wide. To the beam and to the straight sides of the head-irons is fastened a triangular net, often over 100 feet long, which drags behind the beam very much like the hood of a cloak turned topsy-turvy. The upper side of the hood is attached to the beam, the lower side is cut away in an elliptical curve, and rests on the bottom, the hollow of the curve being about a beam's length behind the line of the beam. The edge of the net along this curve is threaded to a hawser or chain, bound round with bits of smaller rope till it forms a roll of about 5 inches in diameter, and going by the name of the "ground-rope." The whole apparatus is fastened to the trawling-boat by a hawser, and dragged by her sledgewise along the bottom, in the same direction, but about a mile faster than the tide; the runners resting on the ground, and the net extended behind the beam by the motion through the water. After the runners have passed, the ground-rope behind them sweeps the bottom of the sea, stirring up the fish, who, being already under the upper side of the net, are unable to escape upwards, but are carried back by the rush of the water into the pocket. A smooth surface is therefore absolutely necessary for trawling; and, as a general rule, this method of fishing is confined to grounds where the bottom is firm and sandy, mud in any quantity being a most inconvenient presence in the net. Its operations are further limited by the depth of water, being mostly carried on in soundings of from 20 to 50 fathoms. The night is the most effective time for this kind of work, and the net is usually hauled up and its contents emptied once in every six hours. The size of the trawling-smacks varies from about 30 to 90 tons, and they are propelled by sail or steam. The sailing trawlers are the larger, and mostly work at longer distances from the shore, going out to the Dogger and Fisher banks, whence the fish is packed in ice, and sent home in steam-carriers. The steam-trawlers seldom ply further out than 40 or 50 miles, as it does not pay them to be at sea when the trawl is idle. The usual take of the trawl consists of haddock, plaice, whiting, soles, turbot, gurnet, cod, dabs, and flounders. Herring are very seldom caught.
This description will, it is hoped, give the reader an idea of trawling sufficient for our present purpose. It does not include the small trawlers, such as "bumblebees, "shrimpers, "horse-trawlers," &c., who use a small variation of the beam trawl-net in the shallow waters inshore; this class of trawler, whatever its effects may be upon the fish, not having yet come into serious collision with the fishermen.
The line-fishermen have two sorts of lines, "small lines" and "great lines." The former are of a light kind, and are used near the coast (say at a distance of from 1 to 20 miles) for catching haddock. They are about 5 miles in length, and often carry as many as 13,440 hooks. The great lines are for the take of cod, ling, halibut, and skate, as well as haddock, and are shot either from 20 to 60 miles from shore, or on the great fishing-banks in the middle of the North Sea. They are of stouter material than the haddock-lines, are from 6 to 8 miles long, but only have about 4680 hooks. Both these classes of lines are shot from the boats when under sail, and hauled in again in the same way, except in calms, when rowing-boats are used. The lines are shot across the tide, and are kept in position by buoys. The had-
