Minch

The best Place for a Staple [of herrings], would be at Stornway, in one of the Lewis Islands, which is a good Harbour, and there are many good Hands; also it lies open to the Minch, a Sea above sixty Miles over to the main Land of Scotland, to the Southward of which lies the Isle of Sky, …

That extensive bason of sea, called the Great, and the Little Minch; bounded on the west, by that chain of islands, called the Long Island, because they seem but one, when viewed at a distance; on the east, by the indented shores of Scotland: from the butt of the Lewis, to the Mull of Kintire, never fails to be filled, every year, with an immense body of herrings.

Come all you gallant fishermen, That plough the stormy sea The whole year round, On the fishing grounds Of the Northern Minch and the Norway Deeps, On the banks and knolls of the North Sea holes, Where the herring shoals are found.

William Henry opened the gates for them along the return journey, and at the lodge accepted shamefacedly a penny and a promise of the bad end little boys came to who minched from school.