Fresh herrings, 258.
Fresh-water fish, commerce in, 35.
Fresh-water fish not of much food value, 129.
Friday an unlucky day, 433.
From the parr to the smolt, 187.
Full _versus_ shotten herrings, 241.
Functions of the Board of Fisheries, 486.
Fusaro, Lake, 348.
Future of the fisheries, 481.
Galbert’s trout establishment, 92.
Gadidæ, 285.
Gadidæ family, the, 289.
Galway fisheries, 117.
Gathering-in of the boats to the herring-fishery, 246.
Gathering the mussel-harvest in Aiguillon, 413.
General machinery of fish-capture, 304.
Geographical distribution of the herring, 234.
Geographical distribution of the oyster, 379.
Geologists’ paradise, 164.
George the Fourth’s fondness for Finnan haddocks, 448.
German pisciculture, 98.
Gipsy anglers, 135.
Glen Sannox, 175.
Glut of herrings at Billingsgate, 258.
Goatfell, 165.
Golden carp, 140, 145.
Gold-fish in factory ponds, 145.
Government by gyneocracy, 426.
Gravid salmon, treatment of, 114.
Great haul of salmon on the Thurso, 205.
Great storm on the Moray Firth, the, of 1857, 327.
Greed of Scottish dredgermen, 375.
Green oysters, 359.
Grieve, Mr., of the Café Royal, Edinburgh, 288.
Grilse growth, 191.
Grilse and smolt, 187.
Ground-plan of fish laboratory at Huningue, 82.
Ground suitable for breeding and fattening oysters, 361.
Group of Newhaven fishwives, 424.
Growth of a fishing village, 419.
Growth of a fish-shoal, 32.
Growth of fish, 1.
Growth of salmon ova, 12.
Growth of the mussel in the Bay of Aiguillon, 415.
Growth of the oyster-park system, 353.
Growth of the young salmon in Australia, 123.
Guano, fish, observations on, 491.
Gulf of Manaar pearl-fisheries, 400.
Gulf of St. Lawrence, 310.
Gunther’s opinion of the _Silurus glanis_, 126.
Gutters for hatching purposes at Huningue, 86.
Gutters of herring, 269.
Habits and character of the Fittie people, 451.
Habits of fish, 316.
Habits of the haddock, 289.
Habits of the pearl-oyster, 401.
Haddock, the, 287.
Haddocks, former scarcity of, 288.
Haddocks, where are they?, 30.
Half-decked boats, 307.
Happy fishing-grounds, 367.
Harbours, 302.
Harbour accommodation, want of, in Scotland, 272, 321.
Harvest of eels at Comacchio, 459.
Hashing of young fish not peculiar to the trawl, 320.
Has the oyster eyes?, 335.
Hatching of salmon, 11.
Hauling in the nets, 266.
Hawkers of fish, 442.
Hearing power of fish, 4.
Herring-buss, cost of, 51.
Herring-commerce, 254.
Herring-curing, 260.
Herring-fishing at Wick in August, 280.
Herring fishing at Wick in September, 281.
Herring, growth of the, 237.
Herring harvest, the, 263.
Herrings, calculations as to size of a shoal of, 6.
Herring spawn, 14.
Herring spawn offered for manure, 313.
Herring, the, described, 226.
Herring, the, its natural and economic history, 226.
Herring, the, shoals at Wick, 278.
Hints to the oyster-farmers, 364.
History of the herring-fishery, 49.
Hired hands at the herring-fishery, 248.
Hole Haven in Essex, lobster-stores at, 389.
Holibut, 295.
Homeward bound, 267.
Hooks, number of, on a fishing-line, 305.
How a fish breathes, 1.
How cod are cured, 293.
How does an oyster lie on its bed?, 335.
How long do herrings take to grow?, 236.
How the herrings are manipulated on arrival, 269.
How the herring-nets are worked, 249.
How the salmon-poachers proceed to work, 203.
How to buy and sell fish, 427.
How to catch cray-fish, 397.
How to angle in the sea, 159.
How to find out a false pearl, 410.
How to mark smolts, 196.
How to test a pearl, 410.
How to open the pearl-mussel, 408.
Hull trawlers, 309.
Huningue described, 82-85.
Huningue, difficulty of finding it, 80.
Ignorance of naturalists and fishermen, 287.
Ile de Re, 352.
Illustrations of oyster-growth, 338, 339.
Imitation by fishermen of marked salmon, 197.
Importance of cheap bait, 410.
Impossibility of catching spawn in the trawl-net, 317.
Impregnation of fish-eggs, 7.
Improvement in the manufacture of herring-nets, 278.
Improvement of Scottish fishing-boats, 307.
Improvement of the salmon-fisheries, 224.
Increase in the quantity of netting used at the
herring-fishery, 277, 278.
Increase of boats and fishermen, 313.
Increase of the enemies of the herring, 242.
Increase of the herring, 7.
Incubation-hall at Huningue, 84.
Incubation of oyster-ova, 337.
Industry of the women at Auchmithie, 447.
Industry at Fisherrow, 436.
Industry of Buckhaven men, 439.
Industry of fishwives, 425.
Inferiority of Doon pearls, 409.
Information about the fisher-folk, 422.
Information as to the colour and structure of pearls, 409.
Information for pearl-seekers, 408.
Information for the Lord Provost of Edinburgh, 376.
Instinct of the salmon for change, 188.
Interior of a fisherman’s house, 430.
Introduction into British waters of strange fishes, 482.
Invention of mussel-culture, 410.
Inventor of the first oyster-pond, 343.
Investigation by the Town Council of Edinburgh into the state of
their oyster-beds, 376.
Irish and Welsh pearls, 407.
Irish fish-carriage, 63.
Irish haddocks, 289.
Irish lobsters, 388.
Irish oyster blue-book, 371.
Irish white-fish fisheries, 304.
Italian fable, 452.
Italian pisciculture, 71.
Italian oyster-eaters, 344.
Jack in his element, drawing of, 141.
Jacobi’s experiments in artificial fish-breeding, 74.
Johnstone on the salmon-fisheries, 216.
Joint-stock fishing system, 441.
Joint-stock oyster company at Whitstable, 366.
Juries for regulating the oyster-fisheries, 371.
Justice to upper proprietors of salmon-fisheries, 487.
Juvenile fisher-folk, 430.
Keeping adult salmon till ripe for spawning, 107.
Kelaart’s account of the pearl, 401.
Kemmerer’s, Dr., tiles for oyster-culture, 361.
Killing of grilse hurtful to the fisheries, 207.
Kinsale oysters, 374.
Kitchen at Comacchio, 460.
Knox, Dr., opinion of the parr, 182.
Labours of Gehin and Remy in pisciculture, 76.
Lake Fusaro, 348.
Land-crabs, 393.
Land of a thousand lochs, 136.
Latest achievement in pisciculture, 126.
Laws devised for self-government at Ile de Re, 357.
Legal mode of capturing the herring, 248.
Legend of the first oyster-eater, 342.
Legend of the island of Sein, 455.
Leistering salmon, 204.
Length of white-fish fishing-lines, 305.
Lent, fish required during, 277.
Line-fishing, 306.
List of authorities, 499.
List of rivers in which the best pearls have been found, 406.
Living codfish, traffic in, 302.
Living crustacea, 387.
Lobster-bait, 162.
Lobsters “in berry,” 393.
Lobster-commerce, 337.
