CHAMBERS'S INFORMATION FOR THE PEOPLE. 



amount of outlay required, they are generally 

 the property of capitalists, but are sometimes 

 held by a company, ' the concern,' as it is called, 

 being divided into small shares. Twenty men 

 are employed on each seine, who are paid by 

 small wages generally eight shillings a week 

 and a share in the profits. The seine measures 

 in length 220, and in depth from 16 to 18 fathoms. 

 On one edge are placed corks, and at the other, 

 leaden weights ; and this enormous net is carried 

 in a large boat or lighter, and thrown overboard, 

 so as to encircle a shoal of fish when they can be 

 found in water not deeper than the seine. As 

 soon as the fish are surrounded by this hempen 

 wall, anchors are carried away from different 

 parts of the seine, and it is safely moored; and 

 unless stormy weather comes on, the fish may be 

 kept there, and taken out at leisure ; they do not 

 choke, as the herring do in the drift-nets. At 

 Mevagissey, on one occasion, when salt became 

 scarce, the seines were left in the water, and the 

 fish kept alive till a vessel went to Normandy 

 and brought back a cargo of salt. The fish are 

 lifted out of the inclosed space with a smaller net, 

 called the tuck-seine. This is done at low-water 

 and at night, as the fish during the day remain 

 near the bottom, and any attempt at raising them 

 would result in the tearing of the net. Tucking, 

 or lifting out the fish, is thus accomplished : The 

 boats in which the fish are to be carried are 

 brought close to the seine, and the small net is 

 drawn tight; two men sit on the gunwale, and 

 with a two-handled basket lift the fish and pour 

 them into the boat. The strange silvery light 

 caused by the living mass of fish ; the joy of the 

 fishermen, which breaks out every now and then 

 into songs and shouts, which are echoed by the 

 watchers and other on-lookers from the bold cliffs 

 in the vicinity, make this part of the operation 

 beautiful and interesting. A shoal of fish changes 

 the colour of the water ; and this is observed most 

 easily an hour before sunset, at which time the 

 seiners are all silent, and intently watching the 

 water. Much depends upon the eye and judg- 

 ment of the master-seiner, who accompanies the 

 larger boats in a small boat called the lurcher. 

 Great pains are taken to find out when the fish 

 come inshore; and as the season, which is in 

 August and September, approaches, there is much 

 preparation for the work in the Cornwall fishing- 

 villages. By-and-by, the ' hirers ' or watchers go 

 out and walk the cliffs, in order to signal to the 

 fishermen the position of a shoal the moment they 

 can descry it 



The following is the mode of dealing with the 

 fish after they are captured. When intended 

 for exportation, they are carried into cellars and 

 bulked that is, laid in rows in a heap, with a 

 layer of salt between each layer of fish. After 

 lying in the salt for a month, they are washed 

 and packed in casks ; but before the casks are 

 headed, the fish are pressed down, the casks 

 are then filled up, and again pressed ; and after 

 being a third time submitted to pressure, the 

 casks are closed up, and considered ready for 

 shipment. The fish being so pressed, keep much 

 better in the warm climate to which they are 

 sent, and a large quantity of valuable oil is pro- 

 duced. It is calculated that fifteen hogsheads of 

 pilchards produce a hogshead of oil, and the pro- 

 duce of this oil adds considerably to the value of 



710 



the pilchard-fishery, as it yields a large sum ; 

 and the scum, or garbage, as it is called, which 

 rises to the surface in the washing-troughs, is pur- 

 chased by the soap-manufacturers at a remuner- 

 ative price. The quantity of salt required is very 

 considerable eight bushels to every hogshead of 

 fish but the undissolved salt, which is more than 

 half the quantity used, can be sold readily for 

 manure. A good year's fishing returns large profit 

 to the curers, and supplies cheap food and well- 

 paid work to those engaged in it. 



The Sprat-fishery is important. It takes place 

 during the winter season, and adds largely to the 

 poor man's commissariat. As will be seen from 

 our table, the sprat is in season for about three 

 months the fishing commencing in November. 

 The greatest quantities are caught on very dark 

 or foggy nights, when many thousand tons are 

 sometimes taken. The value of those captured in 

 Scotland has been estimated at from seven to ten 

 thousand pounds per annum. In Scotland, the 

 sprat is known as ' the garvie,' from the place 

 where large numbers of it are caught. Sprats 

 are taken much in the same way as herring or 

 pilchards, as also by means of very fine bag-nets. 

 Large quantities of the sprat are also captured on 

 the English coasts enormous numbers of which 

 reach Billingsgate, and are distributed by coster- 

 mongers all over London as if by magic no tele- 

 graph laid down to the courts and alleys of the 

 great metropolis could make the fact known any 

 sooner. The mode of distributing sprats by 

 means of the railway is a sure preventive of what 

 happened occasionally some forty years ago 

 namely, the selling of the over-abundant supplies 

 for manure. 



Countless quantities of the sprat are cured in 

 oil, and sent out in lead boxes as sardines the 

 real sardine being, it may be observed, a very 

 scarce fish. The French fishermen capture their 

 sardines (sprats ?) by means of ground-bait (cod- 

 roe), which is brought from Norway. At Concar- 

 neau, on the coast of Brittany, an immense cure 

 of sprats is carried on so extensive that it em- 

 ploys 2500 boats and 11,000 fishermen. A large 

 portion of the fish taken are cured as sardines, 

 being boiled in oil, and sent all over the country 

 in neatly designed metal caskets. 



The White-bait is a member of the herring 

 family. It is a very small fish, of silvery lustre, 

 and is plentifully found in the brackish waters of 

 the Thames during the months of summer. It is 

 also found in the river Hamble, which flows into 

 Southampton Water, and it can be taken between 

 Queensferry and Kincardine on the sprat-groun 

 of the Firth of Forth in great quantities. White- 

 bait dinners are in much repute amongst t 

 wealthier classes of London, who resort to Green 

 wich or Blackwall, to enjoy the fish in its fine 

 condition. Pennant says of this fish : ' They a: 

 esteemed very delicious when fried with fine flo 

 They come into season about March or Apri 

 The white-bait as supplied in London taverns is 

 hodge-podge of all kinds 'of small fish, such 

 minnows, young bleak, infantile sprats, and tb 

 fry of other fish. There have been many intere 

 ing controversies about the white-bait, some writ 

 contending that it is a distinct fish, others sayin 

 it is an independent member of the herring famil 

 Pennant held that white-bait was the young oft" 

 bleak. Donovan said it was the young of 



