174 MADRAS FISHERIES BULLETIN VOL. XIII, 



designed furnaces and setting of the pan. Very often the fuel is 

 burnt on the furnace floor without any grate, and too far from the 

 bottom of the pan ; the chimney has sometimes been set half-way 

 along the furnace so that the further half was comparatively cold ; 

 the chimney is often wrongly designed, usually with insufficient 

 square area, so that the fuel is badly consumed with much smoke 

 which escapes at the furnace mouth ; the chimney entrance is some- 

 times at too low a level so that the hot gases do not rise and 

 surround the pan ; very often only the bottom of the pan is exposed 

 to the heat instead of space being provided between the 

 masonry setting and the sides of the pan ; if the pan does not boil 

 quickly the heat is urged, which results in much of the fish, and 

 consequently the oil, being scorched, especially since, in view to 

 supposed economy, the pan is generally crammed with fish and a 

 minimum of water is allowed. One such pan and setting built by 

 a European firm had nearly all these faults combined, and it may, 

 therefore, be understood how crude the arrangements may be in the 

 case of Indian workers who of course have a minimum knowledge 

 of furnace and heating work. 



57. (2) Owing to the size of the pans, the mass of fish, and the 

 scantiness of the water, it is necessary continuously to stir the fish 

 both to minimise scorching and to ensure fairly even heating. But 

 the above conditions render thorough stirring most laborious and 

 yet imperfect, and much oil is consequently scorched, as shown by 

 colour and smell, while many of the fish are under-heated. More- 

 over, owing to the want of water as a medium the oil seldom rises 

 in any quantity to the surface, so that skimming with its result in 

 fine yellow oil, is seldom practised, and all oil is brown and is 

 obtained solely from the presses. Two smaller pans side by side 

 and worked alternately, one being boiled while the other is being 

 worked off, would be greatly preferable and would yield better 

 results ; the small open-fire pans at Tanur are heated with great 

 rapidity and yield excellent results. One reason for adding a 

 minimum of water is that as draining tanks are not generally 

 used the boiled mass would be too fluid to handle conveniently 

 and without risk of seriously scalding the workmen (who are of 

 course, usually but sparingly clad) when put into the coir bags for 

 pressing ; hence it is better from their point of view to use only so 

 much water as gives a fairly solid mass when turned out of the 

 pan. 