Lobster-farming, 385.
Lobsters good for food all the year round, 398.
Localities for sea-angling, 162.
Loch Awe trout, 138.
Lochfyne herring, 28.
Lochfyne, view of, 249.
Lochleven pike, 140.
Lochleven trout, 28, 139.
Lochmaben, 27.
Logan fish-pond, 39.
London demand for shell-fish, 385.
London fish-supply, inquiries into the, 285.
London oyster-saloons, 373.
Lord Advocate’s salmon bill of 1862, 205.
Loss of the “Shamrock,” 322.
Lottery nature of the herring-fishery, 267.
Love of oysters by the ancient Romans, 380.
Lowe’s, Mr. James, opinion about the position of the oyster, 335.
Low state of the English salmon-fisheries, 217.
Luck a creed of the fishermen, 257.
Lucullus, 344.
Machinery of fish-capture, 305.
Machinery of herring-capture, 248.
Mackerel-fishery, 299.
Mackerel-growth, 21.
Mackerel, the, 299.
Madame Picard, the French fishwife, 456.
Manufactured Finnans, 290, 449.
Manufacture of sardines, 253.
March of the land-crabs, 393.
Marennes, 359.
Marine Department of France, 56.
Marked fish of the salmon kind, 197.
Marriage dinners among the fisher-class, 421.
Marriage scenes at Newhaven, 420.
Marrying and giving in marriage among the fisher-folks, 420.
Marshall, Peter, of Stormontfield, on the salmon, 195.
Martin and Gillone’s breeding establishment, 112, 113.
Mascalogne, the, or pike of America, 143.
Masculine character of the fishwife, 323.
Mathers the fisher-poet, 471.
Mayhew’s figures, 67.
Measurement of nets, 248.
Members of the herring family, 245.
Memoir on fish by a Chinaman, 70.
Methuen on the white-fisheries, 288, 480.
Methuen, the late Mr., brief sketch of his career, 259.
Microscopic observation of oyster-spat, 339.
Migration of the eel, 19.
Migration of the herring a mistake, 228.
Milton oysters, 372.
Mitchell on the distribution of the herring, 234.
Mitchell on the herring, 231.
Mode of capturing turbot, 296.
Modes of cooking oysters in New York, 381.
Mode of curing Yarmouth bloaters, etc., 271.
Mode of doing business of the Fisherrow women, 436.
Mode of dredging for oysters, 378.
Mode of fishing by line, 305.
Mode of growing the mussels in the Bay of Aiguillon, 415.
Mode of life at Comacchio, 458.
Mode of packing ova in ice, 119.
Mode of salmon-fishing on the Tay, 213.
Mode of selling fish by Newhaven women, 425.
Mode of spawning by the land-crabs, 394.
Mode of taking pilchards in Cornwall, 251.
Modes of sea-fishing in France, 57.
Money paid by curers of herring in bounty and arles, 256.
Money value of fresh-water fish in France, 92.
Money value of the Colne oysters, 370.
Monkbarns and Maggie Mucklebackit, 428.
Monkeys catching crabs, 386.
Monotonous life of the eel-breeders of Comacchio, 459.
Moral success of oyster-farming, 357.
Moray Firth ports, 302.
More boats and less fish on the Dogger Bank, 313.
More ways of killing salmon than angling, 203.
Mortality of herring, 15.
Movements of the herring at spawning time, 238.
Mr. Ramsbottom’s salmon manipulations, 102.
Multiplying power of the herring, 33.
Mussel-culture, 410.
Mussel-stakes, 411.
Mysterious fish, 26.
Narrow escape from extermination of the salmon, 475.
Natives, 368.
Natural and economic history of the oyster, 332.
Natural and economic history of the salmon, 177.
Natural enemies of the herring, 282, 283.
Natural history of the codfish, 291.
Natural history of the crustacea, 391.
Natural history of the eel, 47.
Natural history of the pearl-oyster of Ceylon, 401.
Natural history of the pilchard, 251.
Natural history of the sole, 298.
Natural history of whitebait, 23.
Naturalisation of fish in British rivers, 125.
Naturalist’s Library account of the herring, 235.
Necessity for two ponds at Stormontfield, 105.
Necessity of describing the fisher-folk, 418.
Nets, quantity used by a boat, 248.
Newbiggin, evidence by a fisherman of that place, 317.
New branch of shell-fishing, 398.
Newfoundland cod-fishery, 53.
Newhaven, 423.
Newhaven fishwives, 424.
Newhaven oyster-beds, 375.
New York, oyster-eating in, 381.
Nicknames of fishermen, 466.
Non-success of the winter herring-fishery in 1864, 275.
_Northern Ensign_, the, on the herring-fishery, 279.
North Sea white-fish fisheries, 304.
Norway lobsters, 389.
Note from the novel of the _Antiquary_, 426.
Nothing but herring, 268.
Notice of a hermit crab, 392.
Notice of Newhaven fishwives by the Queen, 429.
Notice of valuable pearls, 400.
Nova Scotia and Canadian fisheries, 54.
Number of barrels of herring caught at Wick, 278.
Number of buckies, 466.
Number of eggs in a herring, 5.
Number of men drowned on the north-east coast, 330.
Number of oyster-farms in France, 347.
Number of oysters on a fascine, 352.
Number of shells that contain pearls, 409.
Number of vessels fitted out for herring-fishery, 274.
Number of white-fish falling off, 317.
Nursing oyster-brood at Whitstable, 367.
Nursing the salmon, 15.
Objects of the English Fishery Act of 1861, 220.
Observations on fish-guano, 491.
Obvious abuses in connection with the economy of the fisheries, 284.
Occurrence at St. Monance, 434.
Oddities of the pearl-fisheries, 405.
Officer’s, Dr., account of the ova received in Australia, 120.
Official documents on the fisheries referred to, 66.
Official instructions to the herring-curer, 262.
Off to the herring, 264.
Old believers in old fish theories, 227.
One million of oysters eaten daily in Paris, 345.
Open _versus_ decked boats, 272.
Operations of the Fishery Board, 284.
Opinion of Mr. Anderson on the salmon question, 207.
Opinion of Mr. Ffennell on the English Fishery Act of 1861, 220.
Opinions of a Billingsgate salesman, 320.
Opinions, different, about shell-fish, 333.
Orata, Sergius, 72, 343.
Organisation for supplying London with oysters, 366.
Origin of Buckhaven, 439.
Origin of Finnan haddocks, 290.
Origin of fisher colonies, 423.
Ossian, 174.
Our chief food fishes, 285.
Our Lady’s Port of Grace, 423.
Our skipper at Wick, 264.
Ova of the salmon, how it develops, 12.
Overfishing of the herring, 227.
Overfishing of the herring as pointed out by Mr. Cleghorn, 233.
Overfishing of the oyster, 347.
Overshooting, 169.
Owners of salmon fisheries on the Tay, 213.
Oyster-beds of Colne and Whitstable, 346.
Oyster-beds of Georgia, 380.
Oyster-breeding fascines, 351.
Oyster close-time, 336.
Oyster-eaters, 343.
Oyster-growth, 338.
Oyster, natural and economic history of, 332.
Oyster-parks described by Mr. Ashworth, 354.
Oyster-pyramid, 350.
Oyster-saloons of New York, 381.
Oyster-seekers, 373.
Oyster Street at Billingsgate, 374.
Oyster tiles, 363.
