I 



THE 'SNEEZE" OF THE HERRING 45 



our tax gatherers, each one in his own district, shall 

 see to it that the people in the fishing stations lead 

 good and Christian lives ; that there is preaching 

 every Sunday, and people exhorted to lead a godly 

 life, so that God may be moved by the prayers of 

 good Christians to extend his blessing to us also in 

 the future." 



There is a belief among fishermen that a 

 herring when caught articulates a sound similar 

 to the word " cheese." This sound is caused 

 by an escape of air from the air bladder, or a 

 movement of the gills. Fishermen, indeed, 

 frequently state that the herrings " sneeze," 

 just as Aristotle says that gurnards ** grunt." 

 The gurnard, known off the Norfolk coast as 

 gurnet or latchet, was known to the Greeks 

 as " lyros " and " coccyx," apparently from the 

 noise it was said to make. 



Many fish have various forms of utterance 

 attributed to them. On the Norfolk Broads 

 one often hears it said that an old jack pike 

 has barked like a dog, and the same is said 

 of the conger eel. 



Red-finned herrings, called " loaders " or 

 "kings and queens," are sometimes caught; 

 they are regarded as an omen of a successful 

 fishing. One of them is then taken out of the 

 nets very carefully, prevented from touching 

 anything made of wood, and passed round the 

 scudding poles as many times as the fishermen 

 desire to get lasts of herring at the next haul. 



In 1587 two herrings were caught off the 



