CHAP, v.] SEVERN AND WYE 37 



those that were caught in the putts were "drowned " fish, and 

 unless the fishermen were fairly on the alert to secure them 

 before the falling tide had left the baskets long uncovered, 

 there was a very good chance of the eyes being pecked out 

 or the fish otherwise disfigured by birds. 



The putcher or basket fishing was carried on by means 

 of very open extinguisher-shaped baskets each long enough 

 to hold, it can hardly be said accommodate, a good-sized 

 salmon. The frame or stand on which these baskets were 

 fixed was formed of two rows of strong poles or upright 

 pieces of wood, running down the shore, across the narrow 

 of the river, for many yards, firmly fixed between high and 

 low tide level, at such a distance as would allow the baskets 

 to reach from one side to the other. Horizontal poles or 

 pieces of wood connected the upright poles, and to these 

 horizontal supports the baskets were attached, so as to form 

 rows with the open ends of the extinguishers facing up 

 stream and all ranged one storey above the other. The 

 fish were drifted into the basket trap, and of course, though 

 they might injure themselves in their struggles, and to 

 some degree their market value, they were powerless to effect 

 their escape and withdraw backward against the set of the 

 tide. 1 



The much larger form of basket described by Mr. Buck- 

 land as "putts," and as being used for catching flat fish, was 

 of a slightly different make formed only of two instead of 

 three pieces ; one large piece, so wide at the opening that I, 

 as a girl, had no difficulty in standing within it, and a very 

 much smaller piece, forming a kind of nose. This little 

 adjunct was, I believe, taken off and searched by the fisher- 

 men for what it contained. To my sister Georgiana and 

 myself it was a great pleasure to go down to where the two 

 great eel-putts stood on clean shore at very low tide below 

 the longest row; of salmon-putchers, and search for anything 

 that was to be found. My sister was a good conchologist. 

 We searched for seaweed, &c., &c., and thereby got a 

 deal of pleasant amusement. The fishermen, who knew us 

 well, made no objection to our investigations, though, as 

 one of the men remarked on one occasion, " It was not 

 everybody they liked to see near the putts." 



In our immediate neighbourhood the fishermen were 



quiet at least I never heard of their getting into very 



objectionable difficulties but about eight miles higher up 



the river, near Lydney, things in this respect were by no 



1 See Appendix A. 