Oyster-women of Paris, 456.
Oysters able to move about, 342.
Oysters at one time nearly forgotten, 343.
Oysters hermaphrodite, 340.
Oysters, how they are made green, 359, 360.
Oysters in France, increase in price of, 64.
Oysters on trees, 379.
Oyster-ploys, 345.
Oysters, when in season, 336.
Packing herrings, 41.
Packing of trawled white fish, 311.
Pandore oysters, 377.
Paper on the herring read at British Association meeting, 1854, 231.
Paper on the sea fisheries of Ireland, 286.
Parr at a year old, 182.
Parr-growth, 180, 181.
Parr in salt water, 194, 195.
Parr-icide, 200.
Paris, revenue derived from fish by, 64.
Paucity of oyster-spawn during late years, 340.
Payment of fishermen on the St. Lawrence, 310.
Pearl-fisheries of Scotland, 398.
Pearl-seekers at work, 404.
Pearl-seekers, information for, 408.
Peat-smoked haddocks, 448.
Pennant’s opinion as to the haddock, 289.
Pennant’s story of the herring a myth, 228.
Percentage of salmon eggs hatched in Australia, 124.
Percentage of mussels that contain pearls, 408.
Percentage of oysters that arrive at maturity, 341.
Percentage of salmon ova that come to life, 200.
Perch, the, 151, 152.
Perforated chests for keeping lobsters alive, 387.
Perth as a centre for the angler, 213.
Periwinkle, a peep at the, 384.
Peter Marshall of Stormontfield as a pisciculturist, 111.
Petticoat government, 450.
Pickled herrings, discovery of, by the Flemings, 43.
Pictures of the Dutch fishery, 42.
Pig-feeding by means of parr, 200.
Pike, 140.
Pilchard, the, 251.
Pisciculture, 69.
Piscicultural establishment at Huningue, 76.
Pisciculture in China, 69.
Plan of a turtle-farm, 96.
Plan of cultivating oysters, 346.
Plan of fishing adopted at Yarmouth, 271.
Plan of smoking haddocks in Auchmithie, 446.
Plan of the salmon-ponds at Stormontfield, 100.
Planting and transplanting mussels, 414.
Playing a salmon, 131.
Plea for the total abolition of the brand, 263.
Plentifulness of salmon long ago, 476.
“Please to remember the grotto,” 332.
Plessix oyster-bed, 364.
Pleuronectidæ, 285, 295, 297.
Poaching as a trade, 202.
Points in the natural and economic history of the herring, 232, 233.
Ponds for fish, 38.
Pont oyster-grounds, 368.
Pooldoodies, 374.
Pope and Swift as oyster-eaters, 345.
Portessie, 321.
Powan, the, 29.
Practicability of artificial breeding on the Severn, 219.
Practical nature of French fish-culture, 95.
Prawn-catching, 396.
Prawns and shrimps, 395.
Preparation of the eels at Comacchio, 462.
Present price of haddocks, 288.
Prestonpans, 437.
Price of fish in France, 62.
Progress of Beef’s oyster-farm on the Ile de Re, 353.
Progress of herring growth, 237.
Progress of salmon growth, 179.
Progress of the parr, 105.
Progress of the ova in Australian waters, 122.
Progress of the people of Fittie, 451.
Proper stock of fish for the Severn, 218.
Proper time to shoot the nets, 265.
Proposal for a jubilee on the Severn, 218.
Proposal for a tax on the boats, 284.
Proportion of netting used and herring taken, 282.
Proportions of meat and shell in the oyster, 341.
Proposal to make each salmon river a joint-stock property, 223.
Proposal to note growth of sea-fish in a marine observatory, 17.
Proposal to sell the herring as they are caught, 257.
Prosperity of the fisher-folk, 440.
Price paid for pearls, 405.
Price of three haddocks in 1790, 288.
Primitive hatching apparatus, 115.
Primrose, Hon. Mr. Bouverie, 485.
Principal changes introduced by Tweed Acts, 216.
Private oyster-layings, 371.
Probable extinction of the Firth of Forth oyster-beds, 375.
Problem in salmon life by the Ettrick Shepherd, 185.
Process of curing the herring, 261.
Process of gutting the herring, 269.
Produce of the oyster greening claires, 361.
Productive power of shell-fish, 382.
Productiveness of artificial system, 90.
Profile of the ponds at Stormontfield, 101.
Profit of Beef’s oyster-farm, 353.
Profits of oyster-farming, 372.
Prosperity of the oyster-growers, 358.
Provisions of the salmon and trout Act of 1861, 221.
Public writers on the British fisheries, 474.
Pulteneytown heights, 264.
Pulteneytown quay, scene at, 267.
Purchasers of Scottish pearls, 403.
Quaint fishing villages of Normandy and Brittany, 454.
Qualifications of an angler, 135.
Quality of the herring captured in 1862, 276.
Quantity of herring branded in 1862, 273.
Quantity of netting employed in the herring-fishery, 277.
Quantity of pilchards sometimes obtained, 252.
Quantity of spawn from each oyster, 339.
Queensferry, whitebait ground near, 22.
Question of fish growth, 16.
Rapid growth of oyster-culture in Ile de Re, 352.
Rapid hatching of herring ova, 236.
Rapid transit, effect of, on the fisheries, 36.
Rapidity of salmon growth, 196.
Ravages of the herring shoals by codfish, 282.
Raw oysters the best for the stomach, 346.
Reasons of the fishermen for marrying on Friday, 420.
Recent fishing Acts for England, 219.
Recent reports of the Inspectors of English fisheries, 217.
Re-discovery of pisciculture, 73.
Red-letter days of August, 332.
Reel o’ Collieston, 422.
Regulation of British salmon-fisheries, 487.
Regulation of salmon-rivers, 488.
Regulation of the Scottish herring-fisheries, 484.
Relation between upper and lower proprietors of salmon rivers, 222.
Relation of the curer to the fishermen, 255.
Remedies for failing salmon supplies, 225.
Remy, the re-discoverer of pisciculture, 73.
Rental of French fisheries, 91.
Rental of Firth of Forth oyster-beds, 375.
Report of the Lochfyne commissioners on the herring, 235.
Reprehensible feature in herring commerce, 256.
Reproductive power of the oyster, 338.
Reproductive power of the oyster in green claires, 260.
Return from the beds on the Ile de Re, 356.
Revenue anticipated from licences on English rivers, 221.
Revenue from fish to the city of Paris, 64.
Revenue from oysters grown in Lake Fusaro, 349.
Revival of pearl-seeking in Scotland, 402.
Rev. Mr. Williamson on the double migration of salmon, 194.
Rhine salmon, 201.
Richmond’s, Duke of, salmon-fisheries, 215.
Rights of fishing in France, 91.
Rise in price of oysters at Ile de Re, 358.
Rise in the price of white fish, 301.
Rise of a herring-curer, 259.
River cray-fish, 397.
River Doon pearl-fever, 404.
Rivers of France, the, 73.
Roaming fish, 32.
Robertson’s Tweed salmon tables, 217.
Rockall fishery, 303.
Roe of the cod used in sardine-fishery, 254.
Round of labour at Auchmithie, 446.
Routine of oyster-work at Whitstable, 369.
Roxburghe, Duke of, as an angler, 130.
Salmo Ferox, 138.
Salmon a day or two old, 14.
Salmon and herring contrasted, 15.
Salmon-angling in the north of Scotland, 131.
