170 MALACOP. ABDOM. HERRING FAMILY. 



it is moving. If these are reported to be favourable 

 for the designs of the fishermen, a warp from the 

 end of the sean is handed to the volyer, and the 

 net thrown into the sea, at first forming a curved 

 line across the course of the fish. The two larger 

 boats w r arp the ends together, and the lurker takes 

 its station in the opening, using every endeavour, 

 by lashing the water, to keep the fish within the 

 enclosed space. When the sean is closed and the 

 ends laced together, if the numbers of the fish be 

 great or the tide strong, the net is secured by heavy 

 grapnels, and the contents are taken out in the 

 evening when the tide is low. This is done at in- 

 tervals, in such quantities as happen to be most 

 convenient for carriage, salting, &c., an entire week 

 sometimes elapsing before the whole of one capture 

 is landed. 



The mode of fishing by drift or driving nets does 

 not differ materially from the method practised with 

 herring or mackerel. The nets are commonly about 

 twenty for one boat, each from eighteen to twenty 

 fathoms long, and seven fathoms deep ; so that a 

 string of driving nets will sometimes reach three- 

 quarters of a mile. The crew of a boat consists of 

 four men and a boy. They commence their opera- 

 tions a little before sunset, and the nets are drawn 

 in about two hours, and again thrown, or shot, as it 

 is called. 



The quantity of Pilchard taken by these means 

 is sometimes prodigious ; as Mr. Couch says, incre- 

 dibly great. From five to ten thousand fish is con- 



