18 THE DUTCH GRAND FISHERY 
they did not spare even the places of worship ; in the kirks 
they broke down the seats and committed every kind of 
profanity. A less serious offence was that “ numbers of 
these fishers being on shoar take horse rydes so many thereon 
as may sitt, to the great hurt of ye owners thereof.” A 
final accusation was that whenever they approached any 
uninhabited island which they found to be the breeding 
place of seafowl, they took eggs and young fowls out of the 
nests, to the serious loss of the owners “‘ who were accus- 
tomed to make profite thereby.” 
Having thus voiced the grievances of the people of Orkney 
and Shetland concerning the conduct of the Hollanders 
during this short annual holiday, the writer enters upon an 
account of the injuries suffered at the hands of the foreigners 
when these came to engage in fishing. His statement of 
these wrongs is a good example of those complaints which 
were with such regularity placed before James VI., and 
which finally induced that monarch to enter upon the con- 
troversy “ De Dominio Maris,”’ in his endeavour to relieve 
the situation. 
The writer declares that the coming of the Hollander 
had ruined the native fishing industry: “‘ The Inhabitants 
of these Isles, and others his Maties subjects, fishars, were 
Inriched by that trade of fishing before these Hollanders 
and others their associats approached his maties coasts. 
But now all are Impoverished, . . . his maties tennents in 
those Isles are not able to pay his maties rent. And the 
fishars dwelling upon the coast of Scotland are sore decayed 
by ye oppression of these Holanders and their associats. Be 
reasone all are violently debarred frae those pairts where 
they were accustomed to fish.” 
The Dutchmen did not hesitate to use violent methods 
towards the fishermen. If they ventured near the Hollanders, 
they were shot at, and their small nets and lines were en- 
tangled within the huge nets belonging to the foreigners and 
