1245. Had you been in the same ground before that time?-Yes.
1246. Who did you hold from at that time?-The tacksman before Mouat was Mr. Spence, Lerwick. He collected the rents for Mr. Bruce.
1247. Was he the tacksman or only a factor?-He was a lawyer or tacksman, taking up the money for Mr. Bruce.
1248. Were you bound then to fish for any particular individual?- We were always bound.
1249. After Mouat told you that you must fish for him, did you ever fish for any one else during the whole of these seventeen years?-No.
1250. Why did you not sell your fish to any one else?-For fear of being warned off the property where was living; and I had nowhere else to go to, because I was a poor man.
1251. Is it the home fishing you are now speaking of?-Yes, the home or ling fishing; but I have been in the whale fishery, and in the straits fishery, and the Faroe fishery, as well as in the home fishery.
1252. But you were not at these other fishings for Mouat?-No; I was at home when I fished for him.
1253. Could you engage with any one you pleased for the whale fishing or the Faroe fishing?-Yes.
1254. You have no complaint to make about that-No; I could go to any one I liked, only I was bound under tack to Mouat.