GANNETS AS FOOD 461 



what had once fetched £200* only let for £35, and m 1876 

 I was told on the spot, that the oAvner received no more 

 than £20. 



Up to about 1885 it would seem that there was still 

 call enough for young Gannets to make it worth the 

 while of the tenant of the Bass, to continue the gathering 

 of them. More particularly were they asked for in 

 years of abundance of corn, when Irish labourers came 

 in plenty to Haddington, as they were in the habit 

 of doing about harvest time. Then during the month 

 of August a brisk trade went on at Canty Bay, where 

 two hundred young Gannets, landed in boats from the 

 Bass and afterwards cooked in brick ovens, are said 

 to have been sometimes consumed at a single feast. f 

 Besides this, a good many were sent away, for the 

 lessee of the Bass — who in 1860 was Mr. Adams, and in 

 1876 Mr. Kendal, and after him Mr. Downie — was in the 

 habit of receiving orders from a distance. These chiefly 

 came from large commercial centres, such as Edinburgh, 

 London (the Haymarket Hotel, etc.), Sheffleld, Newcastle, 

 Birmingham, and Manchester, where the young Gannets 

 were consumed at the commoner eating-houses. Whether 



* Page 250 ; the rent named by Swave is too high to be credited. 



•[•"Land and Water," February 20th, 1800. The ovens were still 

 in situ in 1876. 



