Volume 3 - Electric Scotland

FOOD OF THE HIGHLANDS. 343
seem to reseiiibletheir brethren of Wales in Hollinshed's
days, when he says of them, " There is great g-aines to
be gotten by fishing round about this isle (Anglesea), if
the people there could use the trade, but they want both
cunning and diligence to take that matter in hand."
This want of cunning and diligence in the Welsh, con-
tinues the same, even to this day (though they are cun-
ning enough in other matters), since they suffer all the
fish on their coasts to be taken by the Brixham boats and
carried to Bristol ; never thinking either of catching or
eating a fish themselves. But as I am always fond of
fishing out an apology for my friends, if possible, I must
even suppose that the repugnance and tardiness of the
Highlanders and the Welsh in " taking this matter in
hand," arises, like the not eating of geese, from respect
to the usages of their ancestors. The ancient Britons
adored the sea, and hence they would not catch a fish.
I presume that was because King Lear was the son of
Neptune, and king of sprats; and, that to have eaten
his subjects, would have been as bad as eating cats, rats,
monkeys, hawks, or crocodiles in ancient Egypt. There
is a Gaelic proverb still, if I could but quote it, which
stigmatizes the Saxons as fish-eaters. Yet in this matter,
the Highlanders have shown, as on other occasions, that
they did not know a Saxon from their own brother
Britons, when it was Wilfrid, the Archbishop, who first
taught, even the Saxons, to catch and eat fish.
Of the species of fish, the coal-fish or cuddie must
be considered the staple article ;
not even excepting the
herring ; as it is taken nearly all the year round, and is
to be found every where. It is also the most convenient
fishery, as it can be carried on without boats, in many
places, merely by rods from the rocks, and sometimes,
even by means of landing nets. If this fish is not a de-
licate one, it is at least nutritious ; containing much oil,