Chap. IX.—The Fish-Trade is most considerable in Zetland.

OF all the things remarkable in Zetland, their fish-trade is the most considerable, wherefore I have chosen to speak of it by itself. Which I shall labour to do, by shewing what fishing they have in these seas, and what fishes they do most abound in, and have plenty of; and then hold out who are these who trade, and what advantages do accrue thereby unto the inhabitants, with some reflections upon the whole.

The fishing here is much decayed by what it was, for now neither is there such a great number of fishes taken, nor so easily can they be had, as formerlv ; for not above forty or fifty years since, the fishers would have taken the great fishes, such as killen, ling, &c. in the voes or lochs, and that in great numbers, and so were not necessitated to undergo such danger and toil in going out to the sea, but could have lien before their own doors and drawn the fishes, which certainly was more safe, easy, and convenient to them, in many respects ; whereas now they are obliged to put out some leagues unto the sea, and so far often that they almost sink the land, else they cannot have any fishing worth their expence and pains, which cannot but be very toilsome and dangerous, in case a storm should arise and blow off the land, and so put them to sea with their little boats or yawls, not able to keep long out against the violent and swelling waves ; and so it hath fallen out to some, who being tossed to and fro, whither tide and wind did drive them, have never seen land any more : and as it is dangerous, so it is toilsome, and costs them much labour, seeing often they lie some nights and days at sea, and not come ashore.

The fishing formerly being greater than what now it is, occasioned, they say, some hundreds of more ships to resort yearly unto this country than what now use to do, when fishes cannot be had to serve them ; and indeed neither now are the fishes so sought after as some time they have been, when they could easily be had, many being willing rather to stay at home and catch what they can about the coasts, which ordinarily are but the smaller fishes, than to undergo such hazards and toil in following the greater, which an Hamburgh merchant waiting for a lading complained to me of.

Although when we institute the comparison between the former and the latter times, their present fishing will appear to be but small ; yet if we take it under view as it is in itself, without such a respect, we will find it to be very considerable ; for though in some years it be greater than in others, yet every year many trading ships are thereby laded, and this same year 1700 the fishing is thought to be very good ; an instance whereof a merchant gave us, that in one week in the month of June there were taken by some boats belonging to one place, of Northmevan, four thousand ling, ail which were brought in for the loading of that ship wherein he was concerned : and another gentleman added, that some other boats, at a little distance from these, drew about seven hundred more ; but this was something extraordinary, and useth not often to fall out that in one week they take such a number.

The fishes that do most abound here are killen, ling, &c. which being salted and dried, foreigners export them to other countries ; of these, as hath been said, there is great plenty, but are not ordinarily taken near the land : as for haddocks, whitings, and such lesser white fishes, they care not so much for the seeking after, except what is for their own use, for strangers use but seldom to buy them : and these greater fishes they get a greater quantity of in some places than in others ; as off Dunrossness, Northmevan, Unst, Yell, &c.

Great shoals of herring do swim also in these seas, which are taken in the summer season, especially in the month of July and the beginning of August, for sometimes then they will come within a penny-stone cast of the shore, and be swimming so thick, and taken so fast, that one boat will call upon another to come and help them, and take a part of their fishes. These herrings taken here are reckoned to be very good, if not among the best, that are taken upon the isles belonging to the king of Britain's dominions ; and as now said of the white fish, so it is of the herrings, they frequent some places more than others ; as off Brassa to the east, and between Brassa and Whakey, or the Skerries, where the busses do commonly lie, within sight of the land of Zetland. And whatever may be said of Grotius his mare commune or liberum, yet it holds here, for any have or take liberty to come and fish in these seas, without any way acknowledging that sovereignty wheteunto these isles do belong.

There are likewise here a great many grey fishes taken, Which they call sillucks and seths, which are judged to be the same kind of fish, only the seths arc a greater and older silluks, a thick and fat fish ; for out of one liver of some seths they will get a pint of our measure of oil, with which oil the inhabitants pay part of their rents, and sell the rest unto merchants. The oil they get after this manner : they put the liver into a pot or pan half full of water, which when seething, the oil by the force of the fire or boiling water is drawn from the liver, which so being separated, and swimming above, they take or scum it off, and put in vessels for their use. These seths are to be had about all the coasts, but more especially about Dunrossness, Delton, and some other places. The silluks, as hath been observed, are very numerous in Orkney, but more rarely are the seths to be had there, though the same kind of fish ; but in Zetland there is no scarcity of both.

