gyman sends his agent round the boats; this missionary counts the number of casts of herrings in each boat; he then calculates the expense of catching the fish, deducts it from the value of the fish; divides the remainder into eighty shares, and takes one to himself. In Cornwall, too, it appears, that the clergy have the modesty to demand a tithe on fish. At Megarissey, the great mart of the pilchard fishery, the tithe is 17. 13s. 4d. a seine (a large net ful), or 10s. a hogshead, and in other parts of Cornwall, the tithe is exacted on these fish.

Whatever we may think of the propriety of the Greenwich tax, we certainly can have no doubt of the cruelty of the tithe. The Greenwich plunder might be less revolting, even if it was put on the footing of being an old custom, but when it is attempted to be supported on legal grounds, we are led to despise the meanness of the cunning which it displays. How is it that the Yarmouth fishermen are compelled to contribute to Greenwich? Because, says the comptroller, they cure their herrings on board, and therefore they bring a foreign article into Great Britain, thus at once assuming the character of " Merchant Seamen." Was ever such a piece of human effrontery tolerated before by any government as this? And that the pretext is founded in fraud and falsehood, is manifested in the fact, that these poor fishermen of Yarmouth, who are turned into "Merchant Seamen," for the purpose of being plundered, cease to be considered as "Merchant Seamen," when the benefits of that character are to be bestowed. Not one of the fishermen who has contributed his hard-earnings to Greenwich Hospital, could ever have the slightest claim to participate in any portion whatever of its succour.

Having now taken this general view of the state of the fisheries and the English Channel, we proceed to the information which has scattered through this large volume, on the subject of the ancient Pilchard Fisheries of Cornwall. It appears that the Pilchard Fishery has been immemoriably carried on, on the coast of England, from Dartmouth, along the South shore of Devon and Cornwall to Padstow, round the Lands End. The words, "Pilchard Fishery," mean principally the "Seine Fishery," but there is also another method of catching pilchards, that by drift-nets. The word Seine is the Cornish one for a large net, about two hundred fathoms long by fourteen fathoms deep; it has lead at its lower extremity to keep it on the bottom, and corks on the top sufficient to keep the upper part buoyant. The employment of these nets is therefore limited to such a distance from the shore as their depths, which, as we have said, is from twelve to fourteen fathoms. The drift-nets, the other method of taking pilchards, are adapted for deeper water, and as by being used near the shore, they disturb and turn aside the fish, these nets have been by law prohibited from being employed within four and a half miles from the nearest headlands. Each seine requires three boats, and the mode of fishing by it is

the most fruitful. There are about two hundred and fifty seines in Cornwall, and the western part of Devonshire; they were purchased chiefly either during the war, or just at its conclusion, and each stood to the purchaser in from 750l. to 10002.

It will be seen, then, that the amount of capital embarked in the seine trade alone is not less than 200,000l. The number of men required to equip the seines is 4,500; the annual expense of a single seine amounts to nearly 2001., to cover which it would take about one hundred hogsheads of pilchards. The drift boats are far less expensive: they are from eight to fifteen tons, and seldom, with their whole stock, cost more than 250. There are about 500 of these boats, which are equipped by about 2,500 men, and the capital embarked in them does not exceed 120,000. As a source of supply even for domestic purposes, the drift-net fishery is inade quate: it bears no comparison with the seine fishery as an object of national importance, as a benefit to the country, as a source of employment for the labouring poor, or as a nursery for hardy seamen. There is great reason to suppose that the pilchards are in the Channel at all parts of the year; but it is in July that they are thought to be best in season, and then it is that the drift boats go out in deep water to catch them. In August a great abundance of the fish draw towards the necks of the bays, getting nearer the shore, and then the operations of the seine fishing begin. The fish caught at this time are called the "bay seine fish." Some considerable portion, however, of the pilchards do not turn into the bays, but advance into deep water, joining some fresh shoals, and all make a general strike in September along the whole coast, or striking at one particular spot, coast it along the whole line or certain parts of it. This strike generally occurs twice in the season, and it is considered as terminating the fishery. Pilchards travel in bodies, which are divided into various shoals, each containing as many as would fill from 2 to 10,000 hogsheads.

The pilchards, from the use to which they are put, form a very singular feature of British commerce. They are by no means extensively consumed in this country, and therefore the principal object in taking them is to salt and prepare them for foreign markets. Formerly they were sent to the Mediterranean, as well as to our West Indian colonies, in vast quantities. The consumption of these prepared fish is now confined, almost exclusively, to the countries on the Mediterranean, and it will not be amiss to furnish a few details, to exhibit the countries which purchase, and the amount of materials sent out. The following account of the exports of pilchards is for the year 1832. It is convenient to premise that there are two catches in the year, so that it will be proper to give the whole exported. The time of the year for the exportation, was usually that which would enable the ships to land their cargo before the commencement of Lent.

Such is the amount of hogsheads of pilchards sent to these countries, with fish obtained by the first catch; and next we have to give the amount exported of the second catch.

All the pilchards were shipped at the Custom-houses of Falmouth, Penzance, St. Ives, and Fowey; some few at Padstoe, Looe, and the Cornish coast, and some at Plymouth, but very few.

The above amount of hogsheads is a little more than the yearly average produce of the Pilchard Fishery. It begins generally in August, and continues for about three months.

