56 Hark Away, 



and rock-bound coast, who would be well content did 

 their average earnings amount to the modest sum of 

 £1 a-week. 



A hearty welcome is given me when I step on 

 board the 14-ton boat, in which they pursue their 

 calling. One by one the boats slip their moorings, 

 the red sail is hoisted, and we move over the rolling 

 surface of the sea, and select a spot in which to 

 cast our nets. The place chosen is within a mile or 

 two of St. Michael's Mount, and there we await the 

 propitious moment for casting the drift net over — 

 an hour dependent on the state of the tide. 



The lovely day is followed by a still more lovely 

 and tranquil eve. Tea and bread and butter are 

 offered to and accepted by me gratefully. Strange 

 did it appear to me that these hardy fishermen, who 

 spend weeks on the wild and dangerous shores of 

 Ireland or Scotland when fishing for herrings, should 

 be content with such plain fare. 



During the whole of the long night not a pipe was 

 smoked, not a drop — except that beverage which it 

 is said will cheer and not inebriate — was drunk. Not 

 an angry word, not a coarse expression, not an oath 

 was uttered. We conversed of Brunei and the Albert 

 Bridge, and of the ways of John Wesley, until it was 

 time to shoot the net, which extended 780 yards, and 

 was of the depth of ten yards. This done, a sail was 

 hoisted to steady the boat, and we drifted, not idly, 

 as it proved, on the bosom of the deep. Then the 

 galley fire is lighted, and alternately the men take 

 rest. 



To me it is a novel position, and though " rock'd 

 in the cradle of the deep " I knew not sleep. The 



