92 DIFFERENT MODES OF FISHING THE HERRING. 



of li incli square, 25 feet; and a fifteen-score net, 

 25 feet, or 31 feet in depth. The law requires that 

 each mesh shall not he under 1 inch square. In pre- 

 paring the net for the fishing, the upper part is fastened 

 to a rope made of several cords joined in one, frequently 

 as many as twelve ; this is called the rope or corh 

 baulk. The ends of each net are strengthened by 

 being attached to a rope (or cords of two or three 

 plies joined together), which ends are termed in certain 

 coasts lugs. The lower part of the net is joined to 

 another rope of two or three plies of cord, which of 

 course, in ordinary cases, must strengthen the whole ; 

 but when fishermen fear that the nets may come in 

 contact with foul or rocky ground, the cords or rope of 

 the lower part of the net are left off, which prevents the 

 net being torn so much as it otherwise might be. At the 

 lower part of the net are loops, to which sinkers (of stone 

 or other substances) can be attached when considered 

 necessary. 



Buoys. — When about to be used all the nets are united 

 together at the top, and between each net is fastened a 

 buoy to a rope of four to eight fathoms in depth ; the 

 buoy attached being in some places an inflated sheep or 

 dog skin ; and in other places, four inflated ox-bladders — 

 the buoys being tarred, and the initials of the owner of 

 the net painted on the outside, this being the only dis- 

 tinctive mark by which fishermen in case of storms, or 

 entanglements of nets (and the latter circumstance, from 

 want of proper management, often occurs), can know their 

 own nets. 



Fleets or drifts of nets. — The whole of the nets united 

 are termed o. fleet of nets, and in some places (where the 

 nets are not anchored, and the boat attached to one end 



