E n e m i e s .
bays and creeks. Infummer they come into the bays generally
with the warmeft weather, and with eafy gales. During Winter
the hard gales from N. Weft are fuppofed to affift in fo r c in g them
into Ihelter. Eaft winds are very unfavorable to the ftfhery.
In a fine day, when the fifh appear .near the furfaee, they exhi- J
bit an amazing brilliancy of colors ; all the various corufcations
that dart from the diamond, fapphire and emerald, enrich their
trait: but during night, i f they break, i. e. play on the furfaee, I
the fea appears on fire, ..luminous as the brighteft phofphorus.
During a gale, that ,part of the ocean which is occupied by the I
great fhoals, appear as if covered with the oil that is. emitted I
from them.
They feem to be greatly afFefted' by lightening: during that!
phenomenon they .fink towards the bottom, and move regularly!
in parallel fhoals one above the other.
The -enemies that afiail thefe fifh in the Winter feafon are va-' I
ried. not diminifhed: of the birds, the gannets difappear; the!
gulls ftill xontinue their perfecutions ; whales, pollacks * and ]
porpefles are added to their number of foes: thefe follow in J
• droves.; the whales deliberately, opening their vaft mouths, tak-1
ing them by hundreds. Thefe monfters keep on the outfide, for I
the body of the phalanx of herrings is fo thick as to be impenetra-1
ble by thefe unwieldy animals.
The herring-fifhers never obfervethe remains o f any kind of I
•food in the ftomachs of that fifh, as long as they are in good con*
* A fmall whale, whofe fpecies I cannot determine,
dition, !
dition : as foon as they become foul or poor, they will greedily
rife to the fly, and be taken like the whiting-pollàck.
They do not depofit their fpawn in fafid, or mud, or weeds,
like other fifh, but leave it in the water, fufpended in a gelatinous
matter, of fuch a gravity as prevents it from floating to the fur-
face, or finking to the bottom. The fifhermen difcover this by
finding the flimy matter adhering to the hay ropfes fometimes in
ufe to hold the ftone that finks the nets, the middle part being
(limed over, the top and bottom clear.
Before I leave this bay it muft be obferved, that there are here as
inmoft of the lochs, a few,, a very few of the natives who pof-
fefs a boat and nets ; and fifh in order to fell the capture frefh to
the bufles : the utrnoft thefe poor people can attain to are the boat
and nets ; they are too indigent to become mailers o f barrels, or
of fait, to the great lofs of the public as. well as theirfelves.
Were magazines of fait eftabliihed in thefe diftant parts ; was encouragement
given to thefe diftant Britons, fo that they might be
enabled,, by degrees to furnifh themfelves with the requifites for
filhing, they would foon form themfelves into feamen, by the
courfe of life they muft apply themfelves to ; the bufles would be
certain of finding a ready market of fifh, ready cured ; the natives
taught indiiftry, which would be quickened by the profits -
made by the commodity, which they might afford cheaper, as
taken at their very doors, without the wear and tear of diftant
voyages, as in the prefent cafe. Half of the hands employed
now in fifhing and curing generally come out as raw feamen as
the inhabitants of thefe parts : they do not return with much
greater experience in the working of a fhip, being employed entirely
.