304 The Herring 



fathoms. At the top and bottom are stout ropes, 

 the lower rope being sHghtly weighted with sheet 

 lead lapped round it in places and the upper buoyed 

 with pieces of cork. The meshes are made just large 

 enough for the herring or Sprat, as the case may be, 

 to get its head through. Then it is caught, for the 

 pectoral fins and swell of the body will not allow it 

 to go any farther, while the opening of the gills prevent 

 it from moving backwards. When the nets are shot, 

 as it is termed, they oppose to the passage of the 

 army of herrings an invisible fence through which 

 it is impossible to pass, but which is, of course, at- 

 tempted. Presently an enormous number of fish 

 are entrapped by the neck, but so lightly are they 

 held that when the net is hauled into the boat a gentle 

 shake is quite sufficient to dislodge them, and they 

 fall into the boat dead, for the herring dies almost 

 at once upon leaving its native element. 



Meeting this invisible barrier throws the school 

 into terrible confusion, and it breaks up, its units, 

 no longer homogeneous in mass, rushing aimlessly 

 hither and thither. A catastrophe has taken place in 

 their world far greater than the swift passage through 

 their mass of a whale with vast jaws widespread 

 swallowing many thousands of them at a gulp, or 

 the incessant incursions of the porpoises and sharks. 

 But the barrier once removed and its goodly load of 

 victims transferred to the boat, they soon re-form 

 again and, obedient to that compelling impulse, 

 resume their steady march towards their objective. 



Much to the discomfiture and loss of the fishermen, 

 it does occasionally happen that a whale in pursuit 

 of his prey comes gliding on to where the nets stretch 

 right across his path. As the fishermen can easily 

 see his approach, even on the darkest night, it is an 



