nd shifts against the sun,
Trust it not, for it will run.'

(That is, soon change again.)

'When the sun sets in the clear,
An easterly wind you need not fear.

'The evening red and morning gray
Are sure signs of a fine day.'

(A distich not peculiar to followers of the sea.)

'But the evening gray and morning red
Makes the sailor shake his head.'

This refers to the barometer:

'First rise, after low,
Indicates a stronger blow.'

And this:

'Long foretold, long last;
Short notice, soon past.'

These, however, are hardly superstitions, but maxims based on
experience. Of the same character are the following:

'In squalls
When the rain's before the wind
Halyards, sheets, and braces mind.'

Also,

'When the wind's before the rain
Soon you may make sail again.'

And

'When the glass falls low,
Prepare for a blow;
When it rises high,
Let all your kites fly.

'A rainbow in the morning,
Sailors take warning;
A rainbow at night
Is the sailor's delight.'

The Manx fishermen have some curious sayings about herrings. Thus the
common expression, 'As dead as a herring,' is due to them. They say
also, 'Every herring must hang by its own gills'; and their favourite
toast is, 'Life to man and death to fish.' They count one hundred and
twenty-four fish to the hundred, thus: they first sort out lots of one
hundred and twenty, then add three to each lot, which is called 'warp,'
and then a single herring, which is called 'tally.' Before shooting the
nets at sea, every man goes down on his knees at a sign from the skipper
of the boat, and, with his head uncovered, prays for a blessing on the
fishing. This, at least, used to be the general practice, but in how
prevailing at the present day is doubtful.

The sound of the death-bell is often supposed to be heard at sea before
a wreck, and this idea may be either associated with the bell-buoy which
marks many sunken, dangerous rocks, or with the religious ceremonies of
the old days.

At Malta it is, or was, usual to ring the church bells for an hour
during a storm 'that the wind may cease and the sea be calmed,' and the
same custom prevails both in Sicily and Sardinia.

A Cornish legend of the bells of a church, which were sent by ship that
was lost in sight of the town, owing to the blasphemy of the captain,
says that the bells are supposed to be in the bay, and they announce by
strange sou