CURING HADDOCKS. 109 



chiefly carried on by the costermongers on the Surrey 

 side of the river Thames, in the neighbourhood of 

 Camberwell. Mr. J. K. Lord thus writes in Land and 

 Water : — '* The tenements generally have a yard at the 

 back, and the description of one will suffice for the 

 majority. Emerging from the passage, I find myself 

 in a small railed enclosure redolent of fish-like perfumes, 

 and ranged around close to the rails are tubs, pans, and 

 I may say vessels of all descriptions, filled with a fluid 

 of a 3'ellow colour and of an oily consistence. This, 

 I am informed, is the ' pickle,' a solution of salt and 

 water. Occupying one corner stands a sort of sentry- 

 box or curing-house. It is composed of scraps of plank, 

 staves of casks, fragments of oil-cloth, and old rags for 

 caulking ; numerous ledges are nailed along two of the 

 sides. The haddocks are brought into the enclosure, 

 and girls and boys at once commence removing the 

 heads from the fish, split them open, scrape off all the 

 dirt, and plunge them into the pickling-tubs according 

 to size. The fish soak in the pickle for about three 

 hours, and then the * skewering up' process commences. 

 The larger haddocks are first, one by one, taken from 

 the tubs, and a peeled rod is passed through each fish 

 until they are as many as the rod will contain ; the ends 

 are laid upon the lowermost ledges in rows until filled 

 up, and so on until the smallest are on the top ledges. 

 A fire is kindled upon the ground, which is kept 

 smouldering by the judicious application of sawdust 

 underneath the haddocks. The * curing-house ' is closely 

 shut up, and when the haddocks are sufficiently tinged 

 of a yellow colour they are considered to be cured. 

 From six to eight hours is quite sufficient time to 

 enable a skilled ' curer to split, salt, and smoke a load 

 of haddocks fit for sale.' " 



