THE SCOTCH EAST COAST HERRING FISHING. 9 



once a month. " Barking " is the process of browning the 

 nets by boiling them in cutch. The " swing rope " is a rope 

 attached to the nets from the boat and is their safeguard, 

 so to speak. The price of a net is in the meantime 33^., 

 which, together with mounting 4^. 6d. + head rope 12s. 6d. 

 + buoy 4s. 6d. + floats 3^. + bark $s. gd. + fishermen's 

 labour estimated at Ss. gd. = 3 los. ; and therefore that 

 is the sum to be paid for a fair average quality net ready 

 for use. A boat carries from 25 to 50 nets, and that 

 quantity is termed a " fleet." Making the lowest possible 

 estimates appear by allowing only 25 nets to each boat, we 

 have in use 153,275 nets, which at 3 los. per net, gives 

 the value of 536,462 sterling. 



The baskets for the measuring of the herrings are 

 supplied by the curer, and, sad to relate, in too many cases 

 are slightly larger than the regulation size. The remedy 

 lies with the fishermen, and they have themselves to blame 

 if they do not take advantage thereof. The regulation 

 measurement of the cran is 37^ gallons imperial standard 

 measurement. There are 4 baskets to the cran, and each 

 basket is exactly one-fourth of the aforementioned required 

 standard measurement. In shape they resemble a common 

 tub, but are wicker-worked, having in circumference two 

 or three inches more at top than bottom. The rim of the 

 basket is heavy worked and has two handles for fixing 

 the hoisting rope and lifting. There requires to be on 

 board the boat from two to four spades or scoops for 

 shovelling the herrings into the baskets. Formerly they 

 were entirely wooden, but now the heads are of zinc. The 

 fishermen supply these spades ; they cost from 2s. 6d. to 

 3-y. each. Baskets cost about 2s. each. Making a fair 

 allowance for each boat we find that these articles presently 

 in use would give a money value of 5000. 



E. 23. c 



