The record-union. [volume] (Sacramento, Calif.) 1891-1903, 1892-05-21

Then it is that they gather along Main
street about the quaint old staiF-heads and
gossip gaily, "cobble'' the nets, bait the
lines and do all odd things that women
do III these strange fisher communities.
AS TO dress, customs, dialect, mannerisms
and mode OF life, modern progress stops
aghast at the outskirts OF NewhaVen
walks around it and passes on, as if with
a sigh OF relief at having escaped boot
less struggle
The houses of the Western Highland
ana Island crofter-nsherS are not bright
places. Nearly all their cabins are built
on a Lne with the slope of the rocky brae
or hillside, the rear root-slope forming an
oDtuse angle. The walls are often not
more than five feet high, but they are
frequently four feet thick. Some are
neatly matched with straw. Most are
covered with bracken or heather
Some "beastie," a COW, sheep or pig,
has It's partitioned byre within. The
place IS dark, damp, nOisome. Little APP
ertures, closed at night, answer for win
doWs. The peat fire, which never goes
out ana nils the place to suffocation with
smoke, IS built in a little stone trough in
the center of the hut, half-barrel, set in
the matching above, answers for a Chin
ney, and an iron chain hanging from the
roof supports the huge iron pot in which
the porridge. the potatoes and the 'skail-
DroSe" are cooked.
The furniture is an odd tumble of an
Gent oak, cloudy delphi, olden iron and
pewter with Gaelic 'methers." There
are square hunks in which an entire fam
lily might repose, hammocks from rotten
nets, and ruder beds Of lines and barrel
slaves. Creels and tubs are many and
various. Chests black and huge are
ranged along the walls. And there are
STOOLS and chairs constructed OF drift wood
and tree limbs and seats Of square-heWn
stone.
Most of the able-bodied men engage in
the early summer in mackerel fishing off
The southwest coast of Ireland. They are
no more than at home from this when
they depart for the northeast Scottish
coast herring fisheries. If there be Win
ter herring fishing in the sealochs, near
their western island homes, it is prose
cuted IN small open boats of from eighteen
10 twenty-five feet keel, at much bodily
risk and under tOrtuouS seventies of wind
and weather. In these boats all the fire
they have for cooking and warmth is
Kept III huge iron pots, and in sleeping
Ihey tumble down anywhere in their
clothing and oiiskins and cover them
selves with rags and sails.
Inc wives and daughters of these croft
ter-uSners are, from the conditions of
their husbands toll, less fishwives. in
TACT, dress and custom than those in any
other fishing community of Scotland.
Some of them engage during the summer
season in the east coast curing work. But
all till the little croft patch of ground.
spin and "waulk" or tulip the noted
handmade woolens of Skye and Harris,
and IN their cejltitS, OF gossiping parties.
knit, knit, knit, with the same rapidity
and as ceaseless as they wag their nimble
Gaelic tongues.
The lives Of the east coast fisher folk
al nd
houses are fairly good. They contain
two, and sometimes three and four rooms.
As IS also true OF the NewhaVen folk, at
least one room Of the house is neatly fur
nished, and is always a bright, if hum
bic, picture Of tidy-handed housewifery.
ON the Banffshire and Aberdeenshire
Coasts they are intensely religious. and
are extraordinary disputants on knotty
theological questions. They love dearly
TO harry and worry their ministers ''out-
SIDE o klrk' with wise and serious argu-
ments. Their Old drinking customs are
dying out. Thrift, sObriety and excellent
weekly newspapers are working genu-
Inc revolution among them.
The herring fishing industry has with
in few years given both the Orknevs
and Shetlands unusual prosperity, as
their total catch Of all fish is now equal
ing one-third of the entire catch Of all
Scotland. Cod and ling fishing is extern
siveiy prosecuted, many of the Shetland
smacks going as far as the Farce Islands
and to Iceland. All the fishers of these
islands are crofterS and seem to be pros
erous and comfortable. Croft holdings
comprise from three to ten acres of arabic
land, with hill pasture, called scattald, in
common.
At each croft home will be found few
sheep, the fieeces of which are never
shorn, but ''rued," that is pulled; great
ttrAg. Of fi1,,
the Stumpy, sure-footed little "Sheltie.u
or Shetland pony. These, with the Shet-
land women, are the beasts of burden.
The latter will step off nimbly with sew
enty or eighty pounds weight of peat.
kelp or fish in their ''kashies'' or creels,
These tisher-crofters Of the islands as a
people are most frank, engaging and
courteous, though underneath it all there
Is grave canninesS and reserve far ex-
ceeding that Of the mainland Scotch.
Next to Highland crofters all these
fisher folk are the most superstitious peo-
pie of Scotland. Their customs and folk
lore which have been the natural out
growth OF their vocation have been prac-
tically changeless for half a thousand
years, and their pOrtents and omens are
countless.
In Skye if a woman crosses the water
where fishing is in progress, and among
the Newhayen men 1.-THE name of ''Broun.
ger''-that of an old Newhaven reprobate
who was the impersonation of bad luck
and once lived among them-be men
toned, fishing Will be at once discontinued,
Skye and Harris fishermen have been
known to beat their wives dreadfully, not
from any i'll feeling but to propitiate and
attract the fish.
All Scottish fishermen note carefully
the first person upon whom their ewes
alight in the morning. Their luck" for
the day Will depend on whether the per-
son was well or i'll favored. 1t is curl
Gus commentary upon the standing and
influence of clergymen among them that
clergyman, pig or q cat are the most
abhorred of all objects as fleets are sail
ing out Of the harbor. The sight of either.
or the discovery OF the footprint of a flat
footed person in the sand, BODIES all man
ner of i'll luck, and to.utter the name of a
clergyman, or any four-footed beast on
board of Scotch fishing boat, would
render the offender subject to bodily
peril, and at least destroy all hopes of
success on that day.
Along the west coast, however, thew
make better use of the dreaded cat. They
secure favoring winds by burying it alive
in The sands Of the seashore with It's head
opposite the desired course of the wind.
Up in the Shetland and Orkneys fisher
men wear a lucky belt containing dried
oifal of three different herrings, and a
perfect child's caul, which wards Oft evil
influences and brings good fortune, hang
ing in the cabin of a fishing boat, is worth
from five to eight guineas in any prosper
Gus fishing village.
EDGAR L. WAKEMAN.
The Champion.
T;t;van patr;cl- 1,.;,o,.s 4. .--.-- !,