192 THE HERRING. 



taken their nets on board without fear of foundering. 

 A few seas might break on board of them, but with a 

 deck the boat would rise again as the sea rolled past. 

 Give me a lid to the pot ; and I wish I could only per- 

 suade our countrymen to be of my opinion on this sub- 

 ject, and copy the Frenchman." 



This wish is echoed by a Northumbrian fisherman, 

 with whom Mr Campbell has a most amusing colloquy. 

 " A Frenchman/' quoth he, " is precious pig-headed, 

 but I suspect our own people have a touch of the same 

 nature too, for they will stick to the open boats. They 

 say the boats are lighter and more handy, if they have 

 to take to the oars, when they have no deck ; and, no 

 doubt, they are right in that, for a deck must always 

 weigh something, be it ever so light. But these French- 

 men shove along very well with their oars, and the 

 devil's in it if a Scotchman cannot do as well as a 

 Frenchman. It's prejudice and laziness that make 

 them stick to a plan that risks their lives and proper- 

 ties far more than they need to do." 



So long as they are so lazy and ignorant as they 

 generally are, we shall speak to them in vain of the 

 advantage of a small steam-tug being employed to con- 

 vey with rapidity their boats to and from the spots fre- 

 quented by the herring. And, we fear, it will be hard 

 to teach them the value of life-buoys, or safety-belts, 

 or persuade them to learn to swim. We have long been 

 aware how few fishermen have acquired the art of 

 swimming ; and being at sea in a herring-boat the 

 summer before last, we had a curious talk with the 

 crew on this matter. Being cold, we said to the friend 

 who accompanied us, " Come, let's have a row." Being 

 clergymen, and, in the opinion of the fishermen, land- 

 lubbers of course, they were not a little surprised to see 

 us set about rowing like men who knew how to manage 

 an oar. "What are you staring at?" asked one of us. 

 " Oh, we never saw twa ministers rowin' a boat afore I" 

 " Indeed ! my father had more sense than yours, I sus- 



