a fortress in the hands of our enemies: and the

whole question is, whether we ought to dispossess them or not; a question that admits of no dispute." *

Since the year 1765, the contraband trade has been nearly annihilated. The little that is now done is supposed to be by means of coasting vessels, or of ships, which, on account of bad wind or weather, anchor for a short time in some of the harbours of the island.

* Postlewaite's Commercial Dictionary, fol. vol. ii.

69

CHAPTER VI.

On the Herring and the Herring Fishery. THE herring fishery, giving rise to the chief

commerce of the Isle of Man, I shall a little enlarge upon, beginning with the natural history of the fish, extracted from the approved works of Pennant, Shaw, Bloch, and occasionally Buffon, generally retaining the language of the two former naturalists, and translating from the French that of the two latter.

The Clupea Harengus, common herring, is eminently important in a commercial view, and may justly be said to form one of the wonders of the northern world. It is principally distinguished by the brilliant silvery colour of its body, the advancement of the lower jaw beyond the upper, and by the number of rays in the anal fin, which, in by far the greater number of specimens, are found to amount to seventeen.* The back is of a dusky hue, or greenish cast; and in the recent or living fish, the gill-covers

* Mr. Pennant says, the usual number is fourteen.

are marked by a reddish, and sometimes by a violet-coloured spot: the eyes are large: the mouth is without visible teeth: the openings of the gill-covers are very large: the scales are rather large and easily deciduous: the lateral line is not very distinctly visible: the abdomen is pretty sharply carinated, and, in some specimens, slightly serrated: the fins are rather small than large for the size of the fish, and the tail is strongly forked. The herring is observed to vary greatly in size, and there are probably some permanent varieties of this species, which yet want their exact description. The general size is perhaps from ten to twelve or thirteen inches.

Important as this fish is to the inhabitants of modern Europe, it is doubted whether it was distinctly known to the ancient Greeks and Romans, at least we find no certain description in their writings, either of its form or uses. The herring fishery is, however, of considerable antiquity; the Dutch are said to have engaged in it so long ago as the year 1164, and were in possession of it for several centuries; and Flanders had the honour of discovering the method of preserving this fish by pickling it. One William Beukelen, of Biervlet, near Sluys, is

said to have been the inventor of this useful expedient; and from him is probably derived the word pickle, which we have borrowed from the Dutch and Germans. Beukelen died in the year 1397. The emperor, Charles the Fifth, is said to have held his memory in such veneration for the service he had done mankind, as to have paid a solemn visit to his tomb, in honour of so distinguished a citizen, and, sitting thereon, to have eaten a herring.* The Dutch are most extravagantly fond of this fish when pickled: a premium was given to the first vessel that arrived in Holland, laden with this, their ambrosia. much joy was observed among the inhabitants on its arrival, as the Egyptians shew at the first overflowing of the Nile.+

As

The great winter rendezvous of the herring is within the arctic circle: there they continue many months, in order to recruit themselves after the fatigue of spawning; the seas, within that space, swarming with insect food in a far greater degree than in our warmer latitudes.

They commence their voyage in the spring,

* Shaw's Zoology, Vol. v. Ichtyologie par Bloch, Berlin, Vol. i. p. 150.

+ Pennant's British Zoology.

and a few appear off the Shetland Isles in April and May. These are only fore-runners of the grand shoal which comes in June, and their appearance is chiefly marked by the number of birds, such as gannets and gulls, which follow and prey upon them: but when the main body approaches, 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 in breadth; and they drive the water before them with a kind of rippling. Sometimes they sink for the space of ten or fifteen minutes; then rise again to the surface, and, in bright weather, reflect a variety of splendid colours, like a field of the most precious gems.

The first obstruction that they meet with in their passage southward is the Shetland Isles, which divide the shoal into two parts. One division directs its course to the eastern, the other to the western shores of Great Britain, and fill every bay and creek with their numbers. The one passes on towards Yarmouth, the great and ancient mart of herrings, proceeds through the British Channel, and afterwards nearly disappears. The other, after offering itself to the