In the end of November or beginning of December the fishermen enter into engagements for the cod and ling fishing, then about to commence. This fishing is prosecuted from December till March, both months included. This year about 30 boats are engaged in it. The system pursued is much as in the haddock-fishing. Good boats are hired by the crews 'on deal,' and the crews supply their own lines and bait; and having arranged with a fish-curer, deliver their fish to him as they catch them. The contract is, however, varied to some extent. The men bargain for 'a bounty ' which is paid to them in cash at the time of forming the bargain. This year it ranged from £8 to £12, and the bounty is at once divided by the crew. The fish are sold not by weight, but at a fixed price for each fish of a certain standard of length, which this year was fourteen pence for each fish of sixteen inches. All smaller fish are rejected by the curers, and are sold by the fishermen in the local markets. The curers pay cash each Saturday night for fish delivered to them in course of the preceding week. Simultaneously with the cod and ling fishing what is known as 'the winter herring-fishing' is prosecuted. Indeed, the cod and ling fishing is, in a large measure, dependent on this fishing for herrings -- fresh herrings being found to be the best bait for cod and ling. The value of the herrings landed at Wick in course of December, January, and February in some years has touched £5000, but generally is very much less. The herrings are sold to the highest bidder on the arrival of the boats at the harbour, and paid for in cash on the instant, there being no such contract concerning them as in the case of white fish. By the time the cod and ling fishing ceases in March the fishermen begin preparations for the herring-fishing on the west coast Lewis and the Hebrides which commences about the middle of May. For this fishing much the same up of five or six joint-adventurers, each supplying his share of nets; or, if a less number of partners embark in it they hire one or more fishermen to complete the crew and of course, have each a larger share of the profits. Generally they take with them in their boats their supplies of meal, groceries, and biscuit, etc. In the west-coast fishing, so far as boats from Caithness engage in it, the fishermen engage themselves to deliver all their fish to a curer at an agreed on price per cran, which price is paid in cash at the end of the fishing, about 1st July. In the majority of cases the men get an advance of cash from the curers when fitting out their boats, to the amount of £4 or £5 per man. Such sums, of course, are deducted from the price of the herrings in the final settlement.