PRAWNING 



the vicinity of rocks. The shores most suitable for 

 the purpose are those in which the tireless sea has 

 worn deep gullies and pools. With every tide legions 

 of these hungry and carnivorous crustaceans come 

 shoreward in search of food, darting hither and thither 

 with astonishing swiftness, searching amid the long, 

 overhanging kelp that clothes the rocks, and watching 

 with keen eye for any prey that may seem good to 

 them. Happily for the prawn fisher, the numbers of 

 these crustaceans seem to be quite inexhaustible. With 

 each returning tide you find them, if the conditions of 

 wind, temperature, and water are favourable, in as- 

 tonishing profusion, and excellent baskets can be made 

 without difficulty. I know of a party of amateurs who 

 carried away a thousand prawns as the result of fishing 

 for one tide last summer ; and, if a person understands 

 his business at all, he may expect to catch to his own 

 basket, on a good tide, from 80 to 150 prawns 

 without great trouble. The amateur has also the satis- 

 faction of knowing that he is not in any way spoiling 

 the occupation of the professional prawner. The shore- 

 line is wide, prawns are marvellously plentiful, and, 

 unlike the deep-water fisheries of the North Sea, the 

 coasts of Britain show not the slightest diminution in 

 the yield of these plentiful and easily captured crea- 

 tures. 



It is refreshing to find ladies taking so keenly to this 

 fascinating form of fishing. The girl of the present 

 day, and for that matter the matron also, without the 

 least invasion of the proprieties, has no scruples in 

 kilting up her skirts, taking off her stockings, and, 

 armed with nets and a hooked pole, betaking herself 

 to the rocks in search of sport. An old short skirt 

 is usually donned for the occasion, while the feet 

 are shod in canvas or bathing shoes. Not only are 

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