SALMON PISHING IN HOLLAND. 43 



Buyers from Rotterdam and elsewhere come to a plateau on the 

 opposite side of the river, and hold a market every morning. 

 The fish are then MUed by the fishers, and carried across to the 

 selling place, where they are sold at so much per fish, the persons 

 buying being quite able to discern the weight and quality of 

 each salmon by looking at it. I was not present at any of the 

 sales, but I was told that they were " Dutch auctions," there 

 being always a few persons to compete. 



This salmon fishery, so far as I could judge from a visit of 

 a few hours, is remarkably well conducted ; the capture of the 

 fish goes on by night as well as by day, so that about thirty 

 hauls of the nets are obtained every twenty-four hours — there 

 being a cessation from labour at the flow of the tide. A con- 

 siderable number of salmon are taken at this fishery, as many as 

 seventy having been frequently caught in a day (and night) — 

 a common take being fifty or sixty. During the time of 

 my visit, twelve hauls of the nets were made by hand — the 

 steamer being under repair — with a result of eighteen fish : on 

 that day the total capture was sixty-six fish, which produced a 

 sum of £67 : 15s. — being a little over one pound sterling per 

 fish j and as the average weight of the Maas salmon is fifteen 

 pounds, the sum I have named gives Is. M. per pound weight 

 as the price. Upwards of thirty men and half-a-dozen boys, 

 in addition to an overseer, are employed at this fishery on the 

 Maas, and their wages average about 18s. a week each. These 

 men live in a bothy, and only go home on the Saturdays. None 

 of the persons employed are allowed to drink spirituous liquors, 

 but a plan to provide food for them at a general table was not 

 successful j they now mess individually or in groups at their 

 bothy as best suits them. The superintendent has a pleasant 

 house to live in, and about double the wage of the men under 

 him. The Company weave and dye their own nets in the winter 

 time. Each set of nets is 2000 feet in length, and 33 feet deep, 

 and at the Van Briennan fishery three sets of nets are kept con- 

 stantly at work night and day, as I have abeady stated. When 

 the steamboat engaged in this fishery is disabled, as happened 

 to be the case during my visit, horses are called into requisition, 

 in order to wind in the nets by means of a very powerful wheel 

 windlass. The fishing is by law suspended from November till 

 February, and also during every flow of the tide. An act of 

 parliament regulates the size of the mesh, and prohibits the use 

 of aU fixed nets. The Dutch people won't allow the Maas to be 



