mming lower down. The whole of the
vast net was then dragged up on the beach, when the fish which had been
caught in the meshes, or had before escaped capture, were secured.

As the calm continued, papa took us on shore in the boat to visit the
curing-house; and we heard a great deal more about the pilchard fishery
from the men on the beach. We were surprised to find that the value of
the fish caught in that single seine was estimated at fully six hundred
pounds. Sometimes a thousand pounds' worth of fish is caught in one
seine. If the fishermen were always thus successful they would soon
grow rich; but they often meet with misadventures. On one occasion a
large net full of fish was caught by the tide before it could be dragged
on shore, and carried away against the rocks, when not only did the fish
get free, but the net itself was almost destroyed. At another time,
when a large school had been encircled, the fish making a dash together
at one point, capsized the net and got clear over the top, not a quarter
of the number remaining. Just before this, a seine had been securely
moored, when a ground swell setting in from the westward before the fish
could be taken out, the net was rolled over and over, and every fish
escaped, while the net was utterly destroyed.

The fishing-boats we met with in Mount's Bay are not only very
picturesque, with their brown-tanned sails, but are amongst the finest
to be found anywhere; and they often ride out gales in which larger
vessels might founder. Their plan is, when caught in a heavy sea, to
form a sort of breakwater of planks and spars, under the lee of which
they ride with sufficient scope of cable. We were told of one, with a
crew of five men, which performed a journey to Australia, having touched
at the Cape of Good Hope for water and fresh provisions. Since then,
several small craft, with only a couple of men on board, have crossed to
America. On one occasion, a man, with his wife, came from the United
States to England; but they both suffered severely from the privations
to which they were exposed.

In the spring fishery the nets are shot near shore, off some sandy
inlet, at sunset; and it is curious to note that the fish thus meshed
are all on the inside of the net, but when they are meshed in the
morning they are found on the opposite side. This proves that they come
into shallow water during daylight, and go off again into deep water at
night.

The people in t