fill every bay and creek with their numbers; others proceed towards
Yarmouth, the great and ancient mart of herrings; they then pass through
the British channel, and after that in a manner disappear. Those which
take to the west, after offering themselves to the Hebrides, where the
great stationary fishery is, proceed towards the north of Ireland, where
they meet with a second interruption and are obliged to make a second
division; the one takes to the western side and is scarcely perceived,
being soon lost in the immensity of the Atlantic, but the other, which
passes into the Irish sea, rejoins, and feeds the inhabitants of most of
the coasts that border on it. The brigades, as we call them, which are
separated from the greater columns, are often capricious in their
motions, and do not show an invariable attachment to their haunts."

"Thank you, John. Now all this sounds very fine, and seems very
systematic. It has but one objection--it is quite untrue. It is in the
first place more than doubtful if the herring frequents the Polar seas
at all; and in the second place, the most distinguished naturalists are
of opinion that it never leaves the neighbourhood of our own shores, but
merely retires to the deep water after it has spawned, and there remains
till the return of another season calls it again to the shores to
undergo a similar operation. So you see, Frank, it does not follow that
an interesting account of an animal's habits is necessarily a true
one."




CHAPTER VIII.

Uncle Thomas tells about the Baboons, and their Plundering