Salmon-culture, 102.
Salmon-beds in the tributaries of the Tay, 209.
Salmon, commercial value of, 199.
Salmon, double migration of, 193.
Salmon egg, description of a, 10.
Salmon-growth _versus_ cod-growth, 20.
Salmon in Australia, 118.
Salmon, natural and economic history of the, 177.
Salmon ova, period required to hatch, 13.
Salmon, progress of, in coming to life, 12.
Salmon-poaching, 202.
Salmon rivers, regulation of, 488.
Salmon, what do they eat? 192.
Salmon-watcher’s tower on the Rhine, 201.
Salting eels at Comacchio, 461.
Sardine-fishery in Brittany, 59, 253.
Scarcity of white fish, 313.
Scattering of oyster-spat, 337.
Scene in a Scottish herring-curer’s office, 469.
Scene in the Buckie small-debt court, 468.
Scene of Sir Walter Scott’s _Antiquary_, 444.
Scene on the waters, 265.
Scenes on the coast, 444.
Scenery on the Tay, 211.
Scientific and commercial fish-culture, 75.
Scotch name for the turbot, 297.
Scotch pearls in the middle ages, 402.
Scotland for trout, 134.
Scottish chap-books, 439.
Scottish fishing boats all open, 307.
Scottish fishing villages, glance at, 422.
Scottish herring-fishery, 50.
Scottish oyster-eaters, 345.
Scottish pearl-fisheries, 398.
Scottish prejudice against eels, 19.
Scottish salmon-streams, 209.
Scovell’s lobster-pond, 388.
Sea-angling, 154.
Sea-fish, proposal to note growth of, 17.
Sea-perch, 153.
Season for lobsters, 397.
Secret of oyster-culture, 346.
September fishery at Wick, 281.
September the right month for inaugurating the oyster season, 333.
Sergius Orata, 72, 343.
Series of ponds for artificial breeding on the Severn, 219.
Set-line fishing, 160.
Severn, the, 218.
Severn, suggestion for a pond on the, 116.
Sex of the oyster, 340.
Sexual instinct of fish, 10.
Shaking the herring out of the nets, 267.
Shape of a dredge, 378.
Shape of fish, 3.
Shad, 25.
Shaw of Drumlanrig, 74.
Shaw’s parr experiments, 185, 186.
Shell-fish fisheries, 382.
Short and simple annals of the fisher-folk, 462.
Shooting the nets, 265, 266.
Should there be a close-time for herring? 241, 242.
Shrimp-eggs, 383.
Shrimps and prawns, 395.
Shrimpers at work, 395.
Sickening of oysters, 336.
Signs and tokens among the fisher-people, 453.
_Silurus glanis_, 126-128.
Silver eel, the, 18.
Sillock-fishing in Shetland, 294.
Size and weight of salmon diminishing, 206, 207.
Size of oysters, 341.
Size of the codfish, 291.
Skate-liver oil, 293.
Sketch of fisher-life in the _Antiquary_, 429.
Sketch of the river Tay, 210, 211.
Slaughter of small-sized fish, 320.
Smaller varieties of the flat-fish, 298.
Smelling power of fish, 3.
Smolt and grilse, 187.
Smolt exodus of 1861, 110.
Smolt growth, 180, 181.
Social condition of the Newhaven fisher-folk, 430.
Social history of the oyster, 342.
Société d’Ecorage in France, 60.
Society of Free Fishermen at Newhaven, 377.
Soft crabs, 393.
Soles of a moderate weight best for the table, 298.
Sole, the, 298.
Song sung by the dredgers, 379.
Sophisticated oysters, 374.
Source of the Tay, 210.
Sowing and planting mussels, 414.
Spat-collecting tiles, 363.
Spawn of herring just hatched, 14.
Spawning at Tongueland, 114.
Spawning of oysters, 337.
Spawning periods of the herring, 236.
Spear for killing flat fish, 161.
Spearing flat fish, 161.
Spey, the, as a salmon stream, 214.
Sprat-controversy, 237, 239.
Sprat-fishery, 253.
Stake and bag nets, 208.
Stake-nets on the river Solway, 208.
Stakes on which to grow oysters, 364.
State of knowledge in Newhaven sixty years ago, 431.
Statements of trawlers, 314.
Statistics of boats and herring ports, 275.
Statistics of Colne oyster-beds, 370.
Statistics of English oyster-grounds, 367.
Statistics of Newfoundland fishery, 54.
Statistics of oyster-culture in the Ile de Re, 356.
Statistics of oyster-growth in Ile de Re, 365.
Statistics of rent and produce of fisheries on Tay, 213.
Statistics of Tweed fisheries, 217.
Statistics of Wick Herring-Fishery, 1865, 502.
St. James’s Day for oysters, 333.
Steamboat travelling, 443.
Steuart of Colpetty on the pearl, 400.
Stock of breeding fish proper for Tay, 214.
Stock of fish kept by Lucullus, 71.
Stoddart’s calculations as to salmon growth, 111, 200.
Store-boxes for crabs and lobsters, 387.
Stories about the pike, 142.
Storm scenes on the Moray Firth, 328.
Storm of October 1864, 322.
Stormontfield, proceedings at, 13.
Striking example of the effect of bag-nets on the Tay, 206.
Summer time of Wick’s existence, 247.
Superstition as to the name of Ross, 468.
Superstition of the fisher-folk, 432.
Supposed migration of turbot, 296.
Supposed spawn of turbot, 286.
Sutherland lochs, 136.
Table of oyster reproduction, 371.
Tabular view of the August and September herring-fishery at
Wick, 280, 281.
Tabular view of the fish seasons, 300.
Tabular view of the herring-harvest of 1862, 276.
Tackle for sea-angling, 157.
Tay before and after stake-nets, 214.
Tay, the, as a salmon stream, 209.
Tay, the river, its fish and commerce, 79.
Tax on oysters at Billingsgate, 374.
“Tee”-names, 466.
Templeman’s evidence, 313.
Temperature of the river Plenty in Australia, 121.
Tempest on the Moray Firth, 325.
Thames and other anglers, 130, 151.
Thames, attempts to re-stock that river with fish, 24.
Thames, the, 148, 149.
The bounty system in the herring-fishery, 256.
The cause of the migratory habits of salmon, 194.
The cook and the grouse, 287.
The Dead Man’s Ferry, 455.
The dredging song, 379.
The eastern pearl-fishery, 400.
The first oyster-eater, 342.
The first oyster eaten as a punishment, 343.
The herring-fishery, preparations for, 246.
The food of fishes, 31.
The greening of oysters, 359, 360.
The herring a local fish, 229.
The herring-fishery a lottery, 257.
The latest English salmon Act, 221.
The laird and the laddie, an anecdote, 406.
“The man in the black coat,” 433.
The mussel as food, 416.
Theories about eels, 18.
Theory as to the growth of smolts, 196.
The pearl-fever on the Doon, 403.
The pearl-mussel, 398.
The pearl shell-fish, 398.
The present Fishery Board, 263.
The senses of fish, 3.
The women of Auchmithie, 446.
The world of fish depicted, 394.
Thinning the mussels, 415.
Tiber, fish of the, 72.
Tiles for receiving the spat of oysters, 363.
Time of fishing for herring, 245.
Time required for hatching herring-ova, 239.
Time when the lobster becomes reproductive, 391.
Torbay fisherman, evidence by a, 315.
