THEIR ROUND OF LIFE AND LABOUR. 25 
which there is always a great demand, would prove a 
remunerative winter fishery, were it not for the high rates of 
freight charged for its conveyance to the seats of population 
where it is consumed. As a profit cannot be made on 
the consignments, sprat-fishing is for a time somewhat in 
abeyance. 
We have dwelt at some length on the industrial phases of 
the Scottish herring fishery, because it is of great moment 
as a food resource, likewise as an outlet for the employ- 
ment of capital, in the catching and curing of the fish— 
as well as in the building of boats, the making of barrels, 
the weaving of sails and the making of nets. In the course 
of the year, at one place or another, the herring fishery of 
Scotland yields employment more or less remunerative 
to the whole of the fishing population of that country— 
hence its importance as compared with places where the 
capture of the herring only forms a portion of the general 
round of fishery work. 
