THE SARDINE. 347 
sides. Ata signal from the huer, the village boat is manned and 
put out into the bay, carrying the great net—the seine—which is 
five or six hundred yards long, and about twelve fathoms deep. 
This net has a very small mesh, and costs some 4120. The 
“shooters” who man the boat, keep their eye upon the huer, who 
stands with a bush in his hand, by which he guides the boat; as 
soon as the shoal is well in the bay, he gives the signal, and the 
men begin to pay out the net; the lower side is weighted with lead 
and rapidly sinks, while a line of cork floats keeps the other edge 
on the surface of the water. Cautiously and silently, the seine is 
cast outside the doomed shoal. Now all anxiety is at an end, the 
extremities of the net are gradually pulled near the shore and 
made fast, and an impassable barrier is between the pilchards and 
their native sea. 
Another boat, with another net—the “tuck’”—now arrives upon 
the scene of action. This net is cast inside the seine, in order to 
bring the fish to the surface. When all is ready, a flotilla of boats 
and barges puts off from the shore, every man, woman, and child, 
full of excitement, either finds a seat in the boats, or stands upon 
the beach. The men shout, the dogs bark, and above the din rises 
the steady chorus of the haulers, “Yo! heave ho!” At last the 
shoal is borne upon the surface, a glittering mass of captives, each 
one in a frenzy of fear making leaping efforts to escape; but their 
captors dip amongst the thick live mass, buckets and baskets, and 
empty the fish into the boats; laden to the very gunwales, they are 
rowed to shore, and again go off for another load; thus the whole 
shoal is secured, and the villagers celebrate their day’s success in 
drinking prosperity to the nation of pilchards. 
On the opposite side of the Channel, the mode of fishing is 
more like that which we have described in taking the herring ; 
they cast their nets at night, the meshes being just large enough to 
admit the head of the sardine, but not allowing the fish to pass, it 
is thus detained by its fins or gills. The net having been cast in 
a curve, they frighten the fish towards it, and as soon as the 
corks which are attached to its upper edge sink beneath the sur- 
face, it is a sign that a great many pilchards are entangled in the 
meshes. The fishers then haul in their nets and secure the fish. 
This operation is exhibited in Plate XVI. 
