10 BULLETIN OP THE UNITED STATES EISH COMMISSION. 



iner season. All the rest of the year they do nothing but eat, smoke, 

 and sleep. One may safely call their year a period of seasons of sum- 

 mer and winter, with three months of the former and nine of the latter. 

 By this time the two boats at the wharf have been unloaded, and 

 the workmen, returning from their dinner, are preparing to cure the 

 "catch." The least number that can conveniently cure a lot of fish is 

 three, when the work is pressing, for if a large quantity are brought in 

 they must be done immediately or they will soften and spoil, or with 

 business unusually lively, six men are necessary. For the purpose of 

 cleaning the fish a small house is often erected on the stage-head. This 

 consists of a low, open shed, in the center of which is a long, wide 

 table, large enough to be occupied by two sets of three men each. On 

 the left of the first man is a deep box, one-half of which extends out- 

 side of the shed on the platform where the fish are thrown from the 

 boat ; the man stationed by this box is called the " throat-cutter," a 

 truly terrible name were it applied to any but one who manipulates 

 fish. Next to this man and on the same side is the "header." 

 Opposite stands the " splitter." The crew is now complete inside the 

 shed; outside the men are heaving the fish on to the wharf with 

 their long-handled and long-lined pitchforks, while a small boy, or some 

 one not otherwise occupied fills the boxes which, as I have said, lay 

 half outside and half inside the shed. The box being full or partly 

 full the throat-cutter takes up one of the fish and lays it upon the 

 table, placing his forefinger in the eye and laying his thumb upon 

 the chin or into the hollow just beyond the chin and beneath the 

 tongue he presses the head downward, thus opening up the gills. This 

 is a matter more easily understood when seen than when described, 

 but 1 think you will understand how pressing down, outward, or to 

 one side will throw open the natural cavity in the throat of any-fish, 

 exposing the gills — at least a simple experiment on any fish will show 

 it. With a sharp knife the fleshy rib of the tongue is cut through at 

 a single stroke ; another stroke severs the flesh down the belly ; while 

 a third one lays open all the inside and ends in a gash, about 3 inches 

 long, beyond the intestines and beyond and to the left of the ventral 

 fin. The knife used for the purpose has a short, thick, round handle, 

 while the blade is about 5 inches long, generally less than an inch wide 

 at the base and tapering to a rounded point and sharp as a razor on 

 either edge. Thus cut the fish is passed to the header. As this work 

 requires great strength a proportionately strong man is taken for the 

 purpose. He wears woolen mittens or half gloves upon the right hand, 

 and seizing the fish, with a scooping motion of the right hand, he sep- 

 arates the liver from the rest of the insides and pushes it either through 

 a small hole in thetable or over at the ed^ into a barrel beneath, while, 

 taking hold of the fish again with the same hand, he tears out all the re- 

 maining insides with the left hand and presses them with the head against 

 the edge of the table, which is hollowed or scooped beneath — often 



