114 HISTORY AND METHODS OP THE FISHERIES. 



the trawls, though the hand-line showed that the fish had not departed. The captain accordingly 

 decided to run into harbor and prepare for going home, but finding the wind near the shore rather 

 gentle and the water smooth, thought best to see how the fish would bite near the mouth of the 

 harbor. As this was the first time wo had set under sail, I was curious to see how it was managed. 

 The dories set in turns. First one is towed astern, while the outside buoy and buoy line are 

 being thrown overboard, then it is set adrift and the rest of the trawl set at right angles to the 

 direction the vessel is sailing. The rest of the dories go through with the same operation in 

 succession, by which time the first dory has finished setting and is taken in tow by the vessel. 

 Some of the dories are left fastened to the buoy-lino to mark the place of the trawls while the 

 vessel sails back and forth an hour or two, until the time of hauling comes. The hauling is done 

 in the usual manner. This manner of setting is practiced quite frequently on the banks of New- 

 foundland to find out whether the fish are abundant. If the fihh are found in considerable num- 

 bers, the anchor is dropped, and the trawls run out again in the regular way. Only eighteen fish 

 were caught this haul, so we turned the bow toward the harbor. 



6. DRESSING AND SALTING THE CATCH. 



After all the trawls have been hauled the men usually attend to the dressing of the fish. 

 For this operation the men had prepared four legless tables, about 6 feet long and 3 feet wide, 

 which, in use, were inclined against the side of the vessel in such a manner that one end rested 

 upon the rail while the other remained on deck. Two men worked at a table, one on each side. 



The knives employed were of different shapes and sizes, but the one seemingly the most in 

 favor has the blade about 8 inches long, an inch and a half wide, and not so thick but that it had 

 a good spring to it. All were sharp pointed, and most of them of good material. 



Iron hooks, similar to but smaller than those used for taking the fish out of the dories into the 

 vessel, are used for fastening the fish upon the table. To the loop end of the hook a short rope 

 having a cross piece of wood is fastened. The fish is hooked in the small of the tail, and being 

 drawn up on the inclined table is secured there, head downwards, by placing the rope in a notch 

 cut in the top edge of the table, the cross-piece of wood preventing its slipping back. 



It will be remembered that the halibut is shaped somewhat like onr common flounder, or flat- 

 fish. The backbone, with its spines lying in the same plane with the body, leaves, on each side, 

 a thick layer of boneless flesh. These layers, called flitches, nre what the men are after. After 

 the flaps of the dorsal and ventral fins have been cut off close to the body, a cut, deep enough to 

 reach the plane of the backbone and extending from the head to the tail, is made, about 2 inches 

 from and parallel to the dorsal line of the body, followed by a similar cut from the gills to the tail, 

 but on the ventral edge of the body. These two are then connected at the head by a cut parallel 

 to a gill plate and at the tail end by a straight cross-cut. For the better handling of the flitch a 

 slit, large enough to admit the hand, is made at each end. The flitch is then grasped at the 

 posterior part with one hand, and, as it is raised by this hand, is cut free from the backbone with 

 the other. The fish is then turned over and the other flitch taken off in the same manner. 



The cuts made parallel to the dorsal and ventral edges of the body, being 2 inches or more 

 from these, leave strips of flesh and fat attached to the inner bones of the fins, which, when pickled, 

 bring a good price under the name of halibut fins. Accordingly, after the flitches, these strips are 

 cut off and pickled. The rest of the fish, consisting of the bones, head, and viscera, is then thrown 

 overboard and another fish is placed on the table. 



