THE EEL A. 299 



gregate in immense shoals, in the Shetland voes. A 

 few yards from the beach or rocks you see them, on 

 looking over the gunwale of your boat, a dense mass 

 of scarcely moving life, with their heads all in one 

 direction. Your rod of eight or ten feet long, and not 

 having a great deal of spring, is made by yourself out 

 of a small slip of Norway pine. The line scarcely so 

 long as the rod — no reel is used — is made of horse 

 hair, which every Shetland fisherman is deft at twisting 

 with his fingers, and the flies, three or four in number, 

 attached to the casting line, about a foot apart, are 

 simply common pins bent in the shape of a hook, or 

 small hooks with the barb pinched down, roughly 

 trimmed with the filaments of a white feather, a 

 little white hair from any animal — cow, dog, or cat — 

 that grows it ; or best of all, a lock from the head or 

 beard of some venerable patriarch of the genus homo. 

 Every cast of your line secures a fish, perhaps two, or 

 three, or even four. There seems to be a competition 

 amongst the eager little sillacks which shall be caught 

 first. This will continue all day, and the biggest 

 basket is got by the angler whose manipulation is the 

 quickest. A barb to the hook is never used : it would 

 be a hindrance, as it would take too much time to free 

 it. A fairly good fisher will in a few hours secure as 

 many sillacks as he can carry home. Another way in 

 which great quantities of sillacks are caught is called 

 " poking." Eound the mouth of a bag net or " poke " 

 is attached a light iron hoop from six to ten feet in 

 diameter, from which three or four stays are gathered 