Among the many other excellent fishes which are here for to be had, there are the tusk, a rare, wholesome, and delicious fish, no less pleasant to the taste than they are to the eye ; some of them are as big as ling, of a brown and yellow colour, with a broad tail ; when making ready for use they swell in the pan more than any other fish ; when made ready, their flesh is very white and clear ; when new haled, they are much more pleasant to eat than when salted and dried, for then I think they lose much more of their savour and relish. They begin to fish for them about the end of May or beginning of June, and are taken to the east of the isle of Brassa, or between Brassa and Whalsey, opening to the coasts of Norway, and here only are they to be found, and more rarely in other places, except off Dunrossness, where also sometimes they are got. The fishers often go out about the beginning of the week, and not return home till the end of it, and the further they go off to the sea, they will get them the bigger, and in greater numbers. They use to sell them to the Hamburghers for eight or ten pounds Scots the hundred or six score ; and some of them also are taken to other places, where they are much desired by such as know them.

Those who commonly frequent this country and trade with the inhabitants are Ham-burghers, and sometimes Bremers and others, who come here ordinarily in the month of May, or about the beginning of June, and in several places set up booths or shops, where they sell liquors, as beer, brandy, &c. and wheaten bread, as that which they call cringel-bread, and the like; they also sell several sorts of creme-ware, as linen, muslin, &c. And these merchants seek nothing better in exchange for their commodities, than to truck with the country for their fishes, which, when the fishers engage to, the merchants will give them either money or ware, which they please ; and so the fishers going to sea, what they take they bring once in the week, or oftener, as they have occasion, and lay them down at their booth door, or in any other place where the merchant appoints diem to be laid, and they being there numbered, the merchants account for them accordingly : these fishes, which are ordinarily great white fishes, as killen, ling, and the like, the merchants or their servants having dried, they take them aboard of their ships. Several such Dutch booths are to be seen through the isles, as six ordinarily in the isle of Unst, two in Yell, fee.

The Hollanders also repair to these isles in June, as hath been said, for their herring fishing; but they cannot be said so properly to trade with the country, as to fish upon their coasts, and they use to bring all sorts of provisions necessary with them, save some fresh victuals, as sheep, lambs, hens, &c. which they buy on shore. Stockings also are brought by the country people from all quarters to Lerwick, and sold to these fishers ; for sometimes many thousands of them will be ashore at one time, and ordinary it is with them to buy stockings to themselves, and some likewise, do to their wives and children, which is very beneficial to the inhabitants; for so money is brought into the-country, there is a vent for the wool, and the poor are employed. Stockings also are brought from Orkney and sold there, whereby some gain accrues to the retailers, who wait the coming of the Dutch fleet for a market.

But especially much advantage doth redound to them from their trade with the Hamburghers; for besides that they are furnished by them with provisions, what necessary, what convenient, these merchants bring a considerable sum of money with them, so that, as one of their ministers told me, seven ships are ordinarily reckoned to have three thou-sand six hundred dollars aboard, which they leave behind them, not only for fishes, but also for several other things which are the product of the country, as butter, oil, 8cc. and if any please not to take their commodities, they presently give them money upon receipt of their goods. The proprietors also, or masters of the ground upon which these booths are built, reap a considerable gain ; for some of them will get twenty dollars per annum for the use of a house in the summer season to be a booth ; and I think twice or thrice the sum will build them.

Upon the whole of this chapter we may entertain these following reflections: first, hence we may observe the power, wisdom, and goodness of God; his power, in that his hands have made this great and wide sea, wherein are things creeping innumerable ; how many millions of great and small fishes are every year taken, yet the next we expect to be served with as great a number; God giving these creatures the sea for their proper habitation, and providing suitable provision for them in that element, where neither seed-time nor harvest, yet all these wait upon him, and he giveth their meat in due season. His wisdom, in that wise and beautiful order to be observed among these brutal creatures, the several kinds knowing their coming and their going time, and their loving to frequent one place of the water more than another, though both under the same climate : their going forth all of them by bands, though they have no king, over-seer, or ruler, these squammosas cohortes, though not governed by principles of reason, yet by their natural instinct being reasonably acted, each to their proper ends, for the maintenance and preservation of their several kinds, give occasion to reasonable man to acknowledge, admire, and adore the infinite wisdom of his and their maker. Here also the goodness of God is to be observed in this, that all these are given for the service of man, that not only our tables should be furnished with the creatures that breathe in the same element with us, but also with these that live in another ; and seeing all these are, as it were, sacrificed for our use, should we not " present ourselves, souls and bodies, living sacrifices, holy and acceptable unto God, which is our reasonable service." Seeing that God hath made man to have dominion over the beasts of the field, the fowls of the air, and the fishes of the sea, should we not gratefully shew forth his praise, and say, with all the wise observers of Providence, " O Lord our God, how excellent is thy name in all the earth ?"

