N b t s .
F jSHING.
barrel : a Ihip of this fize ought to have eighteen men and three
boats : one of twenty tuns ihould have fix men ; and every five
tuns above, require an additional hand.
T o every tun are two hundred and eighty yards o f nets ; ib a]
vefiel of eighty tuns carries twenty thoufand fquare yards: each]
net is twelve yards long, and ten deep; and every boat takes outj
from twenty to thirty nets, and puts them together fo as to form a|
long train : they are funk at each end o f the train by a ftone, whicfil
weighs it down to the full extent: the top is fupported by buoys,I
made of fheeps-fkin, with a hollow ftick at the mouth, fattened I
tight; though this the ikin is blown up, and then ftopt with apegj
to prevent the efcape of the air. Sometimes thefe buoys are placed!
at the top of the nets; at other times the nets are fuffered to finkl
deeper, by the lengthening.the cords fattened to them, every cords
being for that purpofe ten or twelve fathoms long. But the beftl
fiiheries are generally in more ihallow water.
The nets are made at Greenock, in Knapdale, Bute and Arran; butl
the beft are procured from Ireland; and, I think, from fome part off
Caernarvon/hire.
The filhing is 'always performed in the night, unlefs by accident,«
The buttes remain at anchor, and fend out their boats a little before!
fun-fet, which continue out, in Winter and Summer, till day-light;
often taking up and emptying their nets, which they do ten or twelve I
times in a night in cafe o f good fuccefs. During Winter it is a mod.
dangerous and fatiguing employ, by reafon of the.greatnefs and frequency
of the gales in thefe feas, and in fuch gales are the moft fuc-1
cefsful captures ; but by the providence of heaven, the fiihers are j
feldom loft.; and, what, is wonderful,, few are vifited with illnefs.
• They
They go out well prepared, with a warm great coat, boots and ikin
rons° and a good provifion of beef and fpirits. The fame good
fortune attends the buttes, who in the tempeftuous feafon, and in
thedarkeft nights, are continually ihifting in thefe narrow feas from
harbour to harbour.
Sometimes eighty barrels of herrings are taken- in a night by the
boats of a finale vefiel. It once happened in Loch-Slappan, in Skie%
that a bufs of eighty tuns might have taken two hundred barrels in
one night, with ten thoufand fquare yards of net; but the matter was
obliged to defift, for want of a fufficient number of hands to pre-
¿rve the capture.
The. herrings are preferved by faking, after the entrails are taken
wit; an operation performed by the country people, who get three-
half-pence per barrel for their trouble ; and. fometimes, even in the
Winter, can gain fifteen-pence a day. This employs both women
land children,°but the falting is only entrufted to the crew o f the
buttes. The fifh are laid on their backs in the barrels, and layers
¡of fait between, them. The entrails are not loft, for they are boiled
into an o il: eight thoufand fiih will yield ten gallons, valued at.one
lulling the gallon.
| A vefiel of eighty tuns takes out a hundred and forty-four barrels
of fait: a drawback of two ihillings and eight-pence is allowed for
each barrel ufed for the foreign or Irijh exportation o f the fiih; but
there is a duty of one lhilling per barrel for the home confumption,
and the fame for thofe fent to Ireland.
The barrels are made of oak ftaves chiefly from Virginia; the
bops from feveral parts of our own ifland, and are made either
B b b 2