FISHERY. 407 
pouches and cafes almoft impenetrable to wet; and inro 
covers and etuis for many valuable articles. The air- 
bladder and all the membranes either produce glue, or 
ifinglafs. Hence we cannot wonder at the direction of Be. 
lonius, “ that 'he waters of the Piopontis were more pro¬ 
fitable by the fifties they pioduced, than a fimilar extent 
of the belt land could have been by its pafturage and har- 
velts.” Dimbtlefs the immenfe multiplication of fith 
mult have a v It efFedt upon the population of empires ; 
and we may obferve how this vaft increafe tends to main¬ 
tain, in the kingdom of China, the multitudes of people 
heaped as it were one upon another. And if we look 
back inio antiquity, we may fulve the great hittorical pro¬ 
blem, how ancient Egypt was capable of nourifhing and 
fultaining that v.:(t population, without which thole ftu- 
pendotts monuments which'yet fublift afier the laple ot to 
many ages, could not have been railed, and without which 
Sefoftris had not become a conquetor on the banks of the 
Euphrates, the Tigris, the Indus, and the Ganges, nor on 
the fhores of the Euxine fea, nor on the mountains of 
Thrace. We know the extent of Egypt ; when her py¬ 
ramids were conftrudted, when her armies conquered the 
greateft part of Alia, (he was bounded, almoft as at the 
prefent day, by barren delerts on the eaft and welt; yet 
Diodorus informs us, that 1700 Egyptians were born on 
the fame day with Sefoftris : we mutt therefore admit, at 
that time, a population of at 1 eaft 34,000,000. But what 
innumerable quantities of filh mutt have been contained 
in the rivers, canals, and lakes, of a country, where the 
art of increafirrg the breed of them was one of the chief 
cares of government, and of private perfons. It is eafy 
to calculate, (fays Cepede,) that the lake Mceris alone 
might produce more titan 18,000,000,000 of at leaft two 
feet long each. The independent Arabs alfo upon the 
fea-coaft of Perfia, fubfift almoft entirely upon fiflt. There 
is a ftriking analogy, fays Niebuhr, between the manners 
afcribed to the ancient ichthyopkagi , or fifh-eaters, and 
thofe of thefe Arabs. They feed their cattle upon fith ; 
and their fiftiing-boats ferve them as ihipsof war. 
The improvement of the arts has tended greatly to ex¬ 
tend the dominion of man over the numerous genera and 
fpecies of filh. The art of navigation, in particular, may 
be faid to have completed his conqueft of the ocean, and 
brought a vaft accefiion both to the fund of his fubfiftence 
and enjoyments, by the capture of fo manv animals whom 
Mature feemed to have placed beyond Iris reach in the 
depths of the fea. A fleet of filhing-velFels, manned by 
a few thoufand European failors, is capable of taking a 
greater number of fiflt in a ieafon, than perhaps could be 
done by the united endeavours of all the favages on the 
continent of America. But the regulations of the Romifii 
church long tended more than any other circumftance to 
enhance the value, and incre.ale the quantity, of this fpecies 
of food. To fupply the abftinence of the devout or fu- 
perftitious, large demands are ftill made upon the ocean ; 
and to make up for the deficiency of a cafual or precarious 
fupply, ponds have been dug, and fifh, like land animals, 
rendered domeftic for food.—Yet amidft thefe concurrent 
teftimonies of the high value and infinite utility of the 
finny tribes, as an article of food and of commerce, it is 
fingular that the fidteries of our united kingdom (hould 
notin all t his time have obtained that attention which its 
high importance unqueftionably demands. When we re- 
fledt on our infular Istuation, and on the vaft extent of our 
coafts, we appear negligent of the bounties of Providence 
in deducing fo fmall a portion of our nouriftiment from 
the ocean. Fiflt, inftead of being a luxury, might be 
produced in fuch abundance in all our markets as to con- 
ftitute half of our food ; and the price of other provi- 
fions would then in courfe be materially lowered. The 
fea, which is our natural defence, might tints by judicious 
induftry be made a fource of great profperity ; as it offers 
the means of fuftaining an enlarged population, and of 
encouraging occupations in days of peace, which, as 
naval ntirferies, would always furnifh failors to man our 