2. It is the fishing only which makes this country any way desirable, else it would be very unpleasant living there, as Boethius of old did observe : Quorum opes universas in piscibus sole arefactis, quas quotannis ad eos accedentes Hollandi, Zelandi ac Germani ali-arumque rerum vulgarium permutatione mercantur. Yea, if we abstract from their fishing-trade, in many places there could not be any living at all, they not having fields either for corn land or grazing ;.but they trading in fishes with foreign merchants, who import many goods for the more comfortable living of the country, their coming in the summer is very refreshful to all the inhabitants, the thoughts and expectation of which in the winter doth not a little revive them, when they shall enjoy some better fare than what their country doth afford, when Hamburgh liquors and commodities shall be brought to their doors, which being expected and desired, may occasion sometimes their taking of a larger cup, they knowing that the booths will not always stand open.

3. It is to be observed, that still the further north we go the fishes are to be had in greater abundance ; in Zetland more than in Orkney ; and in Iceland, to the north of Zetland, more than in either, the inhabitants there mostly living upon fishes : and again "we may notice, as there is not such a plenty of fishes in Orkney as in Zetland, yet there is a greater of corn ; and so in Zetland there is more corn than in Iceland, for in Iceland they have little, if any, corn as the product of their country, as some in Zetland did inform me, who have conversed with these who have been the:e ; therefore the commonalty generally make use of dried fishes beaten small instead of bread, as Boethius hinteth at : Ultra Schetlandicas alias qusedam insulse, quÅ“ pisces arefactos acsole induratospistillo contundimi,moxadmistaaquâinpastilloscomponunt,atque adfocum torrent, qui illis panis est : which sheweth us the great wisdotn of God in his great works of providence, who bestoweth not all blessings upon every nation ; but when he denieth or giveth less of one blessing to one nation or country, he alloweth them more of another ; which is also often observed with respect to particular persons. This variety likewise sheweth the necessity and advantage of one nation or kingdom's trading with another.

4. The fishing trade is very lucrative and enriching to those who closely follow it ; it is commonly said that it is the fishing which first raised the Netherlands to that pitch of grandeur and wealth which now they have arrived at : hence some historians call the fishery the Gold-mine of Holland, and that by their fishing especially in the British seas ; and if it were not so very gainful, what would make them every year equip such a numerous fleet of several hundreds of busses, under the guard and protection of their convoys, but that they know the Zetland seas make their mills to go, therefore they do so warmly pursue this trade, and encourage the undertakers thereof : and so it is with the Hamburghers and other merchants, especially in the Hans Towns, who trading here during the summer season, return home in August or September, they not only with fishes serving their respective cities, but by sending them also up the country, do make a good market, which engageth and encourageth them to return every year and follow the same trade.

5. The consideration of this great gain that doth redound to the trading merchants, hath of late animated some gentlemen and others in Zetland to enter into a society or company for trading in fishes ; that whereas strangers make such a good hand with their fishes, they may as well consult their own "profit and gain, by promoting of that trade, which tendeth so much to the enriching of others, especially seeing they can do it with far less trouble and expence when here at home, where the fishes are to be had, which when taken and prepared may be sent abroad for sale to foreign markets ; whereas the Hamburghers and others which come here are obliged to tarry from home through the summer, waiting for their lading.

6. It hath been thought very strange by many that our own fishing, for which we have so great and so inviting advantages beyond others, should yet be so much neglected by ourselves, and left to the improvement of strangers, who reap vast gain from it. And as this deserves the consideration of the government, so it might be expected that the late disappointment, in the holy and wise providence, of this nation's noble and generous attempt to have settled a foreign plantation;, for raising us from the dunghill of contempt and poverty, and advancing our wealth and trade, will excite both these worthy undertakers and others to employ their stocks and endeavours in searching after and digging these mines of the ocean nearer home, and profiting by these blessings which Providence has brought to our very doors, especially since thereby not only would a number of able seamen be yearly trained for the use and service of the nation, and the nation thereby put in a better capacity for undertaking and supporting greater projects of trade in the more remote parts of the world, but likewise many poor people would be employed, who are ready to starve. And it is more reasonable we should fish in our own seas, than for strangers so to do ; and I do greatly question if the Hollanders, Hamburghers or others, would so permit us to fish in any seas so nigh to their land, depending on their sovereignty, as we do them.

And for this end shipping would be encouraged by the government, and trading merchants, as the Hollanders do, an instance whereof we had when in Zetland : a Holland ship came into Brassa Sound from cruizing about the Fair Isle, waiting for the East India fleet, having in her wine, brandy, victuals, &c. for their use, that they might be refreshed before they arrived at their port, and this the trading company neglect not ordinarily to do, which sheweth they are great encouragers of trade ; and for the encouraging of trade, taxations imposed upon shipping should be easy, especially now when the trade is so low, that many merchants and ship masters, after they have hazarded their lives and their all, do return losers home ; for if otherwise, no wonder that all concerned in trade be dispirited and discouraged in attempting any thing that is noble, which might tend to the nation's public good.