Cod, Herring, Mackerel, and Pilchard. THAARUP remarks, that an annual, and equal Abundance of Fish, cannot be expected; as natural Events, are often the Cause of the Decrease. It is generally found, that the Productiveness of Fisheries, are inversely, according to the greater, or less Fertility, of the Earth, so that the first, are highly successful, when the Country suffers most, by bad Crops. Never were Fisheries of every kind more productive, than in 1740 or 1745; but these Years, were the worst in regard to Scarcity and Famine, that NORWAY ever experienced. Whether this Rule holds good in other Countries, is a Question deserving of Investigation: in NORWAY, it is thus accounted for. "When the Winds violently blow towards the Coast, they drive the Fish into all the Bays, Creeks, and Inlets, but at the same time, carry with them a cold damp Vapour, and this Exhalation spreading, fills the whole Atmosphere with thick, hazy, Fogs, which intercepting the Sun's Rays, prevent the Land from having the usual Benefit of their Warmth." It is the North West Wind, Lord SHEFFIELD says, which throws the Herrings towards the Coast of IRELAND. In that Country, was it ever

noted, that when the Fisheries were Exuberant, the Harvest was Scanty.

That a universal Defection should happen, in point of Numbers, there can be no Hazard, when the Fecundity of FISHES is examined, whether the Waste is occasioned by Human Art, or that by Predatory Animals, wisely perhaps ordained by PROVIDENCE, to curtail this Class, within its due Boundary. SHIP Loads of the Spawn of COD, Mr. PENNANT in his Arctic ZOOLOGY, tells us, are sent ANNUALLY from SWEDEN to FRANCE. Notwithstanding the general Plenty of COD, in February 1808, Parcels of Cod Fish, Four in each, sold for Two Guineas and a half each Cod, or Ten Guineas, the Lot. A tolerable Exemplification, that Luxury has made some trifling Enhancement in Fish Diet. The largest Cod Fish that we read of, was caught, March 1807, at Colleston, on the SCOTCH Coast, weighing, after being gutted, Seventy four Pounds and a half. In HOLLAND, and in Families where the dressing of Fish is nicely attended to, the Operation of CRIMPING, is performed upon most Kinds, but especially the Cod. This Cruelty, to be Scientifically

executed, is done whilst the Fish is alive, (though it is proved to a Demonstration, that first depriving the Fish of Life, the CRIMPING answers just as well) by scoring it to the Bone, and depositing it a few Hours in Salt and Water; indeed a Question has been started, Why the Epicure should prefer Fish, that has been bereaved of a considerable Portion of its rich and soluble Parts in the boiling Water? unless it is thus solved, that as the Fish is harder, the masticating Powers are more occupied, and his Palate receives a longer Gratification.

As a Testimony of the Impetuosity of Fish, in their own ELEMENT, an Extract is taken, from BARROW's Voyage, to COCHIN CHINA.

"There are Instances, still more extraordinary than the SALMON-LEAP, of the astonishing Power, which the Muscles of Fishes are capable of exerting; and, were they not authenticated in such a Manner, as not to leave the Possibility of a Doubt, they would certainly be considered, as the Inventions of Voyagers. Ships Sides, of thick Oak Plank, have been completely perforated by the Snout of the Sword-fish, not of the common Species, the Xiphias gladius, of which we struck

one at the Entrance of Porta-Praya Bay, but another, or at least a Variety, of greater Dimensions, being sometimes from twenty to thirty Feet in length, and distinguished by a large spotted black Fin, and by the rounded Extremity of the Snout or bony Proboscis. VAN SCHOUTEN, of HORNS, in his very entertaining Voyage round the WORLD, about the Beginning of the Seventeenth Century, states that "a great Fish, or Sea Monster, having a Horn like a common Elephant's Tooth, except being full, and not hollow, struck the Ship with such great Strength, that it entered into three Planks of the Ship, two of green, and one of Oaken Wood, and into a Rib, where it turned upward, to their great good Fortune." In the Year 1801, a DâNISH Ship came into the CAPE of Good Hope, in consequence of springing a Leak off the BRAZIL Coast. On examination, it was found, that She had been struck by a Sword Fish, the Snout of which had penetrated the Bottom, where it still remained, having snapped close on the exterior Side of the Vessel. In the same Year, a small ENGLISH Ship came into TABLE Bay, having received, in the Southern Atlantic, a Stroke from a Sword Fish, which buried part of the

bony Snout, so deep in the Stern-post, as to impede the Action of the Rudder. These two Facts consist with my own Knowledge, which, together with the Piece of Plank from the Bottom of an East Indiaman, now in the BRITISH MUSEUM, transfixed by the Sword of this Fish, may satisfy the Doubts of the most sceptical, on a Subject which was known to the ANCIENTS, perhaps more than Two Thousand Years ago, as it is mentioned by PLINY, to be a Fact indisputably established, long before his Time *."

* A. D. 1725, in Refitting his MAJESTY'S Ship LEOPARD, after her Return from the West Indies, the Shipwrights found in her Bottom, part of the Sword of one of these Fishes. The outside was rough, and the End, when broken off, like coarse Ivory. From the Direction in which the Sword lay, the Fish is supposed to have followed the Ship when under Sail, it had penetrated through the Sheathing, which was an Inch thick, passed through three Inches of Plank, and beyond that, Four Inches and a half, into the Timber. The Force requisite to effect this (since the Vessel was proceeding in a Direction from the Fish), must have been excessive, especially as no Shock was felt by the People on Board. The Workmen, declared it impossible, with a Hammer of a Quarter of an Hundred Weight, to drive an Iron Pin of the same Form and Size, into that Wood, and to the same Depth, in less than Eight or Nine Strokes, whilst this had been effected by only ONE.