

OSSEOUS FISHES. 589 



as she goes. To prevent the fish from getting hetween the two nets 

 during the operation, they are frightened into the middle of the 

 enclosure by beating the water with oars, and stones fastened to ropes. 

 When the ' tuck' has at length travelled round the whole circle of 

 the ' seine,' and is securely fastened to the seine-boat at the end as it 

 was at the beginning, everything is prepared for the great event of 

 the day hauling the fish to the surface. 



" Now all is excitement on sea and shore ; every little boat in the 

 place puts off, crammed with idle spectators ; boys shout, dogs bark, 

 and the shrill voices of the former are joined by the deep voices of the 

 'seiners.' There they stand, six or eight stalwart, sun-burnt fellows, 

 ranged in a row in the seine-boat, hauling with all their might at the 

 ' tuck '-net, and roaring out the nautical ' Yo, heave ho !' in chorus. 

 Higher and higher rises the net ; louder and louder shout the boys 

 and the idlers ; the ' huer,' so calm and collected hitherto, loses his 

 self-possession, and waves his cap triumphantly. ' Hooray ! hooray ! 

 Yoy hoy, hoy ! Pull away, boys ! Up she comes ! Here they 

 are !' The water boils and eddies ; the ' tuck '-net rises to the surface ; 

 one teeming, convulsed mass of shining, glancing, silvery scales ; one 

 compact mass of thousands of fish, each one of which is madly striving 

 to escape, appears in an instant. Boats as large as barges now pull 

 up, in hot haste, all round the nets, baskets are produced by dozens, 

 the fish are dipped up in them, and shot out, like coals out of a sack, 

 into the boats. Presently the men are ankle-deep in pilchards ; they 

 jump upon the benches, and work on till the boats can hold no more. 

 They are almost gunwale under before they leave for the shore." 



In the process of curing, the scene becomes doubly picturesque, but 

 this is shore-work, with which our space forbids us to deal. 



" Some idea of the almost incalculable multitude of pilchards caught 

 on the Cornwall shores," says Mr. Collins, " may be gathered from 

 the following data : At the small fishing cove of Trereen six hundred 

 hogsheads were taken in little more than a week, during August, 

 1850. Allowing two thousand four hundred fish only to each hogs- 

 head (three thousand would be the highest calculation), we have a 

 result of one million four hundred and forty pilchards caught by the 

 inhabitants of one little village alone, on the Cornish coast, at the 

 commencement of the season's fishing." 



The Anchovy (Engmulis) is chiefly taken in the Mediterranean, 



