AND LINE-FISHING 



this elegant creature has swallowed the hook entirely and 

 is trying to digest it. 



To gaff and sort this collection is almost a day's work 

 in itself, even if there were no second set of lines to see 

 to. But at last it is done ; the fish lie in the hold 

 sprinkled with salt, and the smack runs for the shore. 

 There are plenty of people waiting for her ; wives and 

 children of the crew, small salesmen with donkey-carts, 

 perhaps a big dealer or two from the towns. She comes 

 in as near as she can, then throws out a tow-line, which 

 is grabbed at by every man, woman, child, and dog that 

 is without other occupation, and the boat vigorously 

 hauled up b> them, unless the beach happens to boast a 

 capstan. None so ready to bear a hand to help another 

 as the fisher-folk. When did you ever hear a fisherman 

 ask for help in beaching his boat ? They have been used 

 all their lives to aiding one another in that as well as in 

 more substantial ways than the mere lending a pull to a 

 boat or rope. 



One of the dealers casts a calculating eye over the 

 catch, and makes his offer which of course is not 

 accepted ; but, after a good deal of haggling, or perhaps 

 of auctioneering, the catch is sold. 



Now the barrels of the dealers come rolling down the 

 shingle ; every one pulls out a knife and begins cleaning 

 the fish as if his life depended on it ; and, in less than 

 no time, they are packed and on their way to the railway 

 station, while the baskets of lines are carried home by the 

 fish-wives to be patiently cleaned and rebaited for the 

 next day's toil. 



57 



