Ill 



Prof^ortion of salt— 



Large fish ... ... ... ... ... 1:5 



Small „ I : 10 to I : 7 



Dryage — 



Large fish 25 to 30 per cent. 



Small „ ... 30 to 32 



MUTTUPET AND ADIRAMPATNAM. 



Big fish are slit open and gutted at sea by the fishermen as soon 

 as they are captured. When brought to the yard they are further 

 split by making three additional incisions to the right or left of the 

 back bone. After this they are washed in salt water. The fish 

 are cured in pits constructed of brick and cement and which being 

 situated in sheds are protected from the sun. On the first day 

 they are salted and stacked in one pit, on the next morning 

 they are removed and restacked in a second pit, and on the third 

 morning to a third pit. Each day the fish are shifted to allow the 

 salt to permeate the tissues and any undissolved grains of salt are 

 rubbed carefully into the slits. The brine that is formed in the 

 first two pots is left undisturbed and used as a wash for the fish on 

 the fourth day, the fish is well steeped in the brine, rubbed and 

 polished with a pad of coconut fibre, rewashed in the same brine 

 and sun-dried from 8 to ll A.M. and left in the curing shed till 

 evening when they are arranged in a pit. No brine is formed in 

 the third pit. In some places as at Adirampatnam sun-drying is 

 not practised but a supplementary cure is followed. The fish are 

 washed well in strong brine specially made for the purpose, then 

 sun-dried for about 4 hours, afterwards kept in the shade for an 

 hour or more and finally carted away for sale. This supplement- 

 ary curing is resorted to only when there is urgent demand for fish 

 from merchants. In the case of small fish some are slit and the 

 others are not. Slit fish are crammed with salt as in the case of 

 large fish, and put into a pit where for two days they lie undis- 

 turbed. On the third day they are washed in the self formed brine 

 and sun-dried between 8 to II A.M. and spread in the shed till 

 evening when they are packed into bundles of mats of screw pine 

 leaves. The unsilt fish are arranged in pits in alternate layers 

 of fish and salt and a pot of brine of salt water from the river is 

 poured into the pit. The fish are left overnight in this condition, 

 taken out the next morning and sun-dried for two days. 



Proportion of salt — 



Large fish... ... ... 1:5 



Small „ ... ... ... . ... ... I : 9 to I : 6 



Dryagc- 



Large fish... ... ... ••• ... 18 to 28 per cent. 



Small „ ... ... 25 to 55 



MALLIAPATNAM AND SETUBHAVACHATRAM. 



The method of curing is rather peculiar to this locality. Large 

 fish are slit open as usual and crammed with unpowdered salt. 

 The gutting of fish is most perfunctory. The salted fish are taken 

 to the curing shed and thrown into a pit dug for the occasion and as 

 the floor of the pit is not protected with mat the fish lie on the 

 sand at the bottom. When the pit is packed full it is covered with 



