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    NEWLYN AND ITS FISHWOMEN. 291

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    1 N How Atur Frequentl E Has Been Y Leas...

    company were generally the first sought for by the buyers of fish In the market . Queen though she was , the old lady was nevertheless

    too busy to leave her post or her duties to others to accompany us agreeing that day ; to so call we on made her an at her appointment cottage at with Newl her for We the did morrow soand ,

    spent some hours in traversing her dominions yn , . visiting the stores , and cellars where the fish are packed away , and learnt the method of

    catching and caring them These scraps of information we noted down for after digestion , and , although in somewhat an imperfect

    form , ve present them to our readers . The population of _ISTewlyn is about five hundred , all of whom , even

    the young children , are during a portion of the year engaged in the pilchard commerce—the men in catching and bringing the fish to

    land , the women and children in the after preparations required to prepare them for market and exportation . There are belonging to

    _INTewlyn about two hundred fishwomen , eighty at least of whom are . attached to the Penzance market . Their custom seems to be to

    divide themselves into companies of eight or ten , join together their stock of fish , and then at the end of the day _divide equally with one

    another the profits they realize . The life these women lead appeared to us to be a very hard one , and , like most female occupations , their

    market labor but between ill paid seven . In and all ei weathers ght in the they morning are , generall remaining y in there the

    frequently till eleven and twelve at night , in winter exposed to bitter cold and damp , without more shelter than the market-place

    affords . Their earnings seldom realize more than 2 s . per day , and taken on an average , dueen Sally told us , not Is . 6 d . Habit ,

    however , I suppose , accustoms them to exposure , for they appear to be strong , healthy , and long-lived . Before , however , saying more on the

    fishwomen themselves , we will try and describe as best we can how the fish are caught .

    The Gruavas Lake , or Mount ' s Bay , as it is termed / where the pilchards are found , is , as may be supposed , during the fishing season

    an object of great interest , its waters being covered with a perfect little fleet of boats , which when drawn up extend at times the whole

    length of the beach between Newlyn and Penzance , their dark hulls looking very picturesque .

    Although the pilchard interest occupies the inhabitants nearly all the year , the actual season only lasts about three months ,

    commencing at the end of the summer—the following old rhyme designating the time : —

    " When Then t the he fish corn is in on the the shock rock , , " and the little village and its inhabitants in full activity to turn to

    the most fruitful account this resource that Providence assigns them for their winter's supplies .

    The Mount ' s Bay boats are renowned for the peculiar safety of Y 2

    Newlyn And Its Fishwomen. 291

    NEWLYN AND ITS FISHWOMEN . 291

• Citation
  • English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), Jan. 1, 1862, page 291, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01011862/page/3/