ames, three feet in height, known as the trawl heads, or irons;
the lower being flattened, to rest on the ground. The under side of the
net is made with a curved margin. The outside is guarded from chafing,
when the trawl is being worked over the bottom, by pieces of old net.
The meshes vary in size according to the part of the trawl. Near the
mouth, they are four inches square, and in the cod, an inch and a
quarter. The trawl is hauled along by a bridle, that is to say, by two
ropes of about fifteen fathoms each, which are fastened to the ends of
the trawl heads, and unite at a warp, one hundred and fifty fathoms
long, which serves to haul the net along. Trawling, as a rule, is
carried on in the direction of the tide, although sometimes across it,
but never against a stream. It is usually kept down for one tide, and
its rate of progress is generally from half a mile to two miles an hour
faster than that of the stream. The fish caught are turbot, skate,
soles, though others are occasionally taken in the net. The trawl can
only be used with advantage on smooth ground; and, of course, a sandy
bottom is preferred, not only from that being the usual resort of
several valuable kinds of ground fish, but from the less danger there is
on such a surface of tearing the net to pieces.

Formerly, the fish as soon as they were caught, were sent to market in
fast-sailing cutters, but now steamers are generally employed; the fish,
as soon as collected, being packed in ice. The trawlers themselves stay
out for six weeks at a time, in all seasons of the year. They are
remarkably fine vessels, and capable of standing a great deal of rough
work; and a hardier set of men than their crews can scarcely anywhere be
found. Steam trawlers are gradually coming into use, being independent
of wind and weather, and one boat is capable of doing the work of
several ordinary vessels.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN.

SAFE IN PORT.

Steering for Harwich after we had left the fleet, we passed, at a
distance, the handsome town of Lowestoft, from which a considerable
fishing-fleet sails, and then Aldborough, an ancient seaport, with a
number of new houses near it. When off Orford, on the Suffolk coast,
papa told us that we were crossing the submarine telegraph line which
runs from thence to the Hague. We had also passed another, which
extends from Cromer to Emden.

Catching sight of the pretty little village of Felixstowe--the houses
facing the s