ed the downward progress. Indeed, in 1879 and 1880, when mackerel were normally plentiful, schooners lay deserted in the harbors of Maine, and crews could not be found to go on them. Nevertheless, matters grew worse when the mackerel catch fell off, and many who had until then courageously faced the conditions which confronted them, were compelled to succumb to the inevitable, and sell their vessels or employ them in some other trade.

In many cases this was due not only to scarcity of fish or condition of markets, but to the difficulty in obtaining skilful and trained fishermen, without whom it was folly to send vessels to sea.

Reference has already been made to the influences which conflicted with the deep-sea fisheries in this regard. It remains to be added that those still inclined

to follow the sea fishery naturally preferred to sail on the swiftest and most expensive vessels, which also were usually commanded by the most skilful or "luckiest". skippers. Few fishing-ports have been able to successfully compete in the matter of vessels with Gloucester, where new and costly clippers are added to the fleet each year. This, together with other advantages, led large numbers of the best fishermen to go there from Cape Cod and Maine, the result being, of course, beneficial to the port they sailed from, but correspondingly detrimental to the development or continuance of home fisheries.

But, whatever influence this may have had, it is probable nothing could have arrested the progress of decay, for it is well known that the most determined efforts were made at certain points: the best vessels and the most skilful men

were employed, everything that intelligence and business sagacity could suggest was done, and ruin came in spite of it.

It may be true that the increased cost of vessels, the additional expense of running them, together with the enhance ment of the cost of living which now confronts the fishermen and this depends more on change in the methods of living than the purchasing power of a dollarhave had a disheartening influence, and have reached a point where it may not reasonably be expected the returns from fishing, as conducted from the smaller ports, will give the necessary income to meet expenditures and leave a profit. But, however serious these obstacles may now appear, it is probable they would be found of small moment, and it may fairly be assumed that the sea fisheries might still prosper, as in earlier years, except for the fierce competition that comes from foreign countries and from all sections of the United States.

It is highly probable that there will always be demand for salt cod, mackerel, and other fish that come from distant Northern seas. But the question of cheap ening the product by increasing the catch per man or per vessel will ever be a vital one in this competitive battle, where sen

timent is not a factor; and a problem scarcely second in importance is the introduction of new or improved methods of preservation.

The limit of human possibility seems to have been reached in the matter of capture of sea fish; for it is difficult to conceive of more exertion being made or of greater risks being taken. The use of steam-vessels may increase the catch of fresh fish, as well as the scope of the market fishery. But even now the supply often exceeds the demand, and steamers are not available to the salt-fish industry, and scarcely can be expected to build up the waste places in the coves and small harbors along the New England coast.

However, cargoes of herring have arrived from Newfoundland that were artificially frozen on board the vessels, and the question arises as to what extent, if any, this method may be applied to the cod or mackerel taken in summer on remote fishing grounds. Canning the products on board the vessels may also receive consideration in the not distant future.

It is undoubtedly true that the cure of salt herring is susceptible of improvement in this country, and there seems no reason why our markets should be filled with European herring when it is quite possible

for our own fishermen to furnish as good an article if intelligent care in preparation is observed.

To what extent, if any, the sea fisheries may hereafter be profited by exportation of salted products remains to be seen. At present, however, the prospect of any material benefit from foreign trade is not encouraging. For not only are sea fish now imported in large quantities from British North American provinces, but salt mackerel come to us from Norway and Ireland, and herring from various European countries. It is therefore evident that more favorable conditions than now exist are required to create an extensive demand for our salted sea fish in other countries. Until there is material change in this regard, the balance of fish trade will not favor our deep-sea fisheries, and the home market must be relied on for any improvement that may come.

Much has been done recently to render more attractive the salted sea products, and to this as much as to anything else is due the continued prosperity of Gloucester, or of other fishing-ports that may still thrive. The intelligence that has brought these and other improvements may reasonably be relied upon to meet the exigencies of the hour, so far as human skill and business activity can meet them. Never

theless, the fact remains that (even though the present importance of the New England fisheries, including those termed "shore fisheries," may be maintained in the aggregate) the same forces are now at work that caused the decadence in the vessel fisheries along our northeastern coast, and their future influence may well prove an interesting subject for observation by all who are concerned in the coutinuance of industries which train seamen for commerce or for manning our navies in time of war.

