MACKEREL. 127 



the whole of the nets are run out. The net thus deposited 

 hangs suspended in the water perpendicularly twenty feet deep 

 from the drift-rope, and extending from three quarters of 

 a mile to a mile, or even a mile and a half, depending on 

 the number of nets belonging to the party or company 

 engaged in fishing together. When the whole of the nets 

 are thus handed out, the drift-rope is shifted from the stern 

 to the bow of the vessel, and she rides by it as if at anchor. 

 The benefit gained by the boat's hanging at the end of the 

 drift-rope is, that the net is kept strained in a straight line, 

 which, without this pull upon it, would not be the case. The 

 nets are shot in the evening, and sometimes hauled once 

 during the night, at others allowed to remain in the water 

 all night. The fish roving in the dark through the water, 

 hang in the meshes of the net, which are large enough to 

 admit them beyond the gill-covers and pectoral fins, but 

 not large enough to allow the thickest part of the body to 

 pass through. In the morning early, preparations are made for 

 hauling the nets. A capstan on the deck is manned, about 

 which two turns of the drift-rope are taken. One man 

 stands forward to untie the upper edge of each net from the 

 drift-rope, which is called, casting off the lashings ; others 

 hand in the net with the fish caught, to which one side 

 of the vessel is devoted ; the other side is occupied by the 

 drift rope, which is wound in by the men at the capstan. 

 The whole of the net in, and the fish secured, the vessel 

 runs back into harbour with her fish ; or, depositing them on 

 board some other boat in company, that carries for the 

 party to the nearest market, the fishing-vessel remains at 

 sea for the next night's operation. 



Near to land, another mode of fishing is adopted, which 

 is thus described by Mr. Couch in his MS : — " A long 

 deep net is employed, of which, unlike the former, the 



