130 MARVELS OF FISH LIFE 
the right, comes in contact with the central net, and 
then swimming on carries a portion of this slack net 
through the broad meshes of the net on the left. He is 
then checked and held in a pocket of small mesh netting 
from which escape is impossible. Fish coming from the 
left are caught in a similar manner by carrying the 
central net through the broad-meshed net on the right. 
The seine in its simplest form consists of a single 
net some three hundred feet long and twelve feet in 
depth. When used in shallow water, one end is made 
fast to the shore. The net is then dropped in a semi- 
circle from the stern of a boat, the free end being brought 
back to the shore. Both ends of the net are now seized 
and hauled in, and the fish are gradually drawn into 
the central portion of the net and hauled ashore. 
Seining for pilechards on the Cornish coast is a more 
elaborate procedure. First, the shoals of fish are located 
by a man who watches for them from the cliffs, not 
infrequently from a tower built for the purpose. This 
man is known as a “ huer.” As soon as the huer detects 
patches of a reddish appearance in the sea, he knows 
that the pilchards have arrived. Then by weird sounds 
and signs, he communicates the information to the 
fishermen in the sleepy village below. All is at once 
bustle, and the long tarred seine boats, which are ready 
on the shore, immediately put out to sea, and the annual 
pilchard fishing commences. 
The huer, by signs continues to direct the boats to 
the teeming fish. Four boats accompany each net ; the 