Total catch of Herrings for 1865, 503.
Tour among the Scottish fisher-folk, 419.
Tourist talk about fish, 78.
Town of Comacchio, 459.
Trade in shrimps, 397.
Traffic in living codfish, 302.
Transformation of herring-gutters, 270.
Travelling in France, 78.
Trawled fish not fit for market, 314.
Trawler, a, 309.
Trawling at particular places exhausts the shoals, 312.
Trawling for herrings, 249.
Trawling increases the fish, 316.
Trawling on the French coast, 57.
Trawl question, the, 308.
Trout produced at five centimes each, 94.
Trout, the, 133.
Tummel, river, 210.
Turbot, 296.
Turbot fishing, 315.
Turbot, natural history of the, 287.
Turtle-culture, 96.
Tweed Acts of 1857-59, 216.
Tweed poachers, 203.
Tweed tables of weight and size, 207.
Twelve fish for a penny, 89.
Unchangeable nature of the fishing class, 425.
Unger’s revival of the Scottish pearl-fishery, 402.
Unparalleled destruction of the seed of fish, 243.
Upper proprietors of salmon-fisheries, 487.
Uses of the codfish, 292.
Uses of the sillock, 295.
Use of the trawl-net in turning up food for the fish, 316.
Value of a cod-roe, 292.
Value of boats and nets lost in the storm of 1848, 330.
Value of early-caught herring, 258.
Value of mussels at Aiguillon, 417.
Value of salmon at present, 477.
Value of Scottish pearls, 403.
Value of the close-time for salmon, 201.
Value of the oyster stock at Whitstable, 366.
Varied manipulation at Stormontfield, 105.
Varieties of cod, 294.
Varieties of crustacea, 383.
Varieties of fish suitable to breed in ponds, 39.
Various modes of catching crabs, 386.
Various ways of fishing for the pearl-mussel, 405.
Vendace, the, 26.
View of a herring-curing yard, 261.
View of a mussel-farm, 412.
View of Huningue, 83.
View of oyster-claires, 357.
View of oyster-parks, 355.
Village of Auchmithie, 445.
Virginia oyster-beds, 380.
Virtues of “cauld iron,” 433.
Visit of the smolts to the sea, 190.
Vivian, Mr., of Hull, on trawling, 311.
Viviparous fish, 16.
Voracity of pike, 142.
Wages at Comacchio, 458.
Waiting for the fish to strike, 266.
Walter Scott on the fishwives, 426.
Walton’s plan of hurdles for the culture of mussels, 411.
Want of a close-time a great fish-destroying agency, 243.
Want of harbour accommodation, 302.
Want of more knowledge about our shell-fish, 382.
Want of precise information as to fish-growth, 16.
Warnings, 453.
Waste places in England suitable for fish-culture, 116.
Weather during the fishing of 1862, 276.
Weather prophecies of the Board of Trade, 331.
Weight of trout, 133.
Welled boats, 306.
Welsh and Irish pearls, 407.
Whale-fishery, the, 55.
What has been accomplished at Stormontfield, 109.
What do salmon eat? 192.
What we desire to know of all fish, 21.
What will be the future of the British fisheries? 481.
When do oysters become reproductive? 339.
When do turbot spawn? 287.
When Gadidæ are in season, 286.
When herring are in best condition, 240.
When should herring be captured? 241.
When white fish are in season, 300.
Where are the haddocks? 30, 288.
Where the best turbot are got, 296.
Where the oyster spawn goes, 340.
“Whiskered pandores,” 377.
Whitebait, 22.
Whitebait found in many rivers, 22.
Whitebait poor eating, 23.
White-fish fisheries, the, 285.
White-fish fisheries of Ireland, 304.
White fish when in season, 299.
Whitehills harbour, 321.
Whiting, the, 294.
Whitstable, 366.
Who was Ossian? 174.
Wick during the herring season, 268.
Williamson, Rev. D., on the salmon, 193.
Winter fishing at Wick, 274.
“Wise Willy and Witty Eppie,” 439.
Wives of the oyster-farmers, 362.
Wolfsbrunnen trout-pond, 39.
Woodhaven salmon station, 212.
Working a mussel-farm, 416.
Working an oyster-bed, 368.
World of fish, the, 394.
Yarmouth, 271.
Yarmouth boats, their size and cost, 271.
Yarmouth, the great fishery at, 49.
Yarrell’s account of the herring, 231.
Yarrell’s and Buist’s opinion about the parr, 183.
Young’s experiments on the parr, 186.
Yield of a _bouchot_, 416.
_Printed by_ R. CLARK, _Edinburgh_.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] On this part of the piscicultural question I had the following
conversation with a _pêcheur_ who has a little place in the suburbs of
Strasbourg, on the road to the Bridge of Boats:—
“By your system you collect the eggs of fish in the rivers of
Switzerland and Germany, either from the spawning-beds, or direct from
the parents, which are then barbarously killed and sold, as we were
told at Huningue, and the eggs may be sent off to enrich some private
speculator in the north of France. Now, will not the rivers from whence
the spawn is taken be impoverished in their turn?”
“Oh, no; it is considered by the piscicultural system that we only
obtain that portion of the spawn that would otherwise be lost.”
“What do you think is the proportion of young salmon that arrives at
marketable size under the ordinary conditions of growth?”
“It is very small. An eighteen-pound fish will yield eighteen thousand
eggs. Well, one-third of these will in all probability escape the
fecundating principle of the milt, another third most likely will never
come to life—the eggs will either be destroyed from natural causes
or be eaten up by other fish; so that you see only six thousand, or
one-third of the whole eggs, will ever come to life.”
“Well, that is so far good; but you do not protect the infant fish at
all, you only insure the transmission of the eggs from Huningue.”
“Yes; but the eggs are more than half the battle. Out of eighteen
thousand salmon-ova you will, by giving protection, hatch at least
fifteen thousand fish; and then these won’t be sent into the water till
they are well able to take care of themselves, and fight the battle of
life.”
“Supposing it to be as you say, and that you can rear the fish in
remunerative quantities, will not an extension of the piscicultural
system ultimately injure the breed?”
“I don’t think it will. We have been carrying out the system in France
now on a lesser or greater scale for more than twenty years, and I can
hear of no damage being done to the fish.”
