en degrees of more effulgent clime," the fish
partake of the slimy properties of their native element; it is only in
the limpid waters of the North that they are found of flavor so
unexceptionable as to please an epicurean taste, or exalt them to the
dignity of a staple of commerce. Fish possess peculiar qualities to
commend them as an article of food, independent of the arbitrary
preference of the epicure. They are universally esteemed as a
wholesome and nutritious diet. In that pleasant work, Irving's
"Astoria," a tribe of Indians are described who subsisted entirely on
fish, whose rotund appearance contrasted strongly with the physique of
their brethren of the forest. The profusion with which the finny
tribes propagate their species is a peculiarity said to be imparted to
those who partake freely and regularly of them for food, a supposition
which would seem to be strongly supported by facts. Fishermen are
proverbial for the number of their descendants. One of the tribe who
dries his nets in Sarnia, is the happy father of nineteen children,
and we can cite numerous proofs almost equally striking in support of
this theory.

The fisheries have always been a leading subject in the government
policy of seaboard nations. They are a prime source of revenue, and
have been the cause of numerous wars. The serious controversy between
the United States and Great Britain concerning the Newfoundland
fisheries, is still fresh in the memory of our readers. Recently the
earnest attention of the French government has been directed to
propositions for the artificial propagation of fish, as a means of
affording good and cheap food to the people at a merely nominal cost.
The gradual diminution of the species, as well as the ultimate
extinction of the large birds and quadrupeds, is everywhere a
condition of advanced civilization and the increase and spread of an
industrial population. To provide a remedy for the evil, the science
of pisciculture has latterly attracted no small degree of attention,
and, at this time, gentlemen prominently identified with our fishing
interest have it in contemplation to stock lakes in the interior of
Michigan with a view to the prosecution of the science.

Most of the fish packed on Lake Huron, and rivers St. Clair and
Detroit, find their way into the Ohio market. The trade with that
State has rapidly increased, but in its early stages it had some
difficulties to contend with, to one of which we will bri