To determine the value of this supply, we must go further, and ascertain if these various tribes of fish, reputed to be in such numbers, are found under such conditions and in such places as to constitute a permanent and profitable fishery. This is the practical question, which is still undecided. It is not enough to show that the whole coast may be subsisted by its fish. It should be shown further that the fish of this coast can be made to subsist other places, so as to become a valuable article of commerce. And here uncertainty begins. The proper conditions of an extensive fishery are not yet understood. It is known that certain fisheries exist in certain waters and on certain soundings, but the spaces of ocean are obscure, even to the penetrating eye of science. Fishing-banks known for ages are still in many respects a mystery, which is increased where the fishery is recent or only coastwise. There are other banks which fail from local incidents. Thus, very lately a cod-fishery was commenced on Rockall Bank, one hundred and sixty-five miles northwest of the Hebrides, but the deep rolling of the Atlantic and the intolerable weather compelled its abandonment. Before considering the capacity of this region for an extensive fishery, it is important to know such evidence as exists with regard to the supply; and here again we must resort to the early navigators and visitors. Their evidence, reinforced by modern reports, is an essential element, even if it does not entirely determine the question. Down to the arrival of Europeans, the natives lived on fish. This had been their constant food, with small additions from the wild vegetation. In summer it was fish freshly caught; in winter it was fish dried or preserved. At the first landing, on the discovery, Steller found in the deserted cellar “store of red salmon,” and the sailors brought away “smoked fishes that appeared like large carp and tasted very well.”[180] This is the earliest notice of fish on this coast, which are thus directly associated with its discovery. The next of interest is the account of a Russian navigator, in 1768-9, who reports at the Fox Islands, and especially Oonalaska, “cod, perch, pilchards, smelts, roach.”[181] Thus early the cod appears.