THE SHEPHERD'S TALE
[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.]
Sot,— It is not only shepherds counting their sheep who had a special set of numerals for their purpose. In a book which has just been published, Cornish Seafarers, by A. K. Hamilton Jerkin, there is a description of the Cornish fisher- men " shooting " their nets and, after a long wait, drawing them in again ; " this," says the writer, " used to be the signal among the mind:vet drivers for the calling of their ancient chant : Beret, neito, lreja, peswara, penyev, Teethes !
' A mackrel, a fellow, a third, a fourth, a fifth, a sixth ! ' of which each man cried a word in turn as the first netted fish appeared, ' a formula,' as Mr. Nance has observed, ' closely matched by fishermen in Scotland, and on the south and east coasts of EnglamV "—I am, Sir, &c.,
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