36 BRITISH IND US TRIES. 



thoroughly understands ; they require some little judg- 

 ment to prevent mistakes, and mistakes are sometimes 

 made by them ; the strength of the tide may be mis- 

 calculated, or something else ; and the irregular jerk- 

 ing action of the trawl, owing to the beam being on 

 the ground instead of only the irons, tells the fisher- 

 men that the trawl is " on its back." In such a case 

 there is nothing to be done but to heave up the net a 

 long and laborious process and then, after getting the 

 net into the proper position, to lower it once more. 



Supposing that to have been done, and the trawl to 

 be properly working, as can be easily felt by the even 

 and steady strain on .the warp, the master uses his 

 judgment as to how much more warp should be paid 

 out. It should be remembered that the weight of the 

 trawl-net and the trawl-irons, without considering the 

 beam itself which, from being so continually under 

 water, soon becomes saturated, and loses all its original 

 buoyancy is such as to keep the whole apparatus at 

 the bottom, whilst the strain of the warp, by which the 

 trawl is towed along, is in a direction slanting up- 

 wards. There are, therefore, two opposing forces, one 

 tending to keep the net on the ground, and the other 

 lifting it. The object is to regulate these forces so 

 that the pull from the warp shall move the trawl 

 lightly along the bottom, but without raising it from 

 the ground. If there be too little warp allowed, the 

 pull will be too much upwards, and the net will be 

 lifted ; if, on the other hand, there be too much warp, 

 the irons and net will be dragged too much through 

 the ground, and friction will be increased. One of the 



