6 THE SCOTCH EAST COAST HERRING FISHING. 



cautious (after a manner, ofttimes unnecessarily and 

 unfittingly so) ; bold and daring in presence of danger ; 

 affectionate to their wives and children ; ambitious to be 

 affluent, and desirous to keep on a level with the times ; 

 but withal, retaining a strict adhesion to their caste. 



Wealth is pretty equally divided. Well-to-do fishermen 

 are sure to possess, first, a house and furniture ; second, boat 

 and gear, or perhaps shares of a large and a small boat ; 

 third, nets, lines, and other fishing materials. The heads 

 of families are generally tolerably comfortable as regards 

 means. A small proportion may, through unfortunate 

 circumstances, be poor for a time, but perseverance soon 

 overcomes the poverty. The various banks receive a 

 goodly amount of money on deposit from them ; and 

 when we consider that mostly all the houses in the fishing 

 villages which they inhabit belong to themselves for the 

 greater part, we must allow that as a class they are both 

 powerful and rich. Young fishermen, as they earn and 

 save money, invest it in their fathers' or relatives' boats, 

 thereby securing an interest in the boat, and therefore in 

 the industry. They earn and save more money than any 

 other class in Scotland, and as fortune and hard work seem 

 to go hand in hand, the energy and instinctive ambition 

 for supremacy entitles us to reasonably expect a continuous 

 and progressive prosperity in the future. 



FISHINGMATERIAL BOATS AND GEAR NETS BASKETS 

 AND SPADES METHOD OF CATCH DELIVERY. 



Fifteen years ago the fishing boats were principally 

 those which we know now under the name of the " skaffic," 

 a fast sailing, but unhandy and very much inferior boat 

 compared with the present new style. The cost of a 



