280 EXTRACTS FROM NOTE-BOOKS. CH. XXXVII. 



aperture, leaving the skin otherwise entire. It is 

 then dressed and tarred over. The neck is stopped 

 up by a wooden plug made to fit it, and the skin 

 having been thus rendered water-tight is filled with 

 air, legs and all. So that the float consists of the 

 entire dog minus his head. Blown up and extended 

 as it is, and black with tar, it is about as ugly but 

 as serviceable a float as can well be imagined. 



The herring-nets being laid, the men, if the 

 shoals do not appear to be on the move, set to work 

 to fish for cod, halibut, &c., of which they frequently 

 catch great numbers ; earning in this way a con- 

 siderable addition to their wages. AVarned, how- 

 ever, by the cries and activity of the sea-birds, and 

 by other well-understood signs, all at once they 

 take up their lines, in order to attend to the main 

 object of their fishing, and in a few minutes you see 

 every boat hauling up the herrings which hang in 

 the meshes of the nets, and glance like pieces of 

 burnished silver as they break the surface of the 

 water. Sometimes the dog-fish do great mischief, 

 biting the herrings in two, and tearing the nets. 

 When, however, all goes well, the nets are soon 

 hauled in, and the fish disentangled from them as 

 quickly as possible, and in a surprisingly short space 

 of time all is made ready for another draught. 

 Sea-birds innumerable attend on the herring- 



