Modern Yarmouth. 23 



open boat thus to see Yarmouth at its best, as you will see 

 it rocking a furlong or so from shore, while your long line of 

 a dozen or twenty hooks reposes on the bottom, in wait for 

 cod, whiting, eel, or gurnard. 



Better, however, will it be for the student of modern 

 Yarmouth to stroll, with observant eye and ear, into the 

 quarters where the staple industry of the place is in full 

 operation. Begin at the bridge and walk by the river side 

 towards the fish-wharf. The double avenue of trees and the 

 gay flowers which the inhabitants of the upper part love to 

 cultivate, and, loving, cultivate successfully, give a colour 

 of home to the neighbourhood. It reminds you of some 

 scene in Holland, as many other things in Yarmouth will do 

 before you have finished your perambulations. The har- 

 bour is crowded with small vessels, luggers, smacks, and 

 dandies, that will before to-morrow be off for the fishing- 

 ground. In the shop and tavern windows the advertise- 

 ments, in keeping with the surroundings, invite you to 

 become the purchaser of some strongly built craft, with all her 

 superior stores and materials, including ever so many tons 

 of the best pig-iron ballast, the communication invariably 

 ending with an inventory in which a boat-hook, worth 

 ninepence, perhaps, has a line of small capitals all to itself. 



The ship-chandler's shops are in great request now; the 

 little wooden midshipmen at their doors have been newly 

 varnished and gilt ; the shop-boys run hither and thither 

 with blocks, chains, cordage, and sails. Boys who are not 

 engaged in these pursuits, pass with spoils of fish suspended 

 by a piece of twine ; even the policemen and railway porters 

 coming from the wharf have their fishy morsels dangling from 

 their hands. There is a tramway, but not for passengers ; 

 only for cargoes of fish. Herrings are the first considera- 

 tion here. For them also have been built those handy little 



