88 CKAB FISHERS. 



time serve to designate the owners of the different 

 pots one, perhaps, having three corks near together 

 towards the extremity of the line, arid two distant 

 ones another may have one cork fastened crosswise, 

 another fastened together, and so on. It is, of 

 course, for their mutual security that the fishermen 

 abstain from poaching on their neighbour's property; 

 and hence we find that stealing from each other's 

 pots is a crime almost wholly unknown amongst 

 them. 



' The fishery for these crabs constitutes an im- 

 portant trade on many parts of the coast. The 

 numbers which are annually taken are immense ; and, 

 as the occupation of procuring them is principally 

 carried on by persons who are past the more labori- 

 ous and dangerous pursuits of general fishing, it 

 affords a means of subsistence to many a poor man 

 who, from age or infirmity, would be unable without 

 it to keep himself and his family from the work- 

 house.' * 



* Bell's Brit. Cms. 



