5 6 BRITISH IND US TRIES. 



There are still one or two things to be noticed, 

 before I come to speak of the working of the drift 

 nets. I have already mentioned the corks on the 

 cork-rope, as specially intended to keep the back of the 

 net uppermost. These floats in ordinary nets are 

 merely placed there for that purpose, and are not 

 meant to keep the nets at the surface. The weight of 

 the net is considerable, and it is desirable that they 

 should be heavy enough to sink, because the herrings 

 do not always rise to the surface ; it is necessary, 

 therefore, to manage so as to place the nets where it is 

 likely the herrings will be. This is, of course, a 

 matter of uncertainty; but the fishermen judge from 

 the state of the weather, and other signs, how far the 

 nets should be sunk. There is, however, some diffi- 

 culty about this too ; sometimes they hit on the right 

 distance, sometimes no fish are caught. The failure 

 may be from the nets being too high or too low, or it 

 may be from the absence of fish in that part of the sea. 

 In any case the nets have to be buoyed up, and for 

 this purpose small kegs, termed " bowls," are used, and 

 one of them is fastened by a rope to each of the nets, 

 the rope being long enough to allow the nets to sink 

 several fathoms ; or, if thought desirable, it may be so 

 shortened as to bring the net close to the surface. It 

 is found convenient to colour the bowls, so as to mark 

 the different parts of the fleet of nets. The first net is 

 marked by a small white bowl, called the "puppy," 

 and at the end of the first four nets is a " dan," or 

 buoy, with a pole carrying a small flag. The rest of 

 the nets are marked in four divisions; at the first 



