14 DEEP-SEA FISHING. 



retail fishmongers at any place we visited that they 

 were to a great extent dependent on the railways for 

 their supply of fish. Nor is it surprising that such 

 should be the case. The larger and more regular the 

 quantity of fish brought in every day by the fishermen 

 at any particular station, the more is it worth the while 

 of the wholesale dealers or their agents to attend the 

 arrival of the fishing boats, when they purchase often 

 in large lots what each may have caught. The fisher- 

 men perhaps do not in such dealings obtain such good 

 prices generally for their fish as they occasionally re- 

 ceived when their wives used to retail it in the town 

 and neighbourhood; but they have a certain market, 

 and are saved the trouble and anxiety necessarily at- 

 tending the hawking of their stock about the country, 

 with the chance of part of it becoming spoilt before they 

 have found customers for it. At that time fish formed 

 a considerable portion of the diet of the fisherman and 

 his family ; it cost them little or nothing, or appeared 

 to do so ; for what is not directly paid for with hard 

 money is frequently regarded as costing little. But 

 now what the fisherman saves for his own use is very 

 commonly of more recognized value, and part of what 

 would be sure of a purchaser with the rest of his catch 

 as soon as he brought it ashore. The money he might 

 obtain for it would not go so far in buying beef or 

 mutton ; but meat of that descriiDtion is now often a 

 daily dish where formerly it was only thought of as a 

 Sunday dinner. The times appear hard to him, for his 

 living is more expensive ; but he is aj)t to forget that 

 his mode of living has somewhat clianged. 



It might naturally be supposed tliat fishermen would 

 largely benefit by the great demand for fish at the pre- 

 sent time ; but there are reasons why this should not 



