ON THE COAST OF BERWICKSHIRE. 221 



driven six miles in one direction. About an hour or so after the nets 

 are shot, part of the net next the boat is pulled up and drawn in, to 

 see whether any herrings are going in. Those found in it are taken 

 out, and the net and swing let out again. By clearing this portion of 

 the net, if more fish are found in it when they look again, they know 

 off which place they have taken the net. When the fishing is not 

 very abundant, if the nets keep clear, this is the only portion examined, 

 which is done several times till the morning, when the whole are 

 drawn in, in order to go on shore. The abundance of herrings some- 

 times renders it necessary to draw in the nets almost immediately after 

 they are put into the water. They pull in their nets and change their 

 berth when the nets take the ground, or, by the irregularity of the 

 tide, are drawn together into a body, or when the nets of another 

 boat drive upon them and become entangled. This last case occurs 

 when the boats do not take wide enough berths from each other, or 

 when one ^^^^ of nets has less buoy-string, and is nearer the surface 

 than those next them ; for in this situation they drift faster, the tide 

 being stronger near the surface than at a greater depth. The take 

 for the night is not unfrequentlj^ lost in this way ; for if the fish 

 happen to rise towards the surface of the water^ the prospect is marred 

 for the night, an hour being sometimes sufficient for the purpose. 



The herring not unusually rise to the surface, when they produce a 

 motion something like a gentle shower of rain. Generally, they take 

 the nets very gently, without deranging them in the least ; but, when 

 very abundant, they often rush into them with such violence that they 

 raise them up and carry them over the ropes, twisting them round 

 about two or three times ; and when the bottom of the sea is very un- 

 equal, and the tide rapid, the nets often go down to the bottom at such 

 a time, and considerable loss is sustained. The nets are often very 

 xmequally fished ; and sometimes the herrings in one x^art of the nets 

 are spawned, and those in the rest are not so. 



The nets are stretched out half the length of the boat as they are 

 drawn in, the herrings hanging by the head on the lower side, and 

 most of them are shaken out, and fall into the bottom of the boat, as 

 the work proceeds. "When the fish are so plentiful as to render the 

 boat too deep aft, if all taken into the stern, part of the nets are 

 pulled in nearer the bow, to put her into proper trim. AVhen the 

 wind is violent and the sea high, the getting in of the nets is very 

 hazardous, especially when they are well fished. The waves and wind, 

 acting on the boat at the same time, overpower the strength of the 

 crew, and sometimes compel them to let part of the nets already 

 secured run out of their hands, to permit the boat to rise freely to the 

 waves. The sea dashes into the boat with great fury, threatening to 

 fill her ; so that it is not uncommon, in such cases, for the fishermen 

 to cut away their nets, and make with all possible speed for the 



