SCOTCH FISHERIES. 175 



as before mentioned, work in the summer on the same 

 grounds as the vessels belonging to Shetland, and they 

 also land a great proportion of their fish at the Ork- 

 neys and Shetlands, where it is bought by the curers, 

 so that the produce of these English vessels is included 

 among the fish cured in Scotland. 



Among the places occasionally visited by a few 

 English and Shetland smacks in search of cod at the 

 beginning of the season, is the very uncertain ground 

 at Rockall. This bank lies in the Atlantic, about 

 300 miles west of the Outer Hebrides, and is marked 

 by a single roughly conical rock about 30 feet high, 

 with a smaller one, usually uncovered, at a distance of 

 less than a hundred fathoms north of it. There is 

 from twenty to fifty fathoms water within less than a 

 mile around the rocks, and it gradually deepens on all 

 sides beyond that distance. The fishery is only carried 

 on within the fifty fathoms line, and must, therefore, 

 be within a short distance of the rock. The very 

 limited extent of ground on which the fish are found, 

 the danger of keeping near the rock in bad weather, 

 and the difficulty in finding it again when, as some- 

 times happens, the vessels are blown away, all combine 

 to prevent regular fishing at Eockall ; and there is 

 further discouragement in the fact that, except quite at 

 the early part of the season, the fishery is not likely 

 to be successful, and even then there is a good deal of 

 uncertainty about it. The Shetland long-line fishery 

 for ling and tusk is worked in the home waters, and is 

 very important. It is carried on from open boats 

 called " haaf," or deep-sea boats, which have long been 



