THE HISTORY OF DUTCH SEA FISHERIES. 261 



once became apparent. Being much lighter than hemp, 

 larger fleets could be used, and more water covered ; and 

 at the same time their depth could be made greater 

 without the weight causing the upper meshes to contract, 

 and be of no avail. But, as a set-off to their lightness, 

 cotton nets were found subject to more wear and tear than 

 the solid net of the ancestors. Mr. Maas spent some years 

 in tanning and boiling experiments to make them as 

 durable as hemp ; and cotton prices being at the time up, in 

 consequence of the American war, it was not till 1865 that 

 the use of cotton nets fairly began to spread among herring 

 ship-owners. 



Several causes besides the dearth of cotton meantime 

 counteracted the effect of the new law. Both shipowners 

 and dealers had to get accustomed to liberty before 

 learning how to turn it to account. A body of men 

 brought up from childhood to strict observation of a set of 

 rules precluding all innovation whatever, could scarcely be 

 expected, immediately upon the withdrawal of those rules, 

 to turn their attention to novelties, and invest money in 

 experiments, or look abroad for examples, all of which 

 operations they had been taught to regard as the breaking 

 of sacred laws. Fetter a man down through life, and when 

 set free he will be some time in recovering the use of his 

 limbs. Besides these psychological causes for a continued 

 stagnation, positive checks at first kept the herring-fishery 

 down. Years elapsed before an enlightened administration, 

 advised by a College of competent men, could, under the 

 salt excise law of 1857, regulate the conditions of freedom 

 of salt excise for fishermen in such a manner as not to 

 thwart the development of the several branches of sea- 

 fishery. The herring seasons of 1857-1861 were in 

 general unfavourable, and the returns below the average, 



