PREFATORY NOTE
Having been requested by
the Honourable the Commissioners of the Board of Fisheries to accompany
their Secretary throughout the course of his voyage of inspection in the
summer of 1841, for the purpose of making certain investigations into
the natural history of the herring, I have been since induced, not so
much by the “solicitation of friends” as the more weighty arguments of
my respected Publishers, to endeavour to impart to others a portion of
the interest which that voyage excited in my own mind. The object of the
Secretary on this occasion was to acquire a general knowledge of the
whole coasts of Scotland, especially of the districts near which
fisheries had been or might with advantage be established, and to make
himself acquainted with the character and position of the various
harbours erected by the Board. We had therefore occasion to visit many
localities not within the range of the ordinary tourist, as well as to
explore those numerous isles and picturesque inlets for which our
western shores especially are so remarkable,—and if there is either
truth or intelligence in the following Journal of Observations, it may
possibly tend both to instruct those who have not yet examined the coast
scenery of their native country, and to recall agreeable remembrances to
such as have enjoyed that pleasure.
I have endeavoured to dwell chiefly on whatever matters may be regarded
as of general interest,—the special objects of our more professional
enquiries being discussed in separate reports, which Sir Thomas Dick
Lauder and myself have already had the satisfaction to lay before the
Honourable Commissioners.
My best thanks are due to the gentleman just named not only for the use
of his Sketch-Books, from which the illustrations of the present volumes
have been mostly drawn, but also for access to his Journal. By
consulting the latter my own impressions have been strengthened and
refreshed, and my chief regret now is that one so much more able than
myself to do justice to the subject, both with pen and pencil, should
have been prevented by other and more important avocations from
undertaking the task. I have also to express my obligations to the
Artists who have lent their labour to the work, more especially Mr.
Charles H. Wilson, who not only prepared the more finished drawings, but
executed the numerous etchings on steel,— a material with which he had
not been previously conversant, and the harder surface of which,
compared with that of copper, renders the process of etching more
difficult and laborious.
Other occupations on my own part, and a prolonged residence in the lake
country of the north of England, have postponed the publication of the
present volumes to a later time than was intended.
J. W.
Woodville, Edinburgh.
November, 1842.
Volume 1 |
Volume 2 |
