully filled with water by the small Brooks 
falling into it, that as oft as it is increased with Rains, it 
overflows the Banks, and lays all the neighbouring Meadows 
a-float : It runs with more Swiftness below Babthorp, than 
before, and was made Navigable by an Act of Parliament 
passed 1 Anne. It abounds with Fish, &c. To these it may 
not be improper to add the particular Benefit yielded to these 
Parts by the 
5. Sea, which affords the Inhabitants an Abundance of 
Fish, as well for Food as Sale, but more especially Herrings, 
(called in Latin Haleces Leiccomenidae &c., Chalcides.) These 
Fish, which in the Time of our Ancestors swarmed only about 
Norway, do now in our Times by the Bounty of Divine Provi- 
dence swim in great Shoals round our Coasts every Year. 
About Midsummer they leave the Main Sea, draw towards the 
Coast of Scotland, where they are catched and sold off, as being 
then at their best ; from thence they pass to the English 
Coasts, and arriving about the middle of Mugnsfi there is 
excellent Fishing for them, till November, from Scarborough 
to the Thames Mouth ; afterwards they are carried by stormy 
"Weather into the British Seas, where they are caught till 
Christmas, and then coasting Ireland, return into the Northern 
Ocean, and remain there till June, where having spawned and 
recruited their numbers, they begin the same Course again. 
The Hollanders and Zealanders have a great share in the Profit 
of these Fish ; for having obtained leave for the Castle of 
Scarborough for Fishing, they apply themselves to it with that 
Assiduity and Diligence, that they make a greater Gain of it 
than the English. 
1914 Nov. 1 . 
