316 INDUSTRY AT AXTCHMITHIE. 



mode of life. I have seen the women of Auchmithie " kilt 

 their coats " and rush into the water in order to aid in shoving 

 oflF the boats, and on the return of the little fleet carry the 

 men ashore on their brawny shoulders with the greatest ease 

 and all the nonchalance imaginable, no matter who might be 

 looking at them. Their peculiar way of smoking their had- 

 docks may be taken as a very good example of their other 

 modes of industry. Instead of splitting the fish after cleaning 

 them, as the regular curers do, they smoke them in their round 

 shape. They use a barrel without top or bottom as a substitute 

 for a curing house. The barrel being inserted a little distance 

 in the ground, an old kail-pot or kettle, filled with sawdust, is 

 placed at the bottom, and the inside is then filled with as 

 many fish as can conveniently be hung in it. The sawdust is 

 then set fire to, and a piece of canvas thrown over the top of 

 the barrel : by this means the females of Auchmithie smoke 

 their haddocks in a round state, and very excellent they are 

 when the fish are caught, in season. The daily routine of 

 fisher-life at Auchmithie is simple and unvarying ; year by 

 year, and aU the year round, it changes only from one branch 

 of the fishery to another. The season, of course, brings about 

 its joys and sorrows : sad deaths, which overshadow the 

 village with gloom ; or marriages, when the people may ven- 

 ture to hold some simple fete, but only to send them back with 

 renewed vigour to their occupations. Time, as it sweeps over 

 them, only indicates a period when the deep-sea hand-lines must 

 be laid aside for the herring-drift, or when the men must take 

 a toilsome journey in search of bait for their lines. Their scene 

 of labour is on the sea, ever on the sea ; and, trusting themselves 

 on the mighty waters, they pursue their simple craft with per- 

 severing industry, never heeding that they* are scorched by the 

 suns of summer or benumbed by the frosts of winter. There is, 

 of course, an appropriate season for the capture of each particular 

 kind of fish. There are days when the men fish inshore for 

 haddocks ; and there are times when, with their frail vessels, 

 the fishermen sail long distances to procure larger fish in the 

 deep seas, and when they must remain in their open boats for a 

 few days and nights. But the El-dorado of all the coast tribe 

 is " the herring." This abounding and delightful fish, which 

 can be taken at one place or another from January to December, 

 yields a six weeks' fishing in the autumn of the year, to which, 

 as has already been stated, all the fisher-folk look forward with 



