CH. Vj THE SEA-FISHERIES 115 



without the stimulus of danger ; and are too often rewarded by a 

 few postage stamps sent by the "commission agent." Musselers go 

 on the scars at low water and gather the fish by hand, or rake them 

 up ; or they sail over the mussel bed at the time when the latter 

 is just covered by the ebb-tide and rake up the molluscs by means 

 of the " long craam," a heavy rake which is fixed at the end of a 

 very long wooden pole. They too must observe a minimum size 

 and also a " close season." They have most of the hardships of the 

 cocklers and often as little remuneration. Periwinkles are simply 

 picked up by hand, and those who eat these luxuries should reflect 

 on the labour of picking up a hundred-weight of these shellfish, 

 and then of carrying this weight in a bag on the back over perhaps 

 a mile or two of sand; and further on the adequacy of a payment 

 of perhaps five shillings for this load. Oysters are now largely 

 imported from America, France or Holland and are relaid by 

 the fish merchants, and fattened for the markets in selected creeks. 

 There are still English natives to be had for dredging, but the 

 method of importation is so well adapted for industrial organisation, 

 and our tariff system is so convenient that the fishery for the 

 native oyster is, in many places, no longer in existence. Shrimps 

 are often caught by the "power net," an unwieldy semicircular net 

 which is pushed by a man who wades in the water. He carries 

 a basket on his back and into this he dumps the collection made 

 by his net. Generally he looks the picture of misery when so 

 engaged, and no doubt his appearance is a good index of the 

 general degree of prosperity which attends this method of fishing. 

 Shrimps too are often caught by means of " hose nets," which are 

 tube-shaped nets kept open by means of rings, and stretched out 

 on the sands in the tide-way. Mussels, cockles and periwinkles 

 are sold alive, the two latter exclusively for food, but many mussels 

 are used for bait for the long lines. A large proportion of the 

 shrimps which are caught in England are sold fresh, but a 

 considerable quantity are also potted by being shelled (deprived of 

 their carapaces), boiled in butter and put into little dishes. 

 Recently a considerable trade has sprung up with Holland in 

 shrimps. The crustaceans are imported in sealed tins or otherwise, 

 after pickling in a boracic acid brine, and they are potted in the 

 same manner as English shrimps. It might be wrong to suggest 



8—2 