[2] As I assisted personally at the exodus of 1861, I subjoin a brief
report of what took place from the _Perth Courier_:—
“On Saturday last, Mr. Buist, accompanied by Mr. Bertram of Edinburgh
and other gentlemen, visited the ponds of Stormontfield, for the
purpose of ascertaining the state of the fish and giving instructions
as to the liberation of the smolts. For eight days past the keeper
had observed strong indications of a desire for freedom on the part
of a considerable proportion of his finny wards, and numbers had gone
into the runlet which leads to the reservoir by the side of the river
where the fish were formerly caught and marked. When the party arrived
they found a good many of the fish in the reservoir, being those which
had sought egress during the night. The smolts were large and in fine
condition; and one fish, which has been detained for three years for
the purpose of discovering whether the species will grow in fresh water
without being permitted to visit the sea, was found to be fully twice
the size of the largest smolt. A number of parrs, too, of the same
age as the smolts, and spawned of the same parents, were found about
the size of minnows, and bearing the parr-mark distinctly defined. On
seeing the state of matters, Mr. Buist gave instructions for removing
the sluices, and allowing those bent on migration to have their liberty
without being marked this season. A considerable number at once sought
the river, and no impediment will now be placed in the way of a free
migration. The ova of which the present fry is the produce were placed
in the boxes at various times during the period from 15th November to
13th December 1859; and the departure of the smolts commenced on the
18th instant. The whole fry—amounting, it is estimated, to somewhat
approaching 200,000 fish—is the produce of 19 male and 31 female
salmon. The anomaly of one-half of the fry reaching the condition of
smolts, and leaving the ponds when only a year old, and the other half
remaining, has been hitherto supposed to be accounted for upon the
supposition of the earlier fish being the produce of salmon, while
the later were that of grilse. The experiment of this year sets that
question at rest by negativing the supposition. Mr. Buist gave orders
in November 1859 that none but salmon should be taken for the purposes
of the ponds. The result is the same anomaly. Although all the fry
this year in the ponds are the produce of salmon, as is usual only a
moiety of them have yet attained to the condition of smolts, while the
remainder have all the appearance of continuing parrs as before. This
is perhaps the most important feature in the operations of the year. In
the early part of the year 1860, from the unfavourable nature of the
season for hatching, the whole brood seemed particularly stunted and
ill-grown, and it was hardly expected that any of them would become
smolts this year at all. About a month ago, however, early fears were
dispelled; a goodly portion of the fry began to approach the smolt
state, and since the beginning of May have been putting on their
silvery livery, and now are fully as far advanced as those in the open
river.”
[3] “In order that the public may understand what a vast number of
fish 770,000 would be, I would mention that it has been calculated
by ‘the chronicler,’ Mr. James Lowe, that the number of human beings
assembled to welcome the arrival of the Princess of Wales was 700,000:
imagine a salmon for each human being, and you will have an idea of
the number of fish Mr. Ashworth has hatched out as a stock for his
fisheries.”—Lecture by Mr. Buckland.
[4] Since the above was written intelligence has been received in
England of the loss, by escape into the river (which would be no loss),
or the death, or more truly “mysterious disappearance” of a large
number of the fry—only five hundred being left in the pond. These have
been allowed to make their escape into the river, and we may yet hope
to hear of their safety and welfare. I hope those interested will lose
no time, now that they know the way to success, in sending out another
batch of eggs, so as to ensure the sending into the river of a few
thousand young fish.
[5] In a very old number of the _Scots Magazine_ I find the
following:—“I was told by a gentleman who was present at a boat’s
fishing on Spey near Gordon Castle in the month of April, that in
hauling, the weight of the net brought out a great number of smolts
which the fishers were not willing to part with; but that a gentleman,
who knew the natural propensity of the salmon to return to their native
river, persuaded them to slip them back again into the water, assuring
them that in two months they would catch most of them full-grown
grilses, which would be of much greater value. He at the same time laid
a bet of five guineas with another gentleman present, who was somewhat
dubious, that he should not fail in his prediction. The fishers agreed.
He accordingly clipt off a part of the tail-fins from a number of them
before he dropped them into the river; and within the time limited the
fishers actually caught upwards of a hundred grilses thus marked, and
soon after many more.”
[6] The Rhine is an excellent salmon stream and yields a large number
of fish. The five fishing stations at Rotterdam are very productive,
each of them yielding about 40,000 salmon per annum; and it would not
be extravagant to estimate the produce of these fisheries as of the
value of £25,000 per annum.
[7] The French government took off the import-duty on salmon in 1856,
when foul salmon began to be exported to that country during the
British close-times at the rate of £7000 per annum. A late writer in
_Fraser’s Magazine_ was informed by a leading fish-salesman, on the
16th November, that on that day _ten tons_ of Tweed salmon, freshly
caught, were in Billingsgate, two months after close-time, and despite
of what was thought to be effective special legislation for that river!
[8] As an example of the numerous absurd statements that have
been circulated about fish, the reader may study the following
paragraph:—“Old fishermen about Dunbar say the way herring spawn
is—first, the female herrings deposit their roe at some convenient part
on sand or shingly bottom; second, the male fish then spread their milt
all over the roe to protect it from enemies, and the influence of the
tide and waves from moving it about. The fishermen also say that when
the young herrings are hatched they can see and swim; the milt covering
bursts open, and they are free to roam about. Some naturalists think
the roes and milts of herring are all mixed together promiscuously, and
left on the sands to bud and flourish. The fishermen’s idea seems to be
the most likely of the two opinions.”
[9] “We understand that about 100 boats have been engaged to fish at
Fraserburgh from Portsoy, Portknockie, Buckie, and Portgordon, and the
other fishing villages. The exact terms of engagement we subjoin as
follows, from an authoritative source. The terms are—15s. per cran,
with £15 bounty, £2 for lodgings, £l as earnest-money, with cartage of
nets, and net ground. The cartage of nets and net ground costs £3: 10s.
to £4, so that the terms are equal to 15s. per cran, and £21: 10s. to
£22 in full of bounty.”—_Banff Journal._
[10] Since the above was written, the report by the commissioners
for 1864 has been published, but the figures differ so slightly from
those of 1863 that it is unnecessary to give them in detail, the total
quantity of herrings cured being a decrease of 11,166¼ barrels,
while, as regards boats and men employed, there was an increase of 140
boats, 126 fishermen and boys, and of £29,931 in the estimated value
of boats and nets. The winter herring-fishery on the north-east coast
about Wick, Lybster, and Helmsdale, was, contrary to expectation,
quite unsuccessful. The probable cause was the very boisterous state
of the weather, which prevented the boats from getting to sea. This
year, therefore, affords no evidence either for or against the opinion
that herrings exist in sufficient quantities to render a winter
herring-fishery remunerative upon the coasts during the winter months.
[11] A correspondent has favoured me with the following brief account
of the _sillock-fishing_ as carried on in Shetland:—“Sillocks are the
young of the saith, and they make their appearance in the beginning of
August about the small isles, and are of the size of parrs in Tweed.
They continue about said isles for a few weeks, and in the months of
September and October, and sometimes longer, they hover about the small
isles, when the fishermen catch them for the sake of their liver, which
contains oil. One boat of twelve feet of keel will sometimes catch as
many as thirty bushels in a part of a day, and this year (1864), owing
to the high price of oil, each bushel was worth about 1s. 6d. The fish
itself is taken to the dung-hill when the take is not great, but when
there is a great take the liver is taken out and the fish thrown into
the sea. There are no Acts of Parliament against using the net; but
after some time the sillocks leave the isles and draw to the shore,
where there are any edge-places. It is allowed that the island of
Whalsey is about the best place in Shetland for the fish to draw to,
but whenever they come there, the proprietor, Mr. Bruce, will not allow
“pocking,” as a week would finish them all; but the people must all
fish with the rod, so that each man may get as many as keep him a day
or two. The “pocking” sets them all out, but the fish don’t mind the
rod; it is very picturesque to see perhaps fifty men sitting round the
basin with their rods, and the sillocks covering about a rood of the
sea, varying from three to six feet deep, and so close together that
you would think they could not get room to stir. They will continue
plentiful till the end of April, at which time they take to the deep
sea; and when they make their appearance the following year they are
about four times larger, and are then called piltocks. But these are
only taken by the rod. Mr. Bruce just says, If you pock, you cannot be
my tenant; so they must either give up the one or the other, and by
that way of doing every household has as many of these small fish as
they can make use of during the winter.”
