CHAMBERS'S INFORMATION FOR THE PEOPLE. 



employment to a great many persons, chiefly 

 women, as well as to a number of boats which 

 convey salt from Liverpool, and likewise from 

 foreign ports. There is also an important her- 

 ring fishery at Yarmouth, a large portion of 

 the catch being cured and sent to market as 

 ' bloaters.' The pilchard (an important member of 

 the herring family) is chiefly caught on the coasts 

 of Cornwall ; and the sprat is obtained in large 

 quantities both in Scotland and England. 



The herring family embraces the common 

 herring, the pilchard, the sprat, white-bait, and the 

 anchovy, and there is as much mystery attending 

 the natural history of some members of this family, 

 as, fifty years ago, puzzled naturalists in regard to 

 the birth and growth of the salmon. Even in the 

 nineteenth century, there are persons who have 

 not entirely got over the ancient and once popular 

 belief of the herring being a native of the great 

 arctic seas, and instinctively rushing, at the proper 

 season, in vast shoals to these islands, in order to 

 be captured and become the food of man. Natural- 

 ists, however, know so much now of the habits of 

 this fish as to be able to refute the old theory, and 

 to state with certainty that it spawns upon our 

 own coasts, where it is ' native and to the manner 

 born ; ' but where it proceeds to, after accomplish- 

 ing this process, is somewhat doubtful. Some 

 naturalists aver that the herring never leaves our 

 own seas, but that, after the season of spawning is 

 over, it merely retires from the shores into deep 

 water ; and they also assert that shoals aggregate 

 and segregate. There are many interesting points 

 of herring-life not yet understood : it is not known, 

 for instance, how long the spawn takes to come 

 to life, or the rate at which the animal grows, 

 or at what period it becomes reproductive, and 

 there has been much controversy on these points 

 of its natural history. 



The herring-fishery, when pursued on a large 

 scale, is carried on by means of what are called 

 drift-nets, the meshes of which are regulated to an 

 inch in size by act of parliament. A single net is 

 generally about fifty feet long, and from thirty to 

 thirty-five feet in depth, and the cost of it is from 

 JL\ to $. For the purpose of capturing the fish, 

 the various nets are joined together into what is 

 termed a train, which may run to any length, but 

 is usually from 1500 to 2000 yards long trains 

 being preferred to short ones. The whole is held 

 in position by the back-rope, a strong cord running 

 along the back of the train, and which has fixed 

 to it the buoys, which keep the netting afloat. 

 The train is held down by means of weights. The 

 boats necessary for carrying such a load of netting, 

 it is obvious, must be of considerable value ; the 

 best class of them costing upwards of ^100. 

 During late years, herring-boats in Scotland have 

 been greatly improved in size and build. 



The boats arrive at the proposed fishing-place 

 in the evening ; the nets are shot after sunset, as 

 the fish always strike best in the dark ; and the 

 catch takes place throughout the night. The pro- 

 cess of throwing a train of nets into the sea is i 

 quite simple : it is paid over the stern of the boat, 

 which is slowly rowed over the part of the sea 

 selected as being most likely to be near the shoal. 

 When all the nets forming a train have been shot, 

 a rope about twenty fathoms long, which is tech- 

 nically called the swing-rope, keeps the last one 

 attached to the boat. Sometimes the other end 



708 



of the train of nets is fastened to an anchor, or it 

 may be to the shore, when convenient ; but more 

 generally the whole length is only fastened by the 

 swing-rope to the boat, and is allowed to float 

 slowly along, carried away by the tide or current 

 a great perforated wall, 2000 feet long, and 24 

 feet deep, standing upright in the water. When 

 the shoal, in its progress, comes against this 

 barrier, the fish are caught by what is called 

 meshing that is, by thrusting their heads through 

 the interstices of the net, and being entangled by 

 their gills. Sometimes the fish have to be waited 

 for long, and perhaps none may be got for a whole 

 night ; at other times a heavy take may occur in 

 less than an hour. To ascertain whether or not 

 the fish may have struck, a custom exists oipreeing 

 the nets that is, lifting out a portion of a train 

 and examining it. If there be no appearance of 

 fish, the labour of hauling in, removing to a new 

 spot, and again shooting, has to be undergone, in 

 the hope of being at last lucky. Supposing the fish 

 to have come upon the train of nets, the process of 

 hauling into the boats and taking the herring out 

 of the meshes, is commenced. Formerly, it used 

 to be the practice just to haul in the net, and leave 

 the fish sticking in it by the gills till the boat 

 landed ; now, as the nets are hauled on board, the 

 herrings are carefully shaken out, a decided im- 

 provement on the old plan, which frequently muti- 

 lated the fish very seriously. 



The proper cure of the herrings has at all times 

 occupied great attention, and Dutch fishermen are 

 said to excel in the art. The quantities cured by 

 the Dutch, however, are small, as they cure them 

 on board their fishing-luggers, where the number 

 of persons is limited. In Scotland, the curing is 

 chiefly done on shore, and it is a general rule that 

 the fish brought to the quays in the morning must 

 be cured that day ; and on some days as many as 

 twenty thousand crans have been brought on shore 

 at the port of Wick. 



The fish are carried to huge but shallow gut- 

 ting-tubs prepared for them. They are then oper- 

 ated upon by a band of females, who gut them 

 with extraordinary rapidity. One thousand fish 

 an hour being common work, it may be readily 

 conceived that, when a large number of hands 

 are employed, an immense shoal can be dis- 

 posed of in a few hours. The women employed 

 usually work together in little bands of four or 

 five, each performing part of the labour which is 

 necessary, some carrying, some salting. After the 

 fish are eviscerated, which is rapidly performed 

 by two simple movements with a knife, they are 

 transferred to another vat or trough, where they 

 are laid down in layers of salt. The sooner 

 the herrings are sprinkled with salt, the better 

 will be the cure. Then they are roused, as it is 

 called that is, a stick or a brawny arm mixes 

 them well together a process repeated at inter- 

 vals till the trough is filled. After a brief rest, 

 depending much on circumstances as to its length, 

 the herrings are carefully re-sorted, and then packed 

 into barrels, either flat on their sides to suit the 

 Irish market or backs downward, to please the 

 foreigners. Every row, as it is put in, is wel" 

 sprinkled with salt A week's rest is allowe 

 before the barrels are finally headed up, as the fish 

 settle down so much as to admit of an additional 

 quantity being put in. 



Formerly, almost the whole ' take' of herrings ii 



