94: DIFFERENT MODES OF FISHING THE HERRING. 



herrings in the net, or when, by pulling in part of the 

 net, they see that a sufficiency of herrings is caught, or 

 generally (in ordinary occasions) at daybreak, they haul 

 their nets by bringing the end of the fleet of nets to the 

 side of the boat, and spreading them as they take them 

 in, shake the herrings into the boat, at the same time 

 laying the nets regularly above eaeh other. 



The herrings are thereafter, sometimes at the fishing- 

 ground, and sometimes at the shore, delivered to the 

 purchasers, being in most cases measured by a wooden 

 measure of the size of a herring barrel, called a C7'an, or 

 into baskets of a regulated size, into which the herrings 

 are lifted by shovels ; in some cases, particularly on the west 

 coast when scarce, they are sold by the number. 



Seining. — Seining or taking the fish at sea, or on shore 

 in nets, after performing a circle or semicircle, is some- 

 times practised, particularly in the Clyde, but it is con- 

 sidered objectionable. 



Yairs. — There is a very simple and primitive mode of 

 taking herrings without nets, namely, by means of yairs. 

 These are formed by driving stakes into the ground, at 

 the low water of spring-tide ; the stakes are crossed with 

 twigs or brushwood, which together form a kind of wicker- 

 work, and sometimes enclose large quantities of her- 

 rings. There are also yairs of stone at Lochbroom, 

 Scalpa, Portree, and other places. Yairs are generally in 

 the form of a semicircle from the land, and are lower 

 than high water, and the herrings which enter them are 

 left by the receding tide. As many as 2000 barrels of 

 herrings have been taken off the glebe of the parish at 

 Lochbroom in a yair (built there by the clergyman of the 

 parish) in a single night ; but these yairs are considered 

 injurious to the fishermen, as their nets are damaged 