[12] In the Firth of Forth mussels are collected all the year round,
but they invariably fall off in condition during a prevalence of
easterly winds.
[13] A Barking trawler usually carries 5 men and 3 boys, and costs
when in full work £12 per week. A Hull trawler costs much less,
and the owner has less risk; because the crew, from the captain
downwards, share in the catch. The Barking men refuse to enter into
this arrangement, which probably helps to account for the decay of
the Barking fishery, for that of Hull is comparatively prosperous.
The co-operative system prevails among a few of the fisher people of
England. In an account of a Yorkshire fishing-place recently published
in _Once a Week_, the following statistics of the cost of boats, etc.,
are given:—
“Each yawl, varying in tonnage from 28 to 45 tons, costs from £600
to £650, and is divided into shares; of its earnings 3s. 6d. in
the pound are paid to the owner or owners, 10s. are devoted to the
current expenses, and the remainder is divided among the men who find
the bait. When a new boat is required, several persons—gentlemen
speculators, harbour-masters, etc., and boatmen—take certain shares of
it, which vary in amount from a half-quarter to a half of the cost;
application is then made to a builder, sail-maker, anchor-maker, and
other tradesmen; and the vessel, in due time, is paid for, equipped,
and given over to the owners. Each lugger-yawl carries two masts,
and is provided with three sets of sails to suit various states of
weather. The foresail contains 200 or 250 yards, the mizen 100, and
the mizen-topsail 40 yards; the lesser sizes being severally of 100,
60, and 50 yards. The jib is very small. On the average the yawl is
of 40 tons, and measures 51 feet keel, or 55 feet over all, and is of
17 or 18 feet beam; drawing 6½ feet water aft, and 5 feet forward.
The amount of ballast varies from 20 to 30 tons. The yawl is provided
with 120 nets, each of which costs £30. Half of this number are left on
shore, and changed at the end of every 12 weeks. The crew is composed
of 7 men and 2 boys. For instance, the ‘Wear,’ commanded by Colling, a
first-rate seaman, carries two others, like himself part-owners, 4 men
receiving, besides their food, £1, and 1 boy at 18s., and another at
11s. a week; each fisherman, who is a net-owner, receives 24s. a week.
The expenses in wages and wear and tear are calculated at from £12
to £15 weekly. The herrings are valued at £2 per 1000 on an average.
Sometimes 23,000 fish are caught in a single haul, occasionally as many
as 60,000, but 40,000 are considered a good catch. To remunerate the
crew, £50 or £60 a week ought to be obtained. Each net is 10 fathoms
long, and is sunk 9 fathoms during the fishing, the upper part being
floated by a long series of barrels, which are fitted at intervals
of 15 fathoms. The warps used for laying out the nets in each vessel
measure 2200 yards. Two men take up the nets, two empty the fish out
of them, and one boy stows the nets while his fellow stows the warps,
which are raised by a windlass worked by the men. Each net weighs about
28 pounds. In order to preserve the nets and sails, it is necessary at
frequent intervals to cover them with tanning, which is prepared in
large coppers. These coppers cost £40.”
On the Gulf of St. Lawrence the engagements of fishermen are as
follows:—
“The fishermen are brought to the fishing-station at the expense of
the firm engaging them. They are furnished with a good fishing-boat,
thoroughly fitted, and are besides supplied with fresh bait as long
as it can be got, and they require it, but on payment of a sum of $6
to $8; and for each 100 codfish delivered on the stage they receive
the sum of 5s. 6d., one half in money and the other half in goods and
provisions. At these prices, and fish being abundant, fishermen earn
$5, $10, $15, and even $20 a day; and after an absence of from 6 to 9
weeks, bring home from $80 to $120, and sometimes more. But they have
to board themselves; and if the fish is not abundant, their account of
the provisions lent to their families before their departure, their own
board, the purchase of their lines, take up the greatest part of their
earnings, and they very often return to Magdelen Islands with empty
pockets.” Great quantities of all kinds of fish are found in the St.
Lawrence.
[14] Mr. Ashworth, in a communication to Mr. Barry, one of the
Commissioners of Irish Fisheries, says: “No charge is made for the
oyster-parks, but each plot is marked and defined on a map, and the
produce is considered to be the private property of the person who
establishes it. They vary in size twenty or thirty yards square, the
stone or tiles are placed in rows about five feet apart, with the ends
open so as to admit of the wash of the tide in and out.”
[15] Since the above observations were penned it is satisfactory to
know that the Town Council of Edinburgh have begun an investigation
into the state of their oyster-scalps. An official report has been
made to the following effect:—“The sub-committee of the Lord Provost’s
committee beg to report that, from the inquiries made by them, there
can be no doubt whatever that the city’s scalps, by the improper way
in which they have been dredged, are at present nearly worthless,
vast quantities of the seeding brood of oysters having been dredged
and sold for exportation to England and other places; that, in these
circumstances, the sub-committee are of opinion that, if possible, the
lease which the Free Fishermen have obtained should be reduced, so as
the town may have henceforth complete control, and with that view the
agents should be instructed to take the opinion of counsel; but if that
cannot be done, that immediate steps should be taken, by a conference
with the Duke of Buccleuch, Sir George Suttie, the Earl of Morton, and
the Commissioners of Woods and Forrests—to whom, along with the city,
all the scalps in the Forth belong—to have the whole oysters in the
Forth placed under one management for their joint behoof. At present
the rules made by any one of the proprietors become wholly inoperative
from the fact that when improper oysters are brought ashore, the
fishermen at once declare that they are taken from other scalps than
those of the party challenging; and, particularly, that they have
been taken from what they call neutral ground, which belongs to the
Government, and for that they pay no rent. It is proper to say that
the respectable portion of the Society of Free Fishermen profess their
readiness to aid in restoring the city scalps to a proper condition,
and in keeping them right hereafter; and they produce a letter from
their agents, Messrs. Gardiner, to that effect, along with a copy of a
minute of the society.”
[16] The following information as to the colour and structure of the
pearl may interest the general reader:—
Sir Robert Reading, in a letter to the Royal Society dated October
13, 1688, in speaking of Irish pearls, states that pearls, if once
dark, will never clear upon any alteration in the health or age of the
mussel. This Mr. Unger stoutly contradicts; he shows by many specimens
that some of the finest Scotch pearls are perfectly dark inside. The
theory put forth by Sir Everard Home, that the peculiar lustre so
much valued in the pearl arises from the centre, is thereby upset.
There is no doubt Sir David Brewster is correct in his statement on
that point in the _Edinburgh Encyclopædia_. Some writers assert that
irregular pearls may be rounded. This of course is erroneous: they
are, as everybody knows, formed in layers like an onion, and these
layers being cut across would be exposed in such a manner that even
the highest polish would not hide them. It is, however, quite possible
in many instances to improve a bad-coloured pearl by removing one
or more of the coats; and in this way many a pearl of comparatively
trifling value has been turned into a gem of rare beauty. The best way
to distinguish a real pearl from an imitation one is to take a sharp
knife and gently try to scrape it: if imitation the knife will glide
over the surface without making any impression, it being glass, and
a real pearl will not be injured by a gentle hand. Pieces of shells
are, however, extensively used and sold as pearls. They are cut into
shapes closely resembling half pearls, and mounted in various ways, so
that many professed judges have been deceived. These are easily to be
distinguished by their iridescent lustre from the true pearl, which has
but one distinct tint.
