THEIR ROUND OF LIFE AND LABOUR. 77 
wealth to the nation got at first hand—for which we are in- 
debted to the fishermen. At the very least there are on 
the coasts of the United Kingdoms half a million persons 
dependent on the fisheries for the necessaries of life which 
they obtain, and it is their hard fate that only by unceasing 
work can the fishers keep up their homes, and feed and clothe 
their children, who, along with their mothers, are called upon 
to share the daily round of labour, to take part in the toil- 
some work of net shooting and hauling, or of baiting the 
hooks, and who in the end, by means of this combined in- 
dustry, often do not earn the wages of a single well-employed 
mechanic, who pursues his vocation on the dry land, in a 
comfortable workshop, with abundance of light and heat 
at his own command. 
It is not every labouring man who could be a fisher- 
man even if he were to try, fishing is a business which 
requires experience, and can only be acquired by training, 
so that our best men in this department of industry are 
those who are hereditary fishermen. These only have in 
the largest measure the properties of endurance and skill 
which must ever be incidental to their peculiar occupation. 
The fisherman must not only have physical strength, he 
must have moral courage as well, for at every hour of the 
day he knows he is fighting for his life. Whilst his hand 
must be. occupied on sail or line, his mind, too, must be 
actively at work gathering those scraps of knowledge which 
are constantly required for the prosecution of his business, 
and by means of which he is endowed with that cunning 
and skill which he finds so necessary. 
It is not alone the contribution made by our fishermen 
to the national commissariat, that falls to be considered in 
connection with our fishing fleet. Other benefits accrue to 
the nation which cannot be ignored in a work like this, 
