410 
FISHER Y, 
Hies of Sky and of Cannay, were pitched upon as proper 
fituations for fome of thefe towns. Yet from the want of 
proper management, or of a ifpcienf ftimulating exertion 
in the government, for want of the means being directed 
through fit channels, or rather becanfe the laws were not 
fuffieiently adequate, this grand fource of national wealth 
and utility hath Jlill proved aboitive! 
To account lor this lingular want of fuccefs in fo im¬ 
portant a branch of commerce, the Rev. J. L. Buchanan 
lias recently publifhed a “ General View of the Fifiiery 
of Great-Britain,” addreffed to the Managers of the Bri¬ 
tifh Fifhing Society. Mr. Buchanan palled fome years 
in the Hebrides in the character of miffionary ; made him- 
felt perfonally acquainted with fifiiermen and the nature 
of fifhing ; and is himfelf a fubfcriber to the fund of the 
Britifh Filhing Society. He fets out with the origin of for¬ 
mer Britifli fifhing companies, points out the prudent Heps 
which thefe companies took to obtain the defired end, 
marks the caufes which defeated their good intentions, 
and enumerates the advantages which have followed, 
notwithftanding that the main objeCt has invariably mif- 
carried. He next inquires into the origin of the Dutch 
fiflieries, dwells on their careful mode of conducting their 
bufinefs, and films up the advantages and difadvantages 
arifing to them from their fteady perfeverance in carrying 
on the fiflieries : taking occafion, however, of cenfuring 
thofe crafty people concerning fome private difpute about 
what might be termed the Dutch Scotch FiJ/iery, difgraceful 
enough, perhaps, to this nation, and redounding, in like 
proportion, to the Dutch commercial credit and political 
vvifdom. 
Mr. Buchanan next proceeds to fiievv that the ftations 
marked out by the managers of the Britifh Fifhing Society 
are not the beft for the purpofe of extenfive fifiling; that the 
ableftand mo(iexperienced fifhers are not to be found where 
the ftations have been ereCted ; that the fifti are elfewhere 
more numerous, and vaftiy fuperior in quality to the dif¬ 
ferent kinds catched around the villages erected by the 
undertakers : in fhort, that the infpedtors of the proper 
fifhing ftations have been miffed in pitching on the fcene 
°f adtion, which ought to have been in the Hebrides, not 
on the main land of Scotland. It is granted, “ that 
ftore-houfes for the adtive fi fliers are, as tiiey formerly 
were, ablolutely neceffary to begin with any probable 
degree of fuccefsbut great coftly buildings for collec¬ 
tors, comptrollers, and even large public-houfes, miglit 
.have been dilpenfed with, until the number of fifhers were 
able to defray part of the expences, at leaf!, to the com¬ 
pany, by their fuccefsful fifhing. 
“ What added greatiy to the injury of the fifhing-trade 
in Scotland, (fays Mr. Buchanan,) appears to liavearifen 
from the regulations and heavy reftridtions refpecting 
foreign and horiie-made fait. Thefe are particularly hurt¬ 
ful to the illes, without ftorehoufes to fupply them with 
fait in their neighbourhood ; and the poor inhabitants are 
incapable of procuring it, from its extravagant price when 
fold by merchants, and its immenfe diftance to purchafe 
that article at firtr hand. Belides this, all herrings cured 
tor home fale are fubjedt to a duty of one {hilling per bar¬ 
rel if u!ed in Scotland ; and only three-pence and four- 
pence if ufed in England; which unequal duty muft 
greatly retard the fiflieries, and is too glaring an abfurdity 
to pafs long without amendment. So great is the want 
of fait to carry on this fifhery, that eighteen barrels of 
frefh herrings are given for one barrel of fait ; and three 
barrels for one fhiliing fterling ; the owners judging- this 
trifle better than to allow them to rot without fait, as is 
often the cafe. An intelligent minifter,. in Skye, told the 
author, that lie had feen heaps upon heaps rotting on the 
Ihure, and, until carried oft'- to dung the ground, no man 
durft pafs on the leeward of them, for the rotten offeufive 
effluvia emitted from the fifli.” 