[17] I have culled the following account of a fisherman’s wedding-dance
from an excellent provincial journal. The solemnisation of a marriage
is a great event in the village, and when one occurs it is customary
to invite nearly all the adult population to attend. The ceremony is
mostly always performed in the church, and it not unfrequently happens
that at some of the marriages the whole lower part of the church is
well packed with the marriage-train. The Collieston weddings are
remarkable for the hilarity which ensues after the company return
from the ceremony. After a sumptuous dinner the company adjourn to
the links to a place which is smooth and level, and which lies at
no very great distance from the Coast-Guard station at the end of
the sands of Forvie, and there, to the inspiriting strains of the
violin, dance the ancient, picturesque, and intricate “Lang Reel o’
Collieston”—a reel danced by their forefathers and each succeeding
generation from time immemorial. To those who are fond of “tripping the
light fantastic toe,” and who never had the fortune to see it danced,
it would doubtless be interesting were we to give a description of
this “The Lang Reel o’ Collieston;” but, although fond of that sort
of exercise, we do not boast professional skill, and consequently are
unacquainted with the technical names of the various movements in this
particular department of the worship of Terpsichore. We may, however,
mention that, as indicated by its name, the _lang reel_ o’ Collieston
is a _lang reel_ in a double sense. It is of long duration and lengthy
in its dimensions, for all the wedding party join in dancing the “lang
reel.” It is commenced by the bride and her “best man,” and pair after
pair link into its links as the dance proceeds, until all have linked
themselves into it, and then pair after pair drop off, as in some
country-dances, until none are left dancing but the bride and “best
man” who commenced it. As may be supposed, this extended saltatory
effort is rather trying for the bride; and we heard one sonsy wife of
forty declare, in recapitulating the share she had on her wedding-day,
that “the back of her legs didna cour (recover) the lang reel for a
month afterwards.” The dance movement is very curious. The dancers
“reel, set, and cross, and cleek,” and change places in such a way as
to take them by degrees from the head of the dance to the foot, and
back to the head again, and so on, the whole being like the links of
a chain when reeling. When the couples are dancing, the lang reel o’
Collieston looks like a series of common Highland reels, and it is in
the reeling that the peculiarity and intricacy of indescribableness of
the dance exists. This reel is quite indispensable at marriages, and
after it has been danced other reels and dances are enjoyed and kept up
with very great spirit—natural and imbibed; and to see the lang reel o’
Collieston danced on the greensward under the blue canopy of heaven,
on a sweet afternoon in summer, is a treat worth going many miles to
enjoy. Not only would the eye enjoy a rare feast, but what with the
sweet music of the violin, the merry song of the lark in mid-heaven
right overhead, the ringing guffaws of the juvenile spectators, the
clapping of hands, and the loud _hoochs_ or whoops of the dancing
fishermen, all commingling and commingled with the murmur of billows
breaking among the rocks, the ear would have a banquet of no ordinary
kind nor of everyday occurrence.—_Banffshire Journal._
[18] In the fishing villages on the Firths of Forth and Tay, as well as
elsewhere in Scotland, the government is gynecocracy. In the course of
the late war, and during the alarm of invasion, a fleet of transports
entered the Firth of Forth, under the convoy of some ships of war which
would reply to no signals. A general alarm was excited, in consequence
of which all the fishers who were enrolled as sea-fencibles got on
board the gunboats, which they were to man as occasion should require,
and sailed to oppose the supposed enemy. The foreigners proved to be
Russians, with whom we were then at peace. The county gentlemen of
Mid-Lothian, pleased with the zeal displayed by the sea-fencibles at a
critical moment, passed a vote for presenting the community of fishers
with a silver punch-bowl, to be used on occasions of festivity. But
the fisherwomen, on hearing what was intended, put in their claim to
have some separate share in the intended honorary reward. The men, they
said, were their husbands; it was they who would have been sufferers
if their husbands had been killed, and it was by their permission and
injunctions that they embarked on board the gunboats for the public
service. They therefore claimed to share the reward in some manner
which should distinguish the female patriotism which they had shown on
the occasion. The gentlemen of the county willingly admitted the claim;
and, without diminishing the value of their compliment to the men, they
made the females a present of a valuable brooch, to fasten the plaid of
the queen of the fisherwomen for the time.
It may be further remarked, that these Nereids are punctillious among
themselves, and observe different ranks according to the commodities
they deal in. One experienced dame was heard to characterise a younger
damsel as “a puir silly thing, who had no ambition, and would never,”
she prophesied, “rise above the _mussel-line_ of business.”—_Note to
Antiquary._
[19] “The Scottish fishwomen, or “fishwives” of Newhaven and Fisherrow,
as they are usually designated, wear a dress of a peculiar and
appropriate fashion, consisting of a long blue duffle jacket, with wide
sleeves, a blue petticoat usually tucked up so as to form a pocket, and
in order to show off their ample under petticoats of bright-coloured
woollen stripe, reaching to the calf of the leg. It may be remarked
that the upper petticoats are of a striped sort of stuff technically
called, we believe, drugget, and are always of different colours. As
the women carry their load of fish on their backs in creels, supported
by a broad leather belt resting forwards on the forehead, a thick
napkin is their usual headdress, although often a muslin cap, or mutch,
with a very broad frill, edged with lace, and turned back on the head,
is seen peeping from under the napkin. A variety of kerchiefs or small
shawls similar to that on the head encircle the neck and bosom, which,
with thick worsted stockings, and a pair of stout shoes, complete the
costume.”
[20] “There fishermen and fishermen’s daughters marry and are given in
marriage to each other with a sacredness only second to the strictness
of intermarriage observed among the Jews. On making inquiry we find
that occasionally one of these buxom young damsels chooses a husband
for herself elsewhere than from among her own community; but we
understand that when this occurs the bride loses caste, and has to
follow the future fortunes of the bridegroom, whatever these may turn
out to be. Speaking of marriages, the present great scarcity both
of beef and mutton, and the consequent high price of these articles
of food, seems in no way to terrify the denizens of Newhaven, for
there the matrimonial knot is being briskly tied. While chatting with
some of the fishermen just the other day we heard that two of these
celebrations had taken place the night before, and that other four
weddings were expected to come off during this week; and we both heard
and saw the fag end of the musical and dancing jollification, which
was held in a public-house on these two recent occasions, and which
was kept up until far on in the next afternoon. We can see little to
tempt the young women of Newhaven to enter into the marriage state,
for it seems only to increase their bodily labour. This circumstance,
however, would appear to be no obstacle in the way, but rather to spur
them on; and we recollect of once actually hearing, when a girl rather
delicate for a Newhaven young woman was about to be married, another
girl, a strapping lass of about eighteen, thus express herself:—“Jenny
Flucker takin’ a man! she’s a gude cheek; hoo is she tae keep him? the
puir man’ll hae tae sell his fish as weel as catch them.” When upon
this subject of intermarriages among the Newhaven people it is proper
to mention that we heard contradictory accounts regarding the point;
some saying that no such custom existed, or at least that no such
rule was enforced by the community, while another account was that
only one marriage out of the community had, so far as had come to the
knowledge of our informant, taken place during the last eight or nine
years.”—_North Briton._
[21] Some of this information about Fisherrow is from _Chambers’
Journal_.
[22] From a private letter by Mr. Donald Bain.
End of Project Gutenberg's The Harvest of the Sea, by James Glass Bertram