PILCHARD. 99 



which no fishery is carried on, except that rarely it extends to 

 Dartmouth ; a second station is included between the Lizard 

 and Land's End ; and the third is on the north coast of the 

 county, the chief station being about St. Ives. It is com- 

 mon for one of these districts to be full of fish, while in 

 neither of the others is a schull to be seen ; but towards the 

 end of the season they often move from one station to 

 another, or perhaps traverse in succession all the shores of 

 the county. The subordinate motions of the schulls are 

 much regulated by the tide, against the current of which 

 they are rarely known to go ; and the whole will sometimes 

 remain parallel to the coast for several weeks, at the distance 

 of a few leagues, and then, as if by general consent, will 

 advance close to the shore, sometimes without being dis- 

 covered till they have reached it. This usually happens 

 when the tides are strongest, and is the period when the 

 principal opportunity is afforded for the prosecution of the 

 sean-fishery. 



The fishery for Pilchards is carried on by drift or driving 

 nets, and with seans. The outfit of the former, which 

 somewhat resembles that already described for Mackerel, 

 consists of a number of nets, great in proportion to the wealth 

 of the proprietor and the size of the boat, but commonly 

 about twenty, each from eighteen to twenty fathoms long, 

 and seven fathoms deep ; so that a string of driving nets will 

 sometimes reach three-quarters of a mile. These nets are 

 fastened to each other in length, and to a head-line, appro- 

 priated to each, along which runs a row of corks ; another 

 line runs loosely along the middle of the nets to afford 

 additional strength, but no lead is used at the bottom. The 

 nets are carried in common fishing-boats, some of which, as 

 at Mount"'s Bay, are luggers, and most of the others with 

 spritsails : the crews consist each of four men and a boy. 



