THE PILCHARD THE STURGEON 



work must still be done by small boats, so that there is 

 no appreciable decrease in the danger involved, and when 

 the men add up their profits they find themselves no 

 better off than before. 



We left the full seine moored close in to shore, await- 

 ing the operation known as "tucking." When so many 

 thousands of fish are packed together in this manner they 

 cannot be taken from the net all in a few minutes, or 

 even hours. A good-sized catch of pilchards will often 

 take several days to move, whence the notion of keeping 

 them in the water alive. Where the fish have been taken 

 in drift-nets they are removed on board the smacks 

 from which the nets have been shot, and sprinkled with 

 salt. 



" Tucking " is clearing the seine with the aid of a tuck- 

 net, which is just half the length of the principal seine. 

 It is shot from a small boat, inside the large net, and 

 when it is down we notice that in addition to the two 

 end lines which are being drawn together, a third and 

 stouter one is sticking out of the water. This line is 

 fastened to the lower edge of the smaller bunt, and is 

 now hauled on till the middle of the tuck comes up 

 concave, drawing a large proportion of the fish up to 

 the surface ; and it only remains to bale them out. This 

 is done by scooping them into large baskets, which are 

 placed in the boats that are waiting round the moored 

 seine, and sent ashore. 



The crowd of watchers for the boats is composed of 

 two classes " blowsers," or licensed porters who carry the 

 bulk of the catch to the curing-yard ; and the wives and 



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