o f oak, birch, haze], or willow : the laft from Holland, liable toa
duty.
B a r r e i s , The barrels-coft about three lhillings each, they hold from five]
to eight hundred fifh, according to the fize of the fiih, are made.toj
contain thirty-two gallons. The barrels are infpe&ed by proper]
officers: a cooper examines if they are ftatuteable and good; if I
faulty, he deftroys them, and. obliges the maker to. ftand to the]
lofs.
The herrings in generaf are exported" to thzW ejl Indies, to feed!
the negroes, or to Ireland, for the Irijhaxe not-allowed to fiih in thefe!
feas. By having a drawback o f five-pence a barrel,-and. by. re-1
packing the filh in new barrels o f twenty-eight gallons, they are!
enabled to export them to our colonies .at a cheaper rate, than thel
Seots can do.-
The trade declines- apace ; the bounty, which' was well paid atl
firft, kept up the fpirit of the- fiihery-.; but for the laft fix years thel
detention of the arrears has been very injurious to feveral adventu-|
rers, who-hayefold out at.thirty per cent, lofs, befides that of theirl
intereft.
M i g r a t i o n s . The migration of the herrings has been very fullytreated of in the*
3d volume of the Britijh Zoology.- it is -fuperfiuous to load this work!
with a-repetition; I lhall therefore only mention the obfervationsj
that occur to me in this voyage, as pertinent to the prefent place. '
Loch-Brosm has been celebrated for three, or four centuries asl
the refort of herrings. They generally appear here in July: thofel
that turn into this bay are part of the brigade that detaches itfelfl
from the Weftern column of that, great army that annually deferts.1
the;]
H E B R I D E S.
tfe vaft depths of the arblic Vait ucpmo w - ---- circle',' and come', heaven-di.r.e..fted,
to the feats of population, offered as a cheap food to millions,
„hom wafteful luxury or iron-hearted avarice hath deprived, by
chancing the price, of the wonted fupports of the poor. |
" The migration o f thefe fiih from their Northern retreat is regular
their vifits to the Weftern ifles and-coafts, certain: but their-
attachment to one particular loch, extremely precarious., All have-
their turns I that which, fwarmed with fiih- one year, is totally deferred
the following; yet the next loch to it be crowded with the-
fhoals. Thefe changes -of place give often full employ to the
huffes, who are continually fluffing their, harbour in queft of news
refpefting thefe important wanderers. . H f e & j l
They c o m m o n l y , appear-here in Ja/y;-the latter end of Auguft
thev go in t o deep water, and continue there for fome time, without
any apparent caufe: in November they, return to the ihallows,
when a new f i i h e r y commences,.which continues till January, at-
thattime the. herrings become full of-roe, and are ufelefs. as articles
of commerce. Some doubt whether thefe herrings that
appear in November, are . not part of a new-migration ^ for they
are as fat,, and make, the fame-appearance,.; as thofe that compofcd
the firft.-.. ,
The figns of the.arrival of the herrings are flocks of- gulls, who
catch up the fiih while they ikim on the furface ; and of gannets,
who plunge and bring them up from confiderable depths. Both .
thefe birds are clofely auended -to .by the. fiihers-. , . . r-i -
Cod-fiih, haddocks, and dog-fiih, follow the herrings in-vaft
multitudes •, thefe voracious fiih keep on the outfides o f ‘the co