BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 69 



are tliey to be taken in the waters around the Xortbern and Western 

 Islands, which are relatively as rich as the nnplowed prairies of the 

 Far West ! It may be said that large fishing- fleets visit Barra and 

 Stornoway and other stations on the west coast every summer, and 

 that fishermen are coustantlj' at work around the Orkney and Shetland 

 Islands. It ought, however, to be remembered that the only fishing of 

 any note around the Western Islands lasts but eight or ten weeks, and 

 that nearly all the fisherman are in search of herring, to be cured for 

 the foreign market. During the rest of the year comparatively little 

 fishing is carried on, so that the shoals of cod, ling, and halibut are prac- 

 tically undisturbed. At Shetland, however, in addition to the summer 

 herring fishing, there are a number of boats engaged in capturing cod, 

 halibut, turbot, &c., which are sent in ice to the English markets. But 

 it IS well known that the fresh fish now sent (under 500 tons in 1884) 

 from Shetland do not represent a tithe of that which the waters, if more 

 thoroughly fished, would readily yield. 



It may be asked, how is it that the fisheries of Shetland and the West- 

 ern Islands have not assumed greater magnitude! For two reasons, 

 1 think. In the first i)lace, because the curers, in whose hands the de- 

 velopment of the fishery industry to a great extent lies, have practically 

 devoted their whole attention to curing herring for the continental 

 markets; and in the second place, because the native fishermen of the 

 Western Highlands and Islands have had little encouragement to en- 

 gage in fishing. In the absence of appliances for preserving fresh fish, 

 and without fast steamers to carry them to Liverpool and other large 

 towns, fishing could not possibly paj', even if suitable harbors and 

 large boats were provided. As an illustration of this, it may be men- 

 tioned that large turbot, which could not be purchased under 20s. or 

 30s. in London, are often cut into slices, and used as bait in the Heb- 

 rides. The present condition of the fishing industry in the northwest 

 of Scotland is due to the unfavorable surroundings of the inhabitants 

 rather than to anything connected with national characteristics. It 

 might be pointed out that on the west coast of Norway (where the in- 

 habitants have in some respects fewer natural advantages than the west 

 coast of Scotland can boast of) there is the large town of Hammerfest, 

 within the arctic circle, further south is Trondhjem, and nearly opposite 

 Lerwick, in Shetland, is the old busy town of Bergen, with a latitude of 

 G0,23 degrees — nearly 120 miles north of the Butt of Lewis, and twice 

 that distance north of Barra. Bergen, which has about 35,000 inhab- 

 itants, is one of the chief towns in Norway, and is the great center of 

 the fishing industry. How is it that there is not in Lewis Island and 

 still more in the Shetlands a town of the same importance as Bergen, 

 with a large fishing fleet and numerous trading vessels passing to and 

 fro ? Some might point to the difierence of the two races, and endeavor 

 to show that the absence of prosperity in the north and west of Scot- 

 land was due to the i)redominance of the Celt, while the success on 



