THEIR ROUND OF LIFE AND LABOUR. 29 
fishing, which lasts, for winter fish, from the beginning of 
October to the end of November. It is perhaps almost 
unnecessary to say that the boats require to proceed 
cautiously while engaged in the operation of fishing ; 
there is a large fleet employed in the work, and if the 
men were careless there might occur a series of en- 
tanglements of the nets that could not fail to be irrita- 
ting, and probably result in the partial loss of the fish 
taken. On this head, Mitchell tells us in his work on ‘ The 
Herring,’ that the greatest precaution is taken to prevent 
the nets from mixing. “No fishing vessel,” he says, 
“anchors except during the day, when the nets are not out, 
or unless the weather is so calm at night as to prevent the 
possibility of shooting the nets; and during the night each 
vessel has a lantern at the bow, upon a pole sufficiently 
elevated to be seen at the distance of five miles.” Should, 
for instance, a decided change of wind occur after the nets 
are shot, the whole business must be gone over again— 
the nets have to be hauled in and re-shot, to prevent the 
terrible confusion and loss that might result. Much fatigu- 
ing work is involved on such occasions, and the crews are 
sometimes very tired. As has been already stated, the 
fishermen of Yarmouth are paid by results; the curers 
arrange at the beginning of the season with their own 
crews to pay them a fixed price for every boat-load they 
bring in. This is instead of paying a regular sum of 
money monthly as wages; and it induces the men to do 
their best, as a considerable catch of fish is necessary to 
enable the curers to pay the expenses of their vessels and 
establishments before they can make any profit.* 
As is well known, a considerable portion of the herrings 
which are brought ashore’ at Yarmouth are cured in a 
* ‘Deep Sea Fishing and Fishing Boats,’ by Holdsworth. 
