FISH AND FISHERIES OF EAST SUFFOLK. 367 



number of boats working out of tbat port in Sprat-time is about 

 fifty. Fishing commences at the end of October, and lasts until the 

 middle of December. Sprats, he assured me, realized from three 

 shillings to eight shillings per bushel, but I might take the 

 average at five shillings. An average catch of some fifty to 

 sixty bushels was the take per boat, with average earnings of 

 from £10 to £15 ; £20 was reckoned exceptional. None were 

 sold last year for manure ; a few were smoked, the majority 

 being sent away fresh. 



The ridge of sandhills on which Southwold is situated extends 

 northwards to Gorleaton cliffs, Lowestoft standing midway upon 

 the highest portion of them ; immediately below Lowestoft, at 

 the northern extremity, a range of undulating sand-dunes slopes 

 seaward into an intermixed shore of hard sand and shingle, 

 without clay. The south beach is narrow, a mere ribbon of sand 

 between sea-wall and sea, upon which the wintry breakers dash 

 with furious onslaught, often severely damaging the foreshore, 

 notwithstanding the bold fight made by the inhabitants who 

 spend much money and ingenuity in groining and theorising. 

 The harbour, with its basins, divides the town into two distinct 

 portions. Immediately behind Lowestoft are the waters of Lake 

 Lothing and the River Waveney, the latter of which " in ancient 

 days sought its junction with the ocean through Lake Lothing, 

 between Lowestoft and Kirkley. Its channel, which is proved to 

 have been shallow by the discovery of fossil Elephants' teeth, . . . 

 was open in Camden's time."* 



It would be beside the mark to enter into details of the long 

 fight between the sea and the shifting sands which makes up the 

 earlier history of this now navigable waterway — its irruptions, 

 inundations, and the like. One remarkable tide, in 1791, burst 

 over the isthmus of sand, carrying away a bridge built at Mut- 

 ford in 1760; " on this occasion the salt water flowed over every 

 surrounding barrier, and forced the fishes into the adjoining 

 fields, where they were found, weeks afterwards, sticking in the 

 hedges." 



These possibilities for good or evil at length suggested what 

 has since turned out to be a successful compromise with nature. 

 In 1814 a survey was made to ascertain " whether or not it wns 



* k History of Suffolk,' by Rev. A. Suckling. 



