OSSEOUS FISHES. 581 



the nets at once began by lowering sail. Surrounding us on all 

 sides was to be seen a moving world of boats ; many with sails down, 

 their nets floating in the water, and their crews at rest Others were 

 still flitting uneasily about, their skippers, like our own, anxious to 

 shoot in the right place. By-and-by we were ready ; the sucker goes 

 splash into the water ; the l dog,' a large inflated bladder to mark the 

 far end of the train, is heaved overboard, and the nets, breadth after 

 breadth, follow as fast as the men can pay them out, till the immense 

 train is all in the water, forming a perforated wall a mile long and 

 many feet in depth ; the ' dog ' and the marking bladder floating and 

 dipping in long zigzag lines, reminding one of the imaginary coils of 

 the great sea-serpent. After three hours of quietude beneath a 

 beautiful sky, the stars 



1 The eternal orbs that beautify the night ' 



began to pale their fires, and, the gray dawn appearing, indicated that 

 it was time to take stock. We found that the boat had floated quietly 

 with the tide till we were a long distance from the harbour. The 

 skipper had a presentiment that there were fish in his net ; and the 

 bobbing down of a few of the bladders made it almost a certainty, and 

 he resolved to examine the drifts. By means of the swing rope the 

 boat was hauled up to the nets. ' Hurrah !' exclaimed Murdoch of 

 Skye ; ' there's a lot of fish, skipper, and no mistake.' Murdoch's 

 news was true ; our nets were silvery with herrings so laden, in fact, 

 that it took a long time to haul them in. It was a beautiful sight to 

 see the shimmering fish as they came up like a sheet of silver from the 

 water, each uttering a weak death-chirp as it was flung into the 

 bottom of the boat. Formerly the fish were left in the meshes of the 

 net till the boat arrived in the harbour ; but now, as the net is hauled 

 on board, they are at once shaken out. As our silvery treasure 

 showers into the boat we roughly guess our capture at fifty cranes a 

 capital night's work." 



But there is a reverse to this medal. Wick Bay is not always 

 rippled by the land-breeze as on this occasion. " The herring fleet 

 has been more than once overtaken by a fierce storm, where valuable 

 lives have been lost, and thousands of pounds worth of netting and 

 boats destroyed, and the gladdening sights of the herring fishery have 

 been changed to wailing and sorrow." 



