314 



HISTORY OF FISHES. 



of the water, which assumed a tincture from 

 the shoals beneath. By these means, they 

 sometimes take twelve or fifteen hundred bar- 

 rels of pilchards at a draught ; and they place 



consumption. The spawning season being over by the 

 end of October or the beginning of November, the fish- 

 ing terminates, as the herrings are then in a poor and 

 exhausted condition. 



The description of vessel fitted out for the herring- 

 fishery on the eastern and western coasts of Scotland 

 is called a " buss," of from fifty to eighty tons burden, 

 cutter built. They ply from loch to loch in pursuit 

 of the herrings, and come to anchor in the nearest 

 harbour when the fish appear. A man or two is left 

 on board the buss to take charge of her, and the rest 

 go out in the boats, each manned with four hands, for 

 the purpose of setting the nets. Each boat has two 

 trains of nets, 230 or 240 yards long, and from eleven 

 to twelve yards deep. In deep water both trains are 

 tied together by the back-rope, one end to windward 

 and the other to leeward. The boats are fastened at 

 each end and allowed to drive to leeward with the nets. 

 Every half-hour, or oftener, the men endeavour to 

 ascertain if there are any herrings in the net. This 

 they do by following along the line of the back-rope, 

 and here and there raising a piece of netting. By this 

 means they not only find when they are upon good 

 fishing-ground, but learn whether the herrings swim 

 high or low, and they raise or sink the nets accordingly, 

 by shortening or lengthening the buoys by which the 

 nets are kept up. Sometimes they traverse ten or 

 twenty miles in a night, setting their nets ten or twelve 

 times in different places. The fishing is never carried 

 on but in the night, and the darkest nights, accompanied 

 by a slight breeze, are the most propitious. In the 

 morning, at daylight, the fishermen take their cargo to 

 their respective busses. When the herrings are in 

 great numbers, their labours are comparatively light. 

 The nets are set in the evening, a small anchor 

 is fixed to each end of the train, and they are not hauled 

 or raised until morning. In this case the trains are 

 not joined together, but are set separately, and near the 

 buss, on board of which the men sleep. The crews of 

 the busses are engaged by the month, and a great pro- 

 portion of them are landsmen, pursuing other labours 

 when the fishing season is over. Each man receives, 

 in addition to his wages, a certain quantity of herrings, 

 when the season is a good one, and a smaller proportion 

 when it is unfavourable. 



The Dutch Herring Fishery. Mr William Chambers, 

 in his Recollections of a Continental Tour, gives an in- 

 teresting description of the Dutch herring fishery. 

 "The Dutch greatly excel," he says, "in the art of curing 

 herrings. The herring in a salted state is the animal 

 delicacy of Holland, and enjoys a very different estima- 

 tion from that of the common salt herring in Britain. 

 Yet the fish of both countries are the same, being caught 

 in the same fishing-grounds ; and there is no reason why 

 our herrings should be in any respect inferior in quality 

 and mercantile value. There are about eighty vessels 

 employed in the Dutch herring fishery, nearly all of 

 which belong to Vlaardingen and Maas-sluis, two ports 

 on the Maas, situated between Rotterdam and the sea. 

 The fishing is conducted on an organized plan. All the 

 vessels set sail on a fixed day, namely, the 15th of June, 

 which is held as a day of rejoicing and merriment. They 

 are accompanied by a vessel of war, which carries a 

 chaplain for the fleet ; and to this vessel, at the beat of 

 drum, the fishermen proceed on Sundays for public 

 worship. The fishing-grounds are towards the northern 

 coasts of Scotland ; but agreeably to a law of old standing, 

 no vessel is expected to approach within three leagues of 

 the shore. The first day that nets are allowed to be 



them in heaps on the shore. It often hap- 

 pens that the quantity caught exceeds the 

 salt or the utensils for curing them ; and they 

 then are carried off to serve for the purposes 



hauled is the 24th of June, when the fishing at once com- 

 mences in all its vigour. The whole process of curing 

 is conducted on shipboard. Immediately on being 

 caught, the herrings are bled, gutted, cleaned, salted, 

 and barrelled. The bleeding is effected by cutting them 

 across the back of the neck, and then hanging them up 

 for a few seconds by the tail. By being thus relieved 

 of the blood, the fish retain a certain sweetness of flavour 

 or delicacy of flesh which unbled herrings cannot possibly 

 possess. The rapidity of the process of curing must 

 likewise aid in preserving the native delicacy of the ani- 

 mal, for the herring is salted and in the barrel in a very 

 few minutes after it has been swimming in the water. 

 The superiority of the Dutch herrings, I was assured, is 

 solely ascribable to this mode of curing, though it is not 

 unlikely that something is also owing to the nature of 

 the salt employed, as I have somewhere seen it men- 

 tioned that the salt in use, in reference to other processes 

 of curing in Holland, is of a less bitter quality than 

 that which is commonly employed in this country. The 

 first herrings caught and cured, to the extent of two or 

 three barrels, are instantly dispatched by a fast-sailing 

 vessel for Holland, where their arrival is anxiously ex- 

 pected. On landing at Maas-sluis, one barrel, decorated 

 with flowers and with flags flying, is dispatched to the 

 Hague as an offering to his majesty, who on this occasion 

 presents the fortunate fishers with 1000 guilders. The 

 other barrels are sold by public auction, and generally 

 fetch from 900 to 1100 guilders. These precious barrels 

 are then subdivided among the dealers, who retail them 

 at a high price. A single herring of this first importa- 

 tion brings one and a half to two guilders that is, half 

 a crown to three shillings and fourpence each. So highly 

 are they esteemed, that a single herring is considered 

 a handsome present ; and it is a custom to make such 

 gifts to friends and acquaintances on this auspicious oc- 

 casion. Livery servants may be seen passing through 

 the streets with a plate, on which lie one or two herrings, 

 covered with a fine white cloth and a neat card of pre- 

 sentation. When a second importation takes place, the 

 price falls perhaps to a guilder, to half a guilder, to five- 

 pence, and, finally, to a penny each. The period of my 

 visit was shortly after the early importations of the her- 

 rings from the Dutch fleet, and I observed some shops 

 still decorated with the gaudy crowns of flowers with 

 which their exterior had been invested a few weeks be- 

 fore. Both in Holland and in the countries up the 

 Rhine, I had an opportunity of seeing these delicious 

 Dutch herrings brought to table. Two or three of them 

 form a dish at dinner, and are partaken of as &n entre- 

 met, or something tasteful between the courses. I ob- 

 served that some persons at the table-d'h&tes began their 

 meals by taking a small piece of them. They are always 

 brought to the table raw, and cut across, as if crimped. 

 At Rotterdam, on asking for one boiled, I shocked the 

 feelings of our domestic attendant, who expressed no 

 small degree of surprise at so singular a proposition." 



The Pilchard, (Clupea pikhardus,) is a species of the 

 herring-tribe, and differs from the common herring^ 



chiefly, in being rather shorter in the head, and thicker 

 in the body, and in having its dorsal or back-fin, some- 

 what forwarder: but it may be more readily distinguished 



