HISTORY OF THfi 



winter voyage from Greenock, may, upon an ave- 

 rage, require two or three weeks. 



After the vefTel hath furmounted the difficulties 

 and dangers of this intricate voyage, fhe does not 

 arrive at a certain fifhery, where, as in Ireland, fhe 

 may load by her own boats, or thofe of the inhabi- 

 tants, in a few days. Though the migrations of 

 the herrings to the North- weft Highlands be cer- 

 tain, their arrival in one particular loch, bay, or 

 ifland, is very precarious. 



All have their turns. The loch that was crowded 

 with fifh one year, may be quite deferted the fol- 

 lowing, and for many years after. Sometimes they 

 fall in between the Mainland of Rofsfhire and the 

 Long Ifland ; at other times, they take a circuitous 

 paffage between the Long Ifland and the rocks of 

 St. Kilda. When this happens, there can be no boat 

 fifhery. efpecially in winter; neither is there any 

 :bufs fifheryj thofe veflels not being accuftomed to 

 the Dutch method of a floating fifhery, by follow* 

 ing the fhoals through the ocean : thus the Hebride 

 fifhery is, of all others, the moft uncertain, expen- 

 five and hazardous, on which account the parlia- 

 mentary encouragement fhould be adequate. In 

 fpeaking of this fifhery, the following particulars 

 may be ufeful to the adventurers. The young her- 

 rings always come in a body fome time in June ; 

 their fray depends on the winds and weather. Thofe 

 which fall in between the Mainland and the Lang 

 Ifland, are wrought upon and dire&ed, not only by 

 the winds, but alfo by the large fifhes, and fome- 

 times by the buflfes, in their cruifers from place to 

 place. 



As the feafon advances, the great fhoals of full 

 grown herrings appear on the coalts moving fouth- 

 ward. If upon their approach, the weather happens 

 to be ftormy, and the winds from fouth-weft to 

 north-weft, the fhoal, thus interrupted by a ftrong 

 head wind, crowds into the openings or lochs, and 



there 



