LINE-FISHING. 151 



where live cod are kept in store. It is well known 

 that as a rule fisli are firmer and better for the table if 

 they are killed as soon as taken out of the water, 

 instead of being allowed to die slowly by suffocation, as 

 the gills become dry and incapable of performing their 

 proper functions. This is especially the case with the 

 cod ; and as a matter of humanity it may be a question 

 whether there is much to choose between the sudden 

 and violent death to which they have now to submit and 

 the slower and, it may be called, more natural process 

 of dying from want of water. The interests of the fish 

 dealers and the gastronomic taste of the consumers have, 

 however, settled the question in favour of violence ; and 

 the proceeding no doubt derives a great deal of its 

 appearance of inhumanity from being conducted on a 

 large scale, as at Grrimsby, where hundreds of fish are 

 sometimes killed in the course of a day. 



When the time arrives for preparing the fish for 

 market a chest of cod is brought alongside a hulk kept 

 Tor the purpose and moored in the dock near the 

 market-place ; tackles from a couple of davits are then 

 hooked on to the handles, and the chest is hoisted up 

 till nearly clear of the water, which drains through the 

 bottom and leaves the fish dry. The cover is then taken 

 off, and a man gets into the opening and takes out the 

 fish^ seizing them by the head and tail. The commotion 

 among perhaps forty or fifty cod just out of the water 

 is of course very great, and it is often no easy matter to 

 get a good hold of them ; but, one after the other, they 

 are lifted out and thrown up to the deck of the hulk, 

 where they are taken in hand by another man, who 

 performs the duties of executioner ; he grasps the fish 

 tightly behind the head with his left hand, holds it 

 firmly on the deck, and giving a few heavy blows on 