wooden bulwarks in times of war. Ought ftich obvious 
national advantages to be negledled ? Can the legiflature 
be more profhably employed than in directing and aiding 
the efforts of the people on our coafts to cultivate the rich 
field which is fpread before them “ in the great waters 
Independently of thefe general views, certain local cir- 
cqmftances ferioufly demand fome interference in behalf 
of the Britifh fidteries. Emigrations, to a ferious extent, 
are reported to occur in the Highlands and Weftern Ilies 
of Scotland ; which, if we may credit the teftimony of 
intelligent and experienced men, would be effectually pre¬ 
vented, were the individuals allowed, without redraint, 
to avail themfelves of thofe bledings which the liberal 
hand of Nature has placed within their reach. A fatal 
idea feems to prevail, that the great ftrength of the date 
exifts in its revenue ; and that to take care of this branch 
is effectually to uphold the national profperity. And it 
is furely a fatal idea, when it ftrikes at the fnftenance or 
commerce of a country. Confiderations of revenue ought 
always to be fubordinate to thofe of national profperity; 
and every government departs from its true intereft, when 
it intpofes and continues fuch taxes as paralyfe the hand 
of induftry, and lock up that wealth which Providence 
Hands ready to diffufe. It is a fact that the inhabitants 
of the Highlands and Weftern Ides of Scotland are re- 
ftrained by the prefent falt-duties from reaping any bene¬ 
fit from the feas, though they abound in fifh which would 
fupply their own wants, and furnifh an important article 
of commerce. Thefe fadls were, in 1803, ftated to the 
prefent patriotic Speaker of the Houle of Commons, by 
Mr. Frafer. “ If proper fteps are taken, the maritime 
parts of Scotland, he is confident, will with eafe fuftain 
a population increafed ten-fold. To the fidteries he looks 
for the principal means of fupply. The Seven United 
Provinces, (he obferves,) which are all together not larger 
than Yorkdtire, yet, from their fidteries alone, for which 
they are not nearly fo well dtuated as the Highlands and 
Ides of Scotland, fupported a population equal to three 
times the number of inhabitants in the whole of North 
Britain. So that in fadl thefe maritime parts of Scotland, 
fo far from being over-peopled, do not contain one-tenth 
part of the population which they are able, with proper 
induftry, to fupport.” To juftify this hypothefis refpect- 
ing the importance of the fidteries, he fays, “ Were a 
careful examination made of the extended coafts of the 
Britilh ilies and of the feas adjacent, or thofe within eafy 
reach of the induftry of the inhabitants, not only would 
new fources of wealth arife in the difeovery of new filhing- 
grounds, but many fituatior.s would be found for the con- 
ftrudlion of harbours, and for the formation of towns well 
adapted to carrying on the old, as well as thefe new fillte- 
ries, to an extent almoft unlimited. Many fituations 
would alfo be found, which, at comparatively a fmall 
expence, might be rendered fit for ftationing our fleets, 
and affording the moft perfedi protection to our trade and 
to our coafts. 
“ The herrings approach the coaft in great (hoals at 
particular feafons of the year, but are uncertain as to the 
time of their approach, and as to the time of their con¬ 
tinuance ; and although they are generally in greater or 
lefs plenty in fome part or other of the coafts, yet they 
will fometimes not return to particular fituations for fe- 
veral years together. From the wafte on fait continued 
long in ftores, from the difficulty of accounting for duty¬ 
free fair, there is fcarcely any quantity of it on thofe 
coafts, unlefs where filh-curers have eredted red-herrins" 
houfes. But if thefe accounts and bonds were done away^ 
fait, which can be purchafed at the falt-works at four- 
pence or fix-pence per buftiel, and imported into thofe 
countries for ten-pence at moft, would be laid up even by 
the lower clafs of fifhers in fmall quantities, againft the 
return of the herrings, and they would alfo have abund¬ 
ance for the purpofe of curing the cod, ling, haddock, 
and other filh that are to be found every where on the 
coaft, either by curing and drying thefe fifh in the fum- 
mer 