Reflecting on the lofs and difgrace which this nation 
has long faltered, while the Dutch have for ages paft con¬ 
trived to draw perhaps millions annually from our very 
J 
fhor.es; while a part of the nation live in the loweft ftafe 
of wretchednefs for want of the means of employment, 
and in fituations the raoft favourable for fifhing ; and this, 
while we are giving bounties to encourage a fifiiery at 
many thou fund miles diftance; are faCts on which the 
author finds it difficult to write with moderation and 
temper. 
“ The immenfe quantities of fifti which frequent .the 
coafts of the Hebrides, he fays, exceeds all conception-. 
From the vaft multitude of fowls about St. Kilda, vveare 
fure that the fifti muft be very plenty there. Let us for a 
moment confine our attention to the confumption made by 
one fingie fpecies of the numberlefs fowls that feed on the 
herring. The folan goofe is almoft infatiably voracious ; 
lie flies with great force and velocity ; toils all day with 
very little intermiffion, and digeftshis food in a very fhort 
time ; he difdains to eat any thing worfe than herrings or 
mackarel, unlefs it be in a very hungry place, which he 
takes care to avoid or abandon. We (hall take it for 
granted that there are an hundred thoufand of that kind 
round the rocks of St. Kilda, and this calculation is by far 
too moderate, as no lefs than twenty thoufand of them 
are killed yearly, including the young ones. We fhall 
fuppofe that the folan goofe fojourns in thefe feas for 
about feven months of the year, and that each of them 
deftroys five hearings in a day, a fubfiftence by no means 
adequate to fo greedy a creature, unlefs it were more than 
half fu-pported of other fifties. Here we have one hundred 
thoufand millions of the fineft fifties in the world devour¬ 
ed annually by one fingie fpecies of the St. Kilda birds. 
“ On the weft fide of the long ifle the very whales 
might be harpooned with eafe and fafety, inftead of going 
to Greenland, or to the South Seas, in queft of them, at 
much heavier expences, and greater danger annually. 
The mod proper time for harpooning them is, when they 
are feen devouring the herrings by great mouthfuls and, 
each gap they make is conftantly filled with frefti fupplies, 
wifhing to fly beyond danger, but cannot for the thick 
bank before them, as rliey ftand pent up in lochs, by the 
fhoals. And the ftrongeft whale dares not pierce through 
them ; feeing he could not move his fins for the immenfe 
throng, much lefs rife to the furfuce to breathe ; there¬ 
fore tiie monlier is feen behind the herrings, like a horfe 
eating at the face of a hay-rick. Even with a hatchet and 
fword, Mr. Campbell of Scalpay killed a large one, who 
had followed the ftioal of herrings too far into a narrow 
creek.” 
Thefe obfervations of Mr. Buchanan have been fol¬ 
lowed up by a Hanoverian writer, who, in his book pub- 
lifhed in 1S03, offered “ Plans of National Improvement 
to Great-Britain.” On the fubjedt of our fiflieries, which 
is the head of improvement beft elucidated, the author 
appears to poifefs Very ample information. He fatisfac- 
toriiy (ketches the.rife, pro'grefs, decline, and prefent 
ftate, of thefe jnflitutions. among various nations, and de- 
feribes at fome length the manner in which they are ac¬ 
tually conducted. The ancient Scandinavian fiflieries, 
he remarks, were the nurferies in which were formed 
thofe piratical hordes, which were fo long the terror and 
the fcourge of the foutli of Europe. The introduction 
of Chriftianity, with its concomitant arts, and efpecially 
that of agriculture, rendering thefe rude tribes lefs depen¬ 
dent on their former fources of fubfiftence, occafioned a 
great relaxation in the purfuit of them. The union of 
Colmar, and the inceffant agitations which followed it, 
reduced them to the loweft ftate, whence they have but 
imperfedtly emerged. Denmark, we are told, although 
it poflefles in exclulive fovereignty the ifiands of Iceland, 
Ferro, and the Greenland coaft of Davis (traits, wiih the, 
immenfe coaft of Norway, yet the fifti fold to foreigners 
and exported from the Danifh dominions, do not, upon 
an average of the laft fifty years, exceed the amount of 
120,000!. fterling annually. The Dutch alfo having loft 
their naval preponderancy, the fiflieries are on that ac¬ 
count partly abandoned. Such has been their decline of 
