natural history. 
J8S 
numbers, that if all the men in the world were to be loaded 
with herrings, they would not carry a thousandth part 
away. But they no sooner- leave their retreats, but millions 
of enemies appear to thin their squadrons. Ihe tin-fish 
and the cachalot swallow barrels at a yawn ; the pot pesse,^ 
the grampus, the shark, and the whole numeious tiibe ol 
dogyfish, find them an easy prey, and desist from making 
war upon each other: but still more, the unnumbered flocks 
of sea-fowl, that chiefly inhabit near the pole, watch the out- 
set of their dangerous migration, and spread extensive ruin. 
In this exigence, the defenceless emigrants find no other 
safety, but by crowding closer together, and leaving to the 
outmost bands the danger of being the first devoured; thus 
like sheep when frightened, that always run together in a 
body, and each finding some protection in being but one of 
many that are equally liable to invasion, they are seen to 
separate into shoals, one body of which moves to the west, 
and pours down along the coast of America, as far south as 
Carolina, and but seldom farther. In Chesapeak Bay, the 
annual inundation of those fish is so great, that they cover 
the shores in such quantities as to become a nuisance. 
Those that hold more to the east, and come down towards 
Europe, endeavour to save themselves from their merciless 
pursuers, by approaching the first shore they can find ; and 
that which first offers in their descent is the coast of Ice- 
land, in the beginning of March. Upon their arrival on 
that coast, their phalanx, which has already suffered consi- 
derable diminutions, is, nevertheless, of amazing extent, 
depth, and closeness, covering an extent of shore as large 
as the island itself. The whole water seems alive ; and 
is seen so black with them at a great distance, that the 
number seems inexhaustible. 
That body which comes upon our coasts begins to appear 
off the Shetland Isles in April. These are the forerunners 
of the grand shoal which descends in June ; while its arrival 
is easily announced by the number of its greedy attendants, 
the gannet, the gull, the shark, and the porpesse. W hen 
the main body is arrived, its breadth and depth is such, as 
to alter the very appearance of the ocean. It is divided 
into distinct columns, of five or six miles in length, and 
three or four broad ; while the water before them curls up, 
as if forced out of its bed. Sometimes they sink for tin 
space of ten or fifteen minutes, then rise again to the sui- 
face • and, in bright weather, reflect a variety of splendid 
colours, like a field bespangled with purple, gold and azure. 
The fishermen are ready prepared to give them a proper 
