80 MADRAS FISHERIES BULLETIN VOL. XIII, 



the Baume or other hydrometer or salinometer by the Superintend- 

 ent is advisable ; full saturation point is aboiit 25° B. 



Cut slices require very short brining, as the salt infiltrates 

 very rapidly into cut tissues; five minutes is often quite enough, 

 especially if the slices are less than one inch. 



There should always be a good-sized (lO inches) clock in the 

 room, since exactitude is desirable, and on each brine tub a dummy 

 clock face may be placed to indicate the exact time for removal; 

 with half a dozen tubs there is apt to be forgetfulness and 

 confusion without some such aids. Separate batches of fish should 

 not be mixed in the same tub; otherwise some will be over — and 

 some under — salted. 



A maistry should always be present in the gutting and brining 

 room both to keep the people at work and to supervise the brining. 



93. (3) Drying. — Since the fish are brined, and for other reasons, 

 it is necessary to dry them rapidly. Hence from the brining tub 

 they are thrown on a table and placed in grilles or wire baskets or 

 wire trays (see supra s.v. ' grilles '). In the grilles the partitions are 

 aslope at an angle of 45° from the vertical ; hence by resting the 

 grilles against the vertical frame work which runs down the centre 

 of the table, the partitions become horizontal which facilitates the 

 rapid and even placing of fish (sardines or mackerel) in the parti- 

 tions ; when the grilles are removed from the tables and hung on 

 scaffolds the fish rest head downwards and drain freely. Slices 

 of fish, prawns, etc., are best placed on wire net trays of a uniform 

 size, and these are placed on flakes, i.e., skeleton tables or gantries 

 which permit the air to circulate above, below, and around the 

 fish. Grilles may be similarly supported, but it is found desirable 

 to hang them by their ringed handles from scaffolds so that the 

 air, however light the breeze, and the sun have absolutely free 

 access to and play around the fish. In this climate, an hour or so 

 in sun and wind sufficiently dry the fish for frying, but if frying or 

 other mode of firming and sterilising the fish is not resorted to, a 

 longer time must be given. As the fish are but lightly salted the 

 drying process should be fairly rapid, and in dull, damp weather 

 artificial drying must be adopted. The rooms and stores for such 

 purposes have been described above (paragraph 49). 



The fish should not be dried in the sense of curing-yard drying 

 in which half or more of the moisture in the tissues is driven off ; it 

 is enough to drive off extraneous moisture and to render the fish 



