FISHES. 595 



supported by empty barrels or cork-buoys, the lower edge being 

 weighted with lead or stones, which are kept at a convenient depth 

 by shortening or lengthening the cords by which the buoys are attached. 

 The size of the mesh of the nets is such that the herrings of a certain 

 size are caught in by the gills and pectoral fins. If the first mesh is 

 too large to hold them, they pass through, and get caught by the next 

 or succeeding mesh, which is smaller. The herring-fisher}' is regu- 

 lated by Act of Parliament, and the legal mode of capture is by means 

 of what is called a drift-net. The drift-net is made of fine twine, 

 marked with squares of an inch each, to allow for the escape of the 

 young fish. The nets are measured by the barrel bulk, a net measuring 

 fifty feet long by thirty-two deep, and each holding half a barrel. The 

 drift is composed of many separate nets fastened together by means of 

 a back rope, and each separate net of the series is marked oft" by a 

 bladder or empty cask. The process is that described by Dr. Bertram 

 in an article published in the " Comhill Magazine." The writer had 

 made his arrangements for a night at the herring-fishery, under the 

 auspices of Francis Sinclair, a very gallant-looking fellow, who sails 

 his own boat from Wick, and takes his own venture. Bounding over 

 the waves with a good capful of wind, they had left the shore and 

 beetling cliffs far behind them ; they reached their fishing-ground, 

 where they tacked up and down, eagerly watching for the oily 

 phosphorescent gleam which is indicative of herrings. "At last, after 

 a lengthened cruise," he says, " our commander, who had been silent 

 for half an hour, jumped up and called to action. ' Up, men, and at 

 them!' was the order of the night. The preparations for shooting 

 the nets at once began by lowering sail. Surrounding us on all 

 sides was to be seen a moving world of boats; many with sails down, 

 their nets floating in the water, and their crews at rest. Others were 

 still flitting uneasily about, their skippers, like our own, anxious to 

 sho'^*--'-" '."■y- Hsfht place. By-and-by we were ready ; the sucker goes 

 splash *mto 'th(c -water ; the 'dog,' a large inflated bladder to mark the 

 far end of the train, is heaved overboard, and the nets, breadth after 

 breadth, follow as fast as the men can pay them out, till the immense 

 train is all in the water, forming a perforated wall a mile long and 

 many feet in depth ; the ' dog ' and the marking-bladder floating and 

 dipping in long zigzag lines, reminding one of the imaginary coils 

 of the great sea-serpent. After three hours of quietude beneath a 

 beautiful sky, the stars — 



' The eternal orbs that beautify the night — 

 began to pale their fires, and, the grey dav n appearing, indicated that 



M M 2 



