252 FIELD-NOTES FOR THE YEAR. CH. XVIII. 



and for any purpose where ready money is re- 

 quired. 



To the spectator the pursuit of herrings in the 

 magnificent sea-lochs of Sutherland is attended with 

 much that is interesting and beautiful. When the 

 fleet of boats makes its way up a creek running far 

 into the land, and overhung by wild rocky preci- 

 pices, which protect the boats from every breath of 

 wind, keeping the sea as smooth as glass, and echo- 

 ing and re-echoing every merry shout and call 

 uttered by the fishermen during their pursuit, no 

 description can give an adequate idea of the roman- 

 tic beauty of such a scene with all its accompani- 

 ments. This, however, is the bright side of the 

 picture, for many a dangerous gale and many a 

 peril have the poor fellows to encounter who shoot 

 their herring-nets oflT the bleak eastern coasts of the 

 country, where they are exposed to the sudden gales 

 and rolling seas of the Northern and German 

 Oceans. Frequently, to save their lives, they are 

 compelled to abandon their nets, fish and all. 

 Sometimes boats with their crews go forth to return 

 no more, nor even to be again heard of in this 

 world ; and at other times they are driven to distant 

 ports for safety, losing their tackle and time, and 

 having to make their way back with scanty supply 

 of provision to the port from which they sailed, and 



