APPENDIX. 293 



by the grinning "human" at the othcj end, as whenever he 

 feels his prey secure he dexterously hauls him on board, 

 unhooks the crusty gentleman with a jerk, and adds him to 

 the accumulating heap at the bottom of the old boat. The 

 monkeys in the West Indies are, however, still more inge- 

 nious tha-n the " fisher loons" of Arran or Skye. Those 

 wise animals, when they take a notion of dining on a crab, 

 proceed to the rocks, and slyly insinuating their tail into 

 one of the holes where the Crustacea take refuge, that 

 appendage is at once seized upon by the crab, who is thereby 

 drawn from his hiding-place, and, being speedily dashed to 



pieces on the hard stone, affords a fine feast to his captor. 

 ********* 



The west and north-west coasts of Ireland abound with 

 fine lobsters, and welled vessels bring thence supplies for 

 the London market, and it is said that a supply of 10,000 a 

 week can easily be obtained. Immense quantities are also 

 procured on the west coast of Scotland. A year or two ago 

 I saw on board the Islesman steamboat at G-reenock a cargo 

 of 30,000 lobsters, obtained chiefly on the coasts of Lewis 

 and Skye. The value of these to the captors would be 

 upwards of 1000, and in the English fishmarkets the lot 

 would bring at least four times that sum. As showing how 

 enormous the food wealth of the sea still is, notwithstanding 

 the quantity taken out of it, I may cite here a few brief 

 particulars of a little experiment of a charitable nature 

 which was tried by a gentleman who took a warm interest 

 in the Highland fishermen, and the results of which he 

 himself lately made public. Commiserating the wretched- 

 ness which he had witnessed among many, who, although 

 anxious to labor, were unable to procure work, and at the 

 same time feeling that the usual method of assisting them 

 was based on a mistaken principle, this gentleman under- 

 took the establishment of a fishery upon a small scale at 

 25* 



