32 OLD-FASHIONED ANGLING 



pirate would never attack a fishing-boat, and against 

 a vessel of war they would have been useless. The 

 regulations for fishing were very distinct. No man 

 was to cast his net within 100 fathoms of another's 

 boat ; whilst the nets were cast, a light was to be 

 left in the stern ; if a boat was by any accident 

 obliged to leave off fishing, the light was to be 

 thrown into the sea, and when the greater part of 

 the fleet left off fishing and cast anchor, the rest 

 were to do the same. 



Of the English fishery, the date of its commence- 

 ment, the size of the nets and the names of the differ- 

 ent sorts of herrings are merely given ; these names 

 are very curious, I wonder whether they are known 

 on the coast now. Six sorts are given, — the Fat Her- 

 ring, the largest and best ; the Meat Herring, large, 

 but not so thick as the first ; the Nidit Herrinir, a 

 middle-sized one ; the Pluck, which has been hurt 

 in the net ; the Shotten Herring, which has lost its 

 spawn ; and the Copshen, which by some accident 

 or other has been deprived of its head. When the 

 whale fishery is mentioned, here too the description 

 given relates entirely to the Dutch. As to tlie 

 English it only says that in 1728 the South Sea 

 Company began to work it with pretty good success 

 at first, but that it dwindled away until 1740, when 

 Parliament thought fit to give greater encouragement 



