304 THE LABRADOR PENINSULA. CHAP. xvm. 



passage with a level floor of strong planks, on which the 

 shore-hands can wheel with ease their barrow-loads of 

 salt or fish ; and on each side are places for piles of fish, 

 for salt, for troughs to wash the fish in, &c. 



The first operations in the process of curing cod are 

 performed on the splitting table. In the Canadian estab- 

 lishments three men are generally employed in the ope- 

 ration of dressing cod, called respectively the cut-throat, 

 the header, and the splitter. The French employ only 

 headers and splitters, the duties of the cut-throat being 

 performed by cabin-boys. 



As soon as the cod has been landed on the stage and 

 counted, the men go to work. 



The cut-throat, armed with a two-edged knife, seizes 

 the fish by the eyes, cuts his throat, and, having opened it 

 down to the vent with a single stroke of his knife, passes 

 it to the header. The header detaches the liver, which 

 he throws into a barrel placed near him, and with the 

 same hand tears out the entrails ; after which, with his 

 left hand, he cuts off the fish's head. The splitter now 

 seizes the fish by the left side of the neck, and opens it 

 from the neck to the tail, cutting from left to right, after 

 which he places it against a batten nailed on the table, 

 and with a single stroke of his knife, if he can, he removes 

 the back-bone from the vent upwards. 



The head, entrails, and other offal of the fish are thrown 

 into the sea, through a hole under the table, and are 

 carried away by the ebb-tide, if not sooner devoured by 

 the anglers and plaice, which are always in great numbers 

 near the stages. 



From the hands of the splitter the cod passes into those 



