WANT OF HAEBOURS IN SCOTLAND. 229 



kind. But this mischance is incideiital to all our fisheries, no 

 matter what the engine of capture may be, whether net or line. 

 Look how we slaughter our grilses, without giving them the oppoiu 

 tunity of breeding ! The herring-fishing is a notable example of 

 this mode of doing business : the very time that these animals 

 come together to perpetuate their species is the time chosen by 

 man to kill them. Of course if they are to be used as food, 

 they must be killed at some time, and the proper time to capture 

 them forms one of those fishing mysteries which we have not as 

 yet been able to solve. We protect the salmon with many laws 

 at the most interesting time of its life, and why we should not 

 be able to devise a close-time for the cod, turbot, haddock, and 

 sole of particular coasts — for each portion of the coast has its 

 particular season — is what I cannot understand, and can only 

 account for the anomaly on the ground of salmon being private 

 property. 



The labour of the Scottish fishermen is greatly augmented 

 by the want of good harbours for their boats. Time, and op- 

 portunity serving, the men of the fisher class are really indus- 

 trious, and this want of proper harbourage is a hardship to them. 

 It is curious to notice the little quarry-holes that on some parts 

 of the Moray Firth serve as a refuge for the boats. There is 

 the harbour of Whitehills, for instance : it could not be of any 

 possible use in the event of a stiflf gale arising, for in my opinion 

 the boats would never get into it, but would be dashed to pieces 

 on the neighbouring rocks. I have witnessed one or two storms 

 on the north-east coast of Scotland, and shall never forget the 

 scenes of misery these tumults of the great deep occasioned. 



Large quantities of white fish are, of course, still caught on 

 the Scottish coasts. Almost in every little bay and firth there 

 are some boats constantly engaged in the haddock and cod fish- 

 ing, and if we ask the destination of those fish which are caught, 

 the answer is almost sure to be " the English markets." The 

 constant and unvarying demand for fresh fish from the larger 

 towns of England so entices the fishermen, that local demands 

 are entirely slighted. On the coasts of Ayrshire and- Galloway, 

 all the fish I inquired about, that is, all that were brought 

 ashore during my visits to several fishing towns, were destined 

 for either Manchester or London. Wherever there is a railway 

 reaching to the sea-side, it may be accepted as a settled fact 

 that a portion of its revenue will be derived from the carriage 

 of fish to great seats of population. 



