OSSEOUS FISHES. 
567 
known, from the inquiries of the late Mr. Mitchell and other authorities 
on the geographical distribution of the herring, that the fish has 
never been noticed as being at all abundant in the arctic regions. 
The herring feeds on small crustaceans, fishes just hatched, and even 
on the fry of its own species. On the other hand, its enemies are the 
most formidable inhabitants of the ocean ; the whales destroy them by 
thousands, but man, above all, carries on a war which threatens to 
be one of extermination. In fact, the herring-fishery has been to 
certain nations the great cause of their prosperity. It was the founda- 
tion of Dutch independence. Silk manufacture, coffee, tea, spices, which 
are productive of great commercial movements, address themselves only 
to the wants of luxury or fashion. The produce of the herring- fishery, 
on the contrary, is one of necessity to the people ; and Holland would 
have languished and quickly disappeared, with its fictitious territory, 
if the sea had not added to its commercial industry this inexhaustible 
mine of wealth. That vast field it has worked with persevering ardour. 
Struggling for an existence, it has conquered. Every year numerous 
vessels leave the coast of Holland for this precious marine harvest. 
The herring-fishery is, for the Dutch people, the most important of 
maritime expeditions. It is with them known as the “ great fishery.” 
Whaling is known as the “small fishery.” The great fishery is a 
golden mine to Holland ; it is, besides, a very ancient occupation with 
ourselves. We find it flourishing in the twelfth century ; for, in 
1195, according to the historians, the city of Dunwich, m the county 
of Suffolk, was obliged to furnish the king with twenty-four thousand 
herrings. We also find meution made of the herring-fishery in a 
chronicle of the Monastery of Evesham in the year 709. 
Towards the year 1030 the French sent vessels into the North Sea 
from Dieppe for this fishing, nearly a century before the Dutch made 
the attempt ; but as early as the thirteenth century that enterprising 
people employed two thousand boats in this industry. The Danes, 
Swedes, and Norwegians also threw themselves into this trade at an 
early period. The French, Danes, and Swedes furnish at the present 
time only sufficient for home consumption. The monopoly of foreign 
trade belongs to the English, Dutch, and Norwegians. “The 
quantity of herrings gathered every year by our neighbours beyond 
the Channel,” says Moquin-Tandon, “is truly enormous. In Yar- 
mouth alone four hundred ships, of from forty to sixty tons, are 
