THE "SVOXDERS OF THE SHORE. 119 



at some distance from the mouth, are connectecl 

 by a swivel-joint. To this the dragging rope i? 

 bent, which must be long enough to allow thrice 

 as much at least to be overboard as the perpen- 

 dicular depth would require ; if you are dredging 

 in ten fathoms, you must use at least thirty 

 fathoms of line, or your dredge will make 

 long jumps over the ground instead of steadily 

 raking it. The inward end of the rope having 

 been made fast to one of the thwarts, the 

 dredge is hove to windward, and the boat is 

 put before the wind, or at least allowed a flow- 

 injr sheet. 



o 



" But before we ran down to our dredjrin"- 

 ground, my master of the ceremonies proposed 

 that wc should haul up a point or two, and have 

 a scrape on tlie Zostera beds that cover many 

 acres of shallow water in the bight of Preston 

 Valley. But let me introduce my man to you. 

 A clever fellow is .Tone, an<l though only bred as 

 a fisherman, he is quite an amalcur naturalist. 

 There i.s nobody else in "Weymouth harbor that 

 knows anything about dredging ; (I have it from 

 his own lips, fo you may rely upon it ;) hut he is 

 familiar with the feel of nhnost every yard of 



