1883. J THE INDUSTRIES OF SHETLAND. 25 



It is most fortunate for one who would describe Truck that several 

 parliamentary volumes, full of evidence and free from bias, have 

 been compiled for his use, I refer to the Eeports of two Eoyal 

 Commissions, which have sat on Truck in Scotland and Shetland 

 within the past twelve years. I shall gladly avail myself of such 

 guidance when dealing presently with Truck. But I will take the 

 fishing first. The wealth of the water in this northern archipelago is 

 endless. Fish are caught both for salting and sale and for food, by 

 old and young, with lines and nets, and the numerous sorts vary ia 

 size from a piltock to a Ca'ing whale ; that is, from three inches to 

 thirteen feet. 



The fish used in curing are ling, tusk, saith, and cod, which are taken 

 in open boats at various distances from the shore. The quantity of fish 

 cured in Shetland exceeds that of all the rest in Scotland. There is a 

 considerable herring fishery besides the fish for home use, such as 

 young coal fish, called sillocks and piltocks at different ages, which 

 are caught with rods in the voes, and form in their season an important 

 part of the food of the people. Lobsters are taken largely. The 

 halibut is constantly produced at table, and in order to avoid the 

 prejudice of strangers, it is invariably served under the name of 

 turbot. For the same reason, perhaps, the fish when it weighs more 

 than a hundredweight is never placed on the table whole ! Haddock 

 and whiting abound, but for want of a market they are not much 

 caught. The loch trout are almost equally neglected, except by 

 occasional anglers, on account of the distance of the lochs from the 

 houses. Whales are caught by driving them ashore in the shallow 

 bays. 



Some recent large arrivals of whales have proved a boon to many 

 poor families. The Ca'ing whale of Shetland is much smaller and 

 less productive of blubber than the Greenland species ; still it is 

 welcome, and its periodic arrival in the shallow bays is always a 

 time of great rejoicing. The island of Unst had not for a long time 

 been blessed in this way. ' Lord ! dinna forget the poor island of 

 Unst,' was a form of prayer which the minister of that island used 

 some years ago during several seasons. At last the whales came, a 

 God-send on a Sunday morning. 



A more undemonstrative race than the fishermen of Shetland, 

 incomparable seamen as they are, cannot be imagined. But when a 

 drove of whales is leported off the coast hovering about the entrance 

 of a bay well suited to their capture, the question whether they will 

 enter or make off and the business of endeavouring to coerce them, 

 throws the whole population of the neighbourhood into an ecstacy of 

 excitement. Old Waller must have witnessed a whale hunt when he 

 wrote in his ' Battle of the {Summer Isles ' — 



