A DAY'S WHITING-FISHING. 55 



should be toasted first, and being placed in a basin and kept 

 at the bottom, let boiling water be poured on them for two 

 minutes, after which a little butter should be rubbed over them 

 immediately, which method will extract any superabundance of 

 salt. 



In drying fish the great difficulty is to avoid the depreda- 

 tions of cats, to do which I sometimes suspend them on a line 

 stretched across the garden with hooks at intervals of nine 

 inches, trot fashion. Another good plan is to have a light wood 

 frame, about 4 ft. by 5 ft., with cross bars at intervals of a foot, 

 into which tenter-hooks are to be driven to receive the tails of 

 the fish. It can be suspended at any height, as most convenient. 

 The fish should not overlap each other. 



Drifting on the Whiting-Ground. In a calm or laid to, 

 Whiting are often caught as a vessel drifts with the tide. It is 

 constantly practised by the North Sea Cod-smacks ; and the 

 Orkney and Shetlanders use a drift-sail in the water as a float- 

 ing anchor. It is not much followed by boats and small craft, 

 but sometimes by bending on a piece of chain to the cable to 

 check the drift. If laid to, fish on the weather side. As a rule, 

 it is best to anchor. 



A DAY'S WHITING-FISHING. 



One fine morning in July I threw up my window and looked 

 out across Cawsand Bay and the entrance of Plymouth Sound. 

 In front of me rode tranquilly at her moorings my little 

 'Fairy,' a dandy-rigged yacht of seven tons and several fish- 

 ing-boats, some of which had already slipped their buoys, were 

 getting up their canvas as they slowly drifted, rather than sailed, 

 out of the bay before the light morning breeze. A shower of 

 gravel at the staircase- window told me that my old man-of-war's 

 man was at the door ; and hastening below, I gave him a fish-box 

 to carry, told him to launch the punt, then rushed upstairs 

 to make a hasty toilette, and, taking with me a basket contain, 

 ing some provision for the day, I was soon on the beach. 



It was but four o'clock, consequently much too early for 

 breakfast ; and, besides, the time is much better spent in 



