ITS WORK IN THE LEWIS 57 



be able " to furnish London with some plenty against the 

 hard time of winter." 



The busses of the Association did not, of course, confine 

 their attention to the seas around the Lewis. It was soon 

 found, in fact, that the fishing on the coast in the lochs and 

 about the islands near the Lewis was " very commodious 

 and profitable " to the native fishermen, with their smaller 

 vessels, but was by no means so suitable for large busses 

 such as those owned by ,the company.^ 



Around the coasts of Britain, fishing was carried on in 

 very much the same fashion as in former years. Simon 

 Smith, agent for the Royal Fishery, writing in 1641, gives 

 a detailed account of the operations throughout the fishing 

 season, his statement differing little in general character 

 from those we have already seen.^ The fishers, according 

 to his narrative, were accustomed to resort to the coast of 

 Shetland by the beginning of June, and looked for the 

 herring to " rise about Crane Head . . . the outmost part of 

 Bratio Sownde, within two leagues, sometimes more, where 

 the Herrings doe abide about fourteen dayes." Thence they 

 went to " Farry Isle, which is within seven leagues to the 

 Southward of Sheteland where the Herring continue three 

 weekes round about that Farry Island." 



The next fishing ground lay " thirty leagues to the South- 

 ward of Farry Hand, the Fishing place called Buffin Deepes, 

 twenty leagues to the Northward of the Frythe, where the 

 Herring abide about fourteen dayes, and fourteen dayes 

 more in the Fishing under Chivet Hills and Chi vet Chase." 



Thence the fishers followed the herring to the Dogger 

 Bank, where they stayed sometimes a month, sometimes 

 six weeks ; about the beginning of September the herring 

 were followed " into the Yarmouth Seas " ; the fishing 



^The Herring Busse Trade (1641), by Simon Smith, agent for the 

 Royal Fishery. 



2 Ibid. 



