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that, however, throughout the piece Taylor provides evidence to the contrary, and shows that the natural way' was almost certainly not the way it had always been, but rather the way the Teelins wished it to be.

This could be a case of what Eric Hobsbawm termed, invented tradition. Invented tradition is taken to mean a set of practices, normally governed by overtly or tacitly accepted rules and of a ritual or symbolic nature, which seek to inculcate certain values and norms of behaviour by repetition, which automatically implies continuity with the past' (1992:1). Hobsbawm argues that the invention of tradition is universal, but occurs most frequently during periods of rapid' social change, when functions' of invented traditions are to legitimise relations of authority' and to establish or symbolise social cohesion or the membership of groups, real or artificial communities' (1992:4:9). The possibility is present that Taylor wished not to invoke the notion of invented tradition' in his article for the fear of challenging or openly questioning the cultural history of the people he was overtly researching. It is also a possibility that by presenting it as the natural way the locals believed the system would not be called into question, and therefore, they could avoid all the difficulties that change could bring about.

Within the rotation system, it is evident from Taylor's research that no one in the community is seen to have the powers to openly reprimand one who transgresses or breaks the rules; as no one wishes to take on such an authoritative role. When transgressions do occur the locals seem to selectively forget, just as they seem to have forgotten their historical past. As reports show that there was piscatorial strife, of herring fishermen shooting their nets across one another's, with resulting fights and even lawsuits' (Taylor:1987:298). It is possible that they have chosen to forget their historical pasts in order to create a new cultural identity, one without authority, unless it is external, and therefore, one without strife. What Fr McDyer did not realise when he suggested his proposal was that poaching in the eyes of the locals was not truly illegal; as they saw it, the external authority failed to impose those rules and therefore the locals had every right to use the resources within their community in whatever way they saw fit. Poaching was a valued tradition' amongst the locals which they were not willing to give up to Fr McDyer's proposal (Taylor:1987:300).

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