EoctracisJ'rom'jyv)^\ihhe\'^^Descriptio7i 
luted- for it, various objects, such, for instance, as a knife, ^ 
church, the clergyman, the devil, or a cat. When after a tug 
of SO or 40 miles, the crew has arrived at the Haaf, they pre- 
pare to set their which is the name they designate the lines 
by that are fitted with ling-hooks. Forty-five or fifty fathoms 
of tows constitute a bught, and each bught is fitted with from nine 
to fourteen hooks. It is usual to call twenty bughts a 
and the whole of the packies that a boat carries ’i^ Q^ Jleet of tows. 
Thus, while a boat in the south or east of Shetland carries only 
two or three packies, a fleet of tows used on the Feideland Haaf 
anlounts to no less than six, these being baited with seldom less 
than 1200 hooks, provided with three buoys, and extending to 
a distance of from 5000 to 6000 fathoms. 
The depth at which ling are fished for varies from 50 to 100 
fathoms. In setting the tows, one man cuts the fish used 
for bait into pieces, two men bait and set the lines, and the re- 
^ maining three or four row the boat. They sink at certain dis- 
tances what they call Cappie-stanes^ the first that is let down 
being called the Steetli, These keep the tows properly fixed to 
the ground. When all this labour is finished, which, in mode- 
rate weather, requires three or four hours, and when the last buoy 
has floated, the fishermen rest for nearly two hours, and take 
their scanty sustenance; but it is lamentable to think, that their 
poverty allows them nothing more than oatmeal bread, and a 
few gallons of water. Their severe labours have never yet ex- 
cited the commiseration of the British Government; for, owing 
to the excessive duty on spirits, they can rarely afford to carry 
with them the smallest supply of whisky. 
At length, one man, by means of the buoy-rope, undertakes 
to haul up the tows, — another extricates the fish from the hooks, 
and throws them intot a place in the stern named the Shot, — a 
third guts them and deposits their livers and heads in the middle 
of the boat. Along with the ling that is caught, there is a 
much less quantity of cod and of the Gadus Brosme or tusk ; 
these are all valuable acquisitions. Sijc to ten wet lings are about 
a hundred weight, and hence six or seven score of fish are rec- 
koned a decent haul, — ^fifteen or sixteen a very , good one, — 
twenty scores of ling are rarely caught, but in such a case, gar- 
bage,, heads, and small fish, are all thrown overboard, nor can 
