PISCES. 
101 
c <xl. These last four are now rarely seen, simply, I believe, through 
the indolence of the fishermen. 
But with all this bountiful supply of good fish, the visitor to 
St. Helena cannot fail to be astonished at the indifference with 
w hich it is regarded. The fisherman there has no storms or angry 
seas to battle with, but still there is no system of fishing, and there 
is no fishing trade. Beyond a very partial and scanty contribution 
t° the supply of food for the six or seven thousand inhabitants, no 
use is made of the fish or profit derived from it. 
In the Monthly Register of the year 1810, it is recorded, and 
the authority is reliable, that in the month of October, 3618 pounds 
°f mackerel, 11,453 pounds of albicore, and 528 pounds of ground 
thh, that is the best table fish, were taken and brought into the 
market ; so that, during one month, the fishing at St. Helena 
yielded neaily seven tons of fish, not only good for food, but of the 
finest quality. It is not very probable that the fishes, weary 
°f tue neglect to catch them, through succeeding years, or missing 
the good cheer of the Honourable East India Company, have packed 
U P their traps and gone elsewhere ; but on the contrary, having 
hnd everything their own way for half a century, it is most pro- 
bable that there are more fishes in the sea at St. Helena now than 
there were in the year 1810. The simple fact is that, in 1874, no 
fishery exists, and that if it did, and the fishes were properly sought 
t °0 a greater abundance than the yield of 1810 woidd be the result. 
I his would not only materially assist the distressed population of 
the place, by affording a supply for home consumption, but also a very 
profitable article of export in the form of salted, dried, and other- 
wise cured fish. 
With means, lying at their very door, which in other countries 
Would be and are turned to profitable account, the natives of St. 
-Helena are curiously regardless of it. The very fish of which upwards 
01 1 1,000 pounds were taken at St. Helena in one month, is the same 
as the Tunny fish, which, in the Mediterranean and along the southern 
coasts of France, is the source of so large a trade. 
Ihe small desultory amount of fishing which is now carried on 
a t St. Helena is with the hook and line only, either from the shore 
°i from small rowing boats which venture only some short distance 
mit to sea. Most of the natives fish for themselves ; they run 
ow n to the sea shore, or the “fishing-rock” as they term it, spend a 
uight there and bring back enough fish for a few days’ food, and if 
