HERRING FISHERIES. 207 



the fifhers refpeding the time of clearing out, and 

 the destination of the buffcs. Thofc men are, and 

 ever will be, the bed judges of time and place. 



The herrings in their movements pay no regard 

 to ab of parliament; they are governed generally 

 by the laws of nature, and partially, or accidentally, 

 by the elements and icafons. They come and go, 

 appear and difappear, agreeable to thefe circumflan- 

 ces. Their movements are allb governed in fome 

 meafure, by the tides, currents, bays, and head- 

 lands of the Hebrides. By thefe they are hurried 

 on, kept back, and driven from fhorc to Ihorej 

 fometimes rilling the lochs of the mainland, at other 

 times crowding upon the coaft of the Long Ifland, 

 at the diftance of forty miles weft ward. . As they 

 invariably follow a fouthern courfe, after leaving the 

 Shetland Jfiancs, tni-y reach the Hebrides in July, 

 Meep prefiing forward amidft this intricate laby- 

 rinth, till the beginning of September, when they 

 nto deep water ; or in other words, when the 

 great body of the herrings have reached the Irifh feas. 



Frefh ihoals appear in November, and continue 

 till January, when they become ufclefs for commerce; 

 but whether thcfe herrings be the remains of the 

 former fhoals in their return from the circumnavi- 

 >n of Britain and Ireland, or a new migration 

 from the frozen regions, is a matter of uncertainty. 



The knowledge of real importance to mankind, 

 rcfpe&s the time of arrival, of fojourning, and de- 

 parture of the herrings. Thofe circumftances being 

 fully afcertarned, it is, or ihould be, the object of 

 the buries to be on the filhing grounds before the 

 fhoals have reached the Hebrides; completely 

 equipped for taking and curing; accompanied, at 

 the fame time, with quick failing veflels, for the 

 purpofc of conveying the herrings to the ports of 

 the Clyde, where the Weft India fhips wait impa- 

 tiently 



