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one than this, that thofe haddocks which are brought flraight from 

 the fea fide, are, as foon as taken, thrown into bafkets, to the num- 

 ber of eight or ten in each bafket, and die, thus heaped together, 

 before they are expofed to fale : whereas, the fifliermen at Maef- 

 landfluys, keep their fifli for a time in thofe cifterns I have dc- 

 fcribed ; and the fifliermen of Delftfliaven, have alfo a kind of fifh 

 trunk or well in their boats for the like purpofe. Tlierefore, the 

 fifli which are thus kept alive witliout food for two or three days 

 after they are caught, are of a much better tafte. 



The fame is experienced in river filh, efpecially trout, which, 

 when caught in the fummer time, are unpleafant to the palate, 

 tailing of the herbs on which they feed, but, if kept a few days in 

 flew ponds, cifterns, or other fit receptacles, are much improved in 

 flavour. 



But to return to the fubje6l of the fifli market, I obferved a large 

 cod fifli, very much diftended with a quantity of food, namely, 

 haddocks, which it had devoured, when foine of the fmaller cod 

 lying near it, appeared empty. Hereupon, I enquired of an old 

 filhernian, whether thofe cod fifli, which were fo diftended, did not 

 differ in tafte from thofe, whofe ftomachs were empty ; to which he 

 anfwered, that thofe cod were to be preferred, whofe bellies were 

 compadl or clofe. This is a phrafe among fifliermen, applied to 

 thofe fifli whofe roes are not very large, and whofe ftomachs are 

 very little, or not at all diftended with food. 





