254 MODE OP USING THE SEINE. 



with, is here represented. It is commonly used on the 

 flat, sandy, shallow shores around our coast, parti- 

 cularly in the southern counties. When of moderate 

 size, and manageable by two men, they wade with it 

 a considerable distance into the water on the gra- 

 dually-inclining shore, and when the water reaches 

 above their middle, the net is opened and strained by the 

 men separating, and drawn on shore, each man holding 

 and drawing it by the two ropes at his end, the upper 

 one being called the cork or head line, the lower one 

 the lead or ground line. In this way, basse, gurnards, 

 grey-mullet and atherine are surrounded and taken. 

 When large scans are used, the greater part of the net, 

 beginning at one end, is arranged in a boat, the other 

 end is retained on shore : the boat proceeds seaward 

 forming a half circle, and paying off the net as it 

 advances on the water till the whole is out, then 

 taking the lines to the shore. If well managed, all the 

 fish within the space encircled are thus drawn on shore 

 and captured. If the net is formed with a pouch or 

 bag halfway between the two ends, it is then considered 

 as a drag or draught net. The seans before referred 

 to, as used for herrings and pilchards, are of much 

 greater length and depth, and are square at each end, 

 the more conveniently to lace them together, either to 

 add net to net, or to join the two ends, when enclosing 

 a shoal of fish. Few persons would credit the very 

 large amount invested in nets, and they are tanned 

 with a view to their preservation, as they are then 

 found to last much longer. Nets are generally made 

 by elderly men who are past the exertion required for 

 the rougher employment of fishing. Making a new 