From Mr. Alfred Fox, a proprietor of some seines, we have some accurate information by which we are led into an accurate acquaintance with the mysteries of the Pilchard Fishery. It appears that though the word seine is applied to nets, yet that in its extended application it goes farther. A seine then consists of two large boats and one small one, which carry between them two nets, the one called the stop-net or stop-seine, the other the tuck-seine. The seine also contains other materials. The length of the first is 220 fathoms, or a quarter of a mile; its depth is rather less than 100 feet; the tuck-seine is half the size of the first net. Three boats as we have seen employ these nets, and constitute the seine, which is manned by 16 men and aided by two draught boats. There are now only about 5,000 men employed in all branches of the pilchard trade. The men engaged in the fishing, are paid each from 7s. to 10s. a week, having besides some slight share of the fish which they catch; Mr Fox's men get a quarter of the gross amount taken. The fish is said to be well liked in Cornwall, and

it is sold at the rate of 1s. per hundred. But it would appear that the fish curers prefer exportation to home consumption; they will let a friend for instance have a hogshead now and then, but not to any great extent. There is sometimes a superabundance of pilchards, and then some portion is used as manure, in which capacity they are said to be unrivalled. About five or six years ago, there was an exportation duty, and a bounty on the catching of the fish. The duty was ad valorem, having been 10s. on every 100s. worth. The bounty was 8s. 6d. per hogshead, and this for 300,000 hogsheads would be 13,000l. a year. The bounty as well as the duty were both repealed five or six years ago, and in consequence many seines were given up, and the nets turned into coverings for fruit trees. This however is not the worst. Venice and Naples, which are the best markets for the pilchards, are beginning to think little of their suppliers, and at Naples the duty on pilchards imported is now 18s. 2d. the hogshead. The duty last year was about 10,000. The hogsheads of pilchards fetches in Cornwall about 35s., whilst at Naples it costs 65s. The freight of the latter only amounts to from 5s. 6d. to.7s. the hogshead. The pilchards are both pickled and dried: the former are intended for home consumption, of the latter the exports almost exclusively consist. Some of the pickled pilchards were lately sent up to London on trial, but their reception was by no means of a nature to lead to a repetition of the experiment.

The exported fish is most in demand in the Lent season; but then, as at other times, the Cornwall fish has to contend particularly in the Neapolitan market with rivals from Spain, who send pickled pilchards there: and also a good deal of injury is done to our exports by the quantity of Turkey and Sardinia fish, but particularly the abundance of eels from the Venetian lakes. The fishermen, who are employed only during three months in the catching of pilchards, are employed in various ways during the other months. A large portion of them attend to the repairs of the seines, and a small part return to agriculture, but many are on the poor list, particularly in places where the season has not been successful. It is a great pity that this large branch of our commerce should be allowed to go to decay, and yet this is the state in which it is involved at present. The other great fisheries are not far from being in a similar condition, and it is with great pleasure we read the cordial determinations to which the committee have come, as to the necessity of redress.

They recommend that the government should arrange with France to prevent the French fishermen from at all coming within the distance of a league from our shore, that they, and all other foreign fishermen should be required to observe our laws relating to the spawning or breeding season for fish, and that to enforce the observance of those laws, our Customs and Revenue cutters should be instructed to act. The committee recommend that effectual

measures be taken to prevent the continuance of the present system of importation of foreign fish: and they say that they have good reason to be confident that the ample supply of the whole country will be adequately effected by British fishermen. They show the necessity of immediate interference for protecting the spawn and young broods of fish by enforcing the laws, or making new ones, respecting the size of net-meshes, and the times of fishing.

The Stow-boat system is also strongly recommended by them as a department which should be considerably modified if not suppressed the further recommendation which they offer to the country are for a reform of the mode of carrying fish inland, at least as to its expense by tolls: the abolition of tithes on fish, the protection of oyster-beds, such as those of Emsworth, from the plunder of the spawn and the untimely abstraction of the oysters; the restriction of drift-boats in the Pilchard Fisheries to certain times and localities which will prevent them from disturbing the fish. The fisheries of Yarmouth are happily an exception to the rest, being in a thriving state, but they suffer much from the heavy duty they pay for herrings sent to the Neapolitan market, which if reduced to a reasonable scale, would allow of an export from Yarmouth alone, to Naples of 10,000 barrels a year. The number of fishing vessels at Yarmouth is about 100, of the average of from 40 to 50 tons; there are about 60 vessels hired in addition every season: the number of men employed is computed at 5,000, besides a multitude employed in connexion with this fishery on shore. A capital of a quarter of a million is embarked in the Yarmouth Fishery. That of Lowestoff consists of 70 boats, about 40 tons each.

Such is the melancholy spectacle presented by our Channel fisheries at this unlucky era. It is consolatory however, to know that in such a country as this, spirit, pride, and enterprize, enough will be found to redeem this branch of commerce, and restore it to what it once was, a flourishing monument of our naval dominion.

ART. VI.-The Baboo, and other Tales descriptive of Society in India. In 2 vols. London: Smith, Elder, and Co.

1834.

WORKS, whatever be their other pretentions, which throw any light on Indian manners, must be deemed of great value in this country, for reasons which, at least, under existing circumstances, will not easily be misunderstood. The performance before us, though presented under the humble title of a series of tales, affords a curious illustration of the peculiarities of Indian society and manners. The first of the tales is called Baboo, the scenes of which are laid in Calcutta. The drama opens with the drawingroom of Sir Charles Wroughton, an officer holding a high situation