SEAN FISHING. 91 



of the incidents attending this fishing when I speak of 

 St. Ives, the great pilchard-curing station. 



Very much the same mode of working the sean is in 

 use on other parts of the Cornish coast, but generally 

 on a much smaller scale ; frequently only one net is 

 employed, and the fish are " tucked " into the boat at 

 once ; but in that case, of course, the capture is not a 

 very large one. 



The necessity for using rowing boats in working the 

 sean prevents its employment as a " circle-net," except 

 near the land ; it is used sometimes in deep water in 

 some of the Scotch lochs ; and in such cases the net is 

 not grounded, but brought under the fish like a tuck- 

 net. In most cases, however, the sean is there worked 

 near the shore, and the net having been grounded, there 

 is less difficulty in securing the capture of the fish. As 

 the term " trawling " is commonly used in Scotland 

 for the kind of fishing which in England, and, I 

 believe, in most, if not in all, parts of Ireland, is 

 known by the proper name of " seaning," the expres- 

 sion " sean-trawling " might be used when speaking 

 of the Scotch fishery, instead of either " seaning," 

 which would not be properly understood in Scotland, 

 or " trawling," the meaning of which would be liable 

 to be misunderstood in others parts of the United 

 Kingdom. 



I have now spoken of the sean proper and the 

 tuck-sean; and I have only to describe the ground 

 or foot-sean, in some places called the scringe-net. 

 This sean is much more widely known than the 

 others, for it can be very easily worked, and one of 



