We hurried down to the
shore to further examine this strange sight.
I was convinced as we approached that it was a shoal or bank of
herrings.
No sooner did I give utterance to my conjecture, than I was assailed by
a host of questions concerning this herring-bank, what it was, and what
occasioned it.
`A herring-bank,' I said, `is composed of an immense number of
herrings swimming together. I can scarcely express to you the huge size
of this living bank, which extends over a great area many fathoms deep.
It is followed by numbers of great ravenous fish, who devour quantities
of the herrings, while above hover birds, as you have just seen, ready
to pounce down on stragglers near the top. To escape these enemies, the
shoal makes for the nearest shore, and seeks safety in those shallows
where the large fish cannot follow. But here it meets with a third
great enemy.
`It may escape from the fish, and elude the vigilance of sharp-sighted
birds, but from the ingenuity of man it can find no escape. In one year
millions of these fish are caught, and yet the roes of only a small
number would be sufficient to supply as many fish again.'
Soon our fishery was in operation. Jack and Fritz stood in the water
with baskets, and baled out the fish, as one bales water with a bucket,
throwing them to us on the shore.
Pages:
243
244
245
246
247
248
249
250
251
252
253
254
255
256
257
258
259
260
261
262
263
264
265
266
267