164 DUTCH HERRING-BOATS. 



heel, bridle, and lash are pressed into service. One hand 

 is required to hold on either by saddle or tail, the other 

 is needed for the lash. How, then, can he dispose of the 

 bridle? In his teeth, of course, and there he holds it. 

 On he comes full swing. The road is very rough and 

 downhill now. His legs are well extended, and he is 

 making no prehensile use of his knees. This can't last 

 long. Hallo ! there he's off rolling, with little harm 

 done. 



Such are the amusements of the Dutch fishermen on 

 shore. At sea their demeanour is much graver ; and it 

 is to be said in their praise that they keep themselves and 

 their busses wonderfully clean. The celebrated village of 

 Brock is hardly more a miracle of neatness than a Dutch 

 herring-boat ! Each buss carries seventy nets (eighteen 

 fathoms long), and a crew of fourteen men. The nets 

 are got on board by means of rollers at the sides of the 

 ship and of the hold ; and the masts are jointed near the 

 deck, so that they may be lowered for the purpose of 

 lying-to when the hauling-in process commences. The 

 herrings are cleaned and barrelled as fast as they are 

 removed from the nets ; and when the whole fleet has 

 barrelled as much as will make a ship's cargo, a yagger is 

 immediately despatched to the home-port, returning empty 

 for another load. 



It has been justly said that the herring is the same in 

 all our seas ; that its habits are the same whether it fre- 

 quents the east coast or the west, collects in the waters 

 off Shetland, or penetrates into the depths of Loch Fyne. 

 Yet we know very little about it much less than about 

 the salmon. Various authorities give widely different 



