The record-union. [volume] (Sacramento, Calif.) 1891-1903, 1892-05-21
WAKENAN'S WANDERTNGS.
The Poet Travels Among the Scot
fish Fishermen.
Those of Newhaven, the East and
West Scottish Coasts and the Dirk
ney and Shetland Islands Entertain
inGly Described-Their Home Sur
roundfngs and superstitions.
Especial Correspondence of the RECORD
UNION. Copyright, 1921

Especial Correspondence of the RECORD
UNION. Copyright, 1897
EDINBURGH, Scotland, May 9, 1892.
have been much among Scottish fish
ermen, both in their homes ashore and in
their cabins at sea, and l can never recall
them save in pictures of vivid and color
itil setting. simultaneously all these pic
lures seem to blend in one.
There are the red roofs, the breezy
shores, the cleaning sands and the toss
ing spray Of Coldingham and North Ber-
wick, around to the south of the mouth
OF the FORTH the snug town and harbor,
the quaint old streets, the luscious fish
dinners and the screaming housewives of
Newhaven; the almost sober silence ever
brooding above the piers of Buck Haven;
the rocky walls, the steely blue of the
German Ocean, the awful storms and the
great dingy, cherries fishing towns of
the east coast, from Il berdeen to Thurso;
the brown crags, The emerald slopings
and the shadoWy, moanful assures Of the
Shetland and Orkney shores, with their
Dutch and Morse color in faces and ways:
the drear and gray rocks and putin
haunted crags Of the misty Hebrides,
" 4iCIG ZIG DIdA =. udIl-stdI Ncu NIOlitI-
Usher battles all his life for mere exist
ence; and the low and sunny shores of
the Solway where, at the very threshold
OF Burns lana by the sOngtul NTH, un-
derneath the shadows Of hoary CrifIel's
rim, the roaring Of the approaching Sol
way tides tells the border tishwiyes to be
alert with their creels for their fisher hus-
bands coming.
On the east and west, Sea-w walls Of sub
Unity tide-plowed friths, shore-reaches
OF barrenness and desolation. Seagulls
hover and whirl and scream. Skeleton
craft bleach in storm and wind. Every
thing speaks of sea rage wrath and
wreck. ON the north, lands and islands
without forests, split and serrated by the
sea. Tremendous precipices everywhere.
Shadowy 'hellyers" cut the sea-Walls
where the tide is ever Sobbing in its ebb
and flow. Here fishing station, there d
drear hamlet Yonder a grayelly beach,
with fsh-curers and their sodden toll.
Beyond weird gio with a herd Of drowsy
seals turning their shining sides to the
low, red sun.
over all tilmy, dreamy presence, for
the SUMS rays III the best OF weather
filter through veils of mist upon these
shore-side toilers ali their simple. slug
gard lives. Through all the cutting of
sharp winds, the driving Of almost barbed
rain, the splash and swirl of salty, sting
ing spray.
These are the physical features of the
picture. Threading in and through it all
with sturdy lie and coloring are the
fisher men and fisher wives Of scotland
] always see these men something after
the mold and figure of Dickens hero,
Daniel Peggotty- larger Of frame may be
and in the place Of his aspect Of benig-
nifty and resolution, a look in their faces
of melancholy and sternness, mingled
with a something which, for want of bet
l1y,Fl i
ant dread.
No Drawer folk live. Upon the decks of
their smacks, SchoOners or tiddIe-shaped
''siXerms," their hardihood and daring
upon the stormy German Ocean, among
the mist-hid dangers of the sounds and
iochs OF the Hebrides, or when battling
with the fierce tides Of the Orkney, Shet-
land and Farce Islands, often reach a
positive sublimity Of heroism. But / be-
lieve no more restless, unhappy lOtever
lived ashore.
This is on account of those strange,
iron-framed, barb-tongued creatures who
"ownn them; the irrepressible tireless.
fadeless women, who, the moment they
become wives, not only assume all func-
tons of management and command, but
who store and dole out every penny of
the Scottish fishers earnings to the last
"bawbee," who transact all business.
originate and assert all homeSide ethics,
1tt lLlO pace III IilaLttIS VI hlIh'' ana re-
ligion, and whose tongues from the day
of bridal to that of burial are never 81
lent and are ever more singing than the
LASH
Generally speaking all east and north
coast fisher folk fare better in their homes
than those Of the west coast, who chiefly
comprise the crofter-fiSher class, barring
the border fishermen of the southwest
from Aver around to AMMAN along the
Firth Of Clyde and on the Solway. The
latter are often cottiers, and have COM
Portable homes with well-kept gardens,
and are altogether the snuggest and hap
piest lot of all.
-Four classes of Scottish fisher homes
may be cited as most typical-those of
the Newhayen folk, who find a never
falling market for their fish here in Edin-
burgh, Is Newhaven is practically con-
tiuuation of the city, east along the south
bank of the Firth of Forth: of the east
coast folk from A aberdeen north, past Pc
terhead, Eraserburgh, Bantf, Inverness
and Wick; OF the fishers of the Orkney,
Shetland and Farce Isles; and of the
crotter- fishers of Skye, Lewis and Har-
ris, and Of North and South Uist, in the
Hebrides.
Here, a Newhaven a long. narrow
street, with the oldest of little old houses.
their street fronts almost hidden with
ramshackie stairs, creels, fishing gear.
grandames and lassies batting the lines.
runs parallel with the Forth. Into this,
from the land side, comes scores of other
short, narrow Streets, in every one Of
which the same mass of fishing gear
women and children are found. Here
and there tiny old inns are hidden where
the finest tish-dinners in Britain are
served.
This principal street, called Main street.
is open TO the harborside, furnishing A
little space in which all the business
r,ff "a {,-l,
have been carried on for the past 400
years. The harbor itself is not large. It's
each walled side is but 900 feet long, and
1t has but one little entrance. often you
will find it without single mast sill
houette between you and the horizon line
of the tifeShire hills. Again upward of
hundred craft are rocking idly within the
harbor walls.
At these times the fish have been auc-
toned off and the fish-wives, hundreds in
number, are away in all haste 10 supply
the tables of Aud Reekie." Their
creel, or fish baskets contain from sew
enty TO eighty pounds of fish. These are
carried on their backs, and are held in
place by broad leather straps about the
forehead. The women have been known
10 thus carry $50 pounds on their backs
into Edinburgh.
Uncountable are the skirts they wear.
THESE tal just below the knees, and two
" tAASS "a tne Ot4tef ones are SathSISu
back over the launches in voluminous
pulls. Stout wooden stockings, stout
Duekled shoes, and a stout peajacket,
complete the raIment, save that the mar
ried women wear a handkerchief or
''mutch" cap upon their heads, while the
maiden nshwlves go bareheaded.
While at their labors every article of
their dress, save cap and shoes, is of
coarse, dark blue WOODEN stuff. When
shopping at EdIn burgh, or Visiting among
themselves, their attire is of wide corge-