GREA T BRITAIN. 45 



suspended by floats, so that its upper edge can be kept at or 

 a little below the surface, and allowed to drift with the tide 

 in any direction, and over any depth of water. It hangs 

 down like a barrier directly in the course a shoal of fish is 

 pursuing. The size of the mesh is in accordance with that 

 of the species of fish it is desired to capture, being 

 sufficiently large to permit it to push its head through but 

 not its body, and it thus becomes meshed behind the gill- 

 covers, which it opens to breathe. The drift-net is, as a 

 rule, shot or payed out at night, and is generally more 

 successful in dark weather, although it has frequently been 

 observed that a rise of the moon, the time just following 

 sunset, or at the commencement of dawn, are the periods 

 when shoals are frequently observed to be on the move and 

 strike the net. These nets are manufactured of cotton or 

 hemp (twine), the former generally being preferred, as it is 

 the most giving material and finest texture, consequently 

 less likely to scare the fish. Twine-nets are stiffer, heavier, 

 and occupy more space, but last the longer. 



These nets are worked on a single line many hundred 

 yards in length, those for mackerel even up to two and a 

 half miles, and when thus employed are termed a fleet, 

 drift or train of nets. The upper edge of the net is termed 

 the " back," the ends the " heads," and the lower edge the 

 " foot " or " sole." A rope runs along the back and heads, 

 but generally not along the foot, as it is then less likely to 

 be entangled in anything at the bottom. The net is set 

 slack on the back rope in order to allow of a little play or 

 giving when struck by the fish. Short lines are fastened 

 every few inches, by which the back of the net is connected 

 to a double rope, on which the corks or floats are placed 

 for the purpose of keeping this edge or back of the net 

 uppermost. From this again are ropes fastened to kegs or 



