252 THE PILCHARD FISHERY. [CHAP. vi. 



locally called " huers," and they are provided with signals of 

 white calico or branches of trees, with which to direct the 

 course of the boat, and to inform those in charge w r hen they 

 are upon the fish the shoal being best seen from the cliffs. 

 The pilchards are captured by the seine-net that is, the shoal, 

 or spot of a shoal, that has risen, is completely surrounded by 

 a wall of netting, the principal boat and its satellites the volyer 

 and the lurker, with the "stop-nets," having so worked as 

 quite to overlap each other's wall of canvas. The place where 

 the joining of the two nets is formed is carefully watched, to 

 see that none of the fish escape at that place, and if it be too 

 open, the fish are beaten back with the oars of some of the 

 persons attending about eighteen in all. In due time the 

 seine is worked or hauled into shallow water for the con- 

 venience of getting out the fish, and it may perhaps contain 

 pilchards sufficient to fill two thousand hogsheads. Generally 

 speaking, four or five seines will be at work together, giving 

 employment to a great number of the people, who may have 

 been watching for the chance during many days. When the 

 tide falls the men commence to bring ashore the fish, a tuck- 

 net worked inside of the seine being used for safety ; and the 

 large shallow dipper boats required for bringing the fish to the 

 beach may be seen sunk to the water's edge with their burden, 

 as successive bucketfuls are taken out of the nets and e-mptied 

 into these conveyance vessels. To give the reader an idea of 

 quantity, as connected with pilchard-fishing, I may state that 

 it takes nearly three thousand fish to fill a hogshead. I have 

 heard of a shoal being captured that took a fortnight to bring 

 ashore. Ten thousand hogsheads of pilchards have been 

 known to be taken in one port in a day's time. The con- 

 venience of keeping the shoal in the water is obvious, as the 

 fish need not be withdrawn from it till it is convenient to 

 salt them. The fish are salted in curing-houses, great quan- 

 tities of them being piled up into huge stacks, alternate layers 



