MACKEREL FISHING. 113 



hooker could carry her three sails to, we ran through the Sound 

 of Devilawn, and bade adieu to this interesting and hospitable 

 island. 



CHAPTER XX. 



Signs of Fish Mackerel Spillet-fishing Seal and Mermaids Anecdote 

 The Bull's Mouth Preservation of a Ship The Fox and Cruiser 

 The Lodge in a consternation Arrival The Colonel's Portmanteau 

 Robbing, and its consequences. 



IT was evident that the bay was full of mackerel. In every 

 direction, and as far as the eye could range, gulls and puffins 

 were collected, and, to judge by their activity and clamour, 

 there appeared ample employment for them among the fry 

 beneath. We immediately bore away for the place where 

 these birds were most numerously congregated, and the lines 

 were scarcely overboard when we found ourselves in the centre 

 of a shoal of mackerel. 



The hooker, however, had too much way. We lowered 

 the foresail, double-reefed the mainsail, and then went steadily 

 to work. Directed by the movements of the birds, we fol- 

 lowed the mackerel, tacking or wearing the boat occasionally, 

 when ^e found that we had overrun the shoal. For two 

 hours we killed those beautiful fish, as fast as the baits 

 could be renewed and the lines hauled in ; and when we 

 left off fishing, actually wearied with sport, we found that 

 we had taken above five hundred, including a number of the 

 coarser species, known on this coast by the name of Horse 

 Mackerel. 



There is not on sea or river, always excepting angling for 

 salmon, any sport comparable to this delightful amusement. 

 Spillet and long-line fishing are generally tedious and un- 

 interesting ; and, unless the fish take freely, it is even with 

 moderate success a tame and spiritless employment. How 

 different is mackerel fishing! full of life and bustle, every 

 thing about it is animated and exhilarating ; a brisk breeze, 

 a fair sky, the boat in quick and constant motion, all 

 is calculated to interest and excite. But hanging for hours 

 above a spillet, or enduring the drudgery of lowering aud 



