ON THE ECONOMICAL USES OF FISHES. 185 



are hauled in, and the fish, which during the night 

 had got entangled in the meshes, are taken out and 

 conveyed to shore, generally by other boats, leaving 

 the fishermen to resume their former occupation. 



By means of these nets astonishing numbers of 

 fish have been taken in a single night ; thus, Mr. 

 Yarrell states, that on the 30th of June, 1821, the 

 value of the catch of sixteen boats from Lowestoffe 

 amounted to £5,252. 



Mackarel are also caught by a species of angling, 

 by a line heavily weighed and fastened to a stout 

 rod, while the vessel is under rapid sale. The bait 

 used is either a portion of a small fish, even the 

 mackarel itself, or else a piece of scarlet cloth, which, 

 strange to say, is for them at all times a deadly 

 bait. Two men, in this way, it is said, may capture 

 from five hundred to a thousand fish in the course 

 of the day. That the mackarel fishery is of con- 

 siderable importance may be concluded from the 

 circumstance, that off the Suffolk coast alone this 

 fish is taken of the annual value of <£ 10,000, and 

 that too in the space of only six weeks. The macka- 

 rel, though considered a somewhat dry fish, is never- 

 theless held in high repute, and, when the take is 

 considerable, on account of the short time it wuU 

 keep fresh, is sometimes sold at a very low rate. 

 Thus, although in Scotland, where it is rarely so 

 plentiful as a little farther to the south, it is seldom 

 within the reach of the poorer classes, yet in Nor- 

 folk, during last summer, we saw abundance hawked 