Time may again bring piscatorial prosperity to New England; fleets of fishingclippers may once more sail from its many green isles and quiet coves; a hardy race of native-born seamen may be bred along its shores and schooled in its sea fisheries; for circumstances now unforeseen may bring these changes. However, the present outlook is not promising for the immediate realization of these hoped-for conditions. Nevertheless, they may come in the future, when an immense population requires a larger supply of fish food, and when a great nation more fully appreciates the importance of encouraging a selfsustaining militia of the sea, which, as history shows, embodies professional skill, brawn and brain, courage and hardihood, to a degree not to be found elsewhere.

dary-line between the Orange Free State and the country commonly known as Basutoland. The history of the South African republics, from their very beginning down to within the last few years, is a record of their more or less successful contests with the Basuto* people. The cause of these wars has been, of course, a conflict of ideas as to who had the best right to the soil. The blacks held that it was theirs because from time out of mind blacks had peopled all this neighborhood; but the Boers argued, on the other side, that the blacks were, after all, merely heathen, and did not make good use of their property. The white man argued in South Africa much as he did in New England when he landed on Plymouth Rock, and cheerfully expelled the heathen who set up prescriptive claims to Massachusetts. Such arguments as these were of great assistance to the pioneers who crossed the Mississippi, scaled the Rocky Mountains, and astonished the Spanish Americans who then claimed California, New Mexico, and a great deal more. In fact, it is in human nature that even God-fearing and law-abiding men accept readily the doc trine that the earth belongs to those who make best use of it. Indeed, the philosophy which cheered the Boers who weeded out the blacks fifty years ago differs not much from the philosophy of the AngloSaxons now occupying the gold-fields of the Transvaal.

The Caledon River was for years, as we have said, the disputed boundary, and even to-day it is safe to say that if Great Britain withdrew her protection from the Basutos, there would be a Jameson raid into that land within twenty-four hours-a raid that would exceed in fury anything accomplished during the great Oklahoma "boom" when the United States government opened that portion of the * This word I use according to common practice

in South Africa,and not according to the few learned in "native" orthography.-P. B.

naked neighbors, without ever making conquest of their country. At last, in 1872, England made an end of these disturbances upon the borders of her possessions by acting as mediator, fixing the boundaries, and practically going bail for the future good behavior of the negroes.

The word negro is not heard in South Africa excepting as a term of opprobrium. Often and often again have Africander Englishmen stopped me, when speaking of Zulus, Basutos, Matabele, and so on, as negroes. "You in America only know the blacks who came over as slaves

that is to say, the West African negro; but"-and this they say with some prideour blacks are of a very superior character, and not at all to be confused with the material found on the Guinea coast."

Though this is a popular notion amongst Africanders and Englishmen generally, it is not, I think, founded either upon historical research or upon observation of the negro in different places. It is true that the most common slave trade in times past was between the African west coast and the eastern shores of America, but it is equally true that the Portuguese carried on a steady and very profitable traffic of the same nature from their East African possessions, notably Mozambique. This alone can account for a large portion of Zulu and Basuto blood amongst the American slaves, but aside from this there is every reason for believing that even on the west coast a considerable portion of the slaves shipped to America were prisoners of war captured far in the interior, from tribes that had been recruited from the east coast. The life of an African negro nation is practically the life of one remarkable man who may possess a gift for war much above the average of his blood. Thus we hear of Lobengula creating the Matabele, of Cetywayo and the Zulus, and, greater than all, of Moshesh, the great organizer of the Basutos. These black leaders have made so-called nations,

because they readily attracted to themselves the warriors from surrounding tribes or families, who were glad to follow any leader that promised them plunder in war and security for what they might take in the way of booty.

Whoever glances at successive maps of Africa must be struck by the rapidity with which names of territories have been changed within the last three hundred years. It is, however, what one might reasonably expect from negroes incapable of self-control, living only for the gratification of momentary needs, and leaving behind them absolutely no record of any achievement calculated to advance the cause of civilization.

I am reminded here of a most interesting conversation I had with Dr. Theall, the Tacitus of South Africa, upon this subject.

"It is a disastrous mistake," said he to me, "for people in England to act as though black and white people can ever mix. The two races cannot intermarry without harm to one or both. The half-breeds who marry half-breeds cease to be prolific, and they become prolific only in the event of their marrying blacks or whites. There is no doubt that the negro has multiplied with great rapidity where he has been protected by whites. He cannot quarrel as he was wont to; he is not allowed to wage war; he is not allowed to kill witches; and when famines arise the government feeds him at the expense of the white tax-payers. Even disease is not allowed to sweep him away as it once did; at least the government does all in its power to check small-pox and other infectious ills."

As we are now about to cross the Caledon River into the land of the last negro nation surviving in South Africa, and as the interest of this nation to us

lies principally in the information we may gather regarding the future relations of the black man to the white, not only here, but in all Africa as well, I feel fortunate in being able to quote Dr. Theall further on this point.

"If this country is to amount to anything," said he, "it must be as a white man's country; now a white man will not work beside a black man, no matter how many laws are passed declaring the two to be equal. The British government protects the blacks, gives them free land, and looks after them in a philanthropic manner. But there is no law compelling a black man to work. The