FISHING STATIONS— ENGLAND. 193 



progress, and the meaning of wliicli lias been the cause 

 of much disquietude to the numerous persons who have 

 endeavoured to fathom the mystery. We do not pre- 

 sume to speak authoritatively on the question, but it 

 seems not unh'kely that the explanation may be more 

 simple than has often been imagined. The men em- 

 ployed in the vaHous sean-boats receive 45^. a month 

 each, and one-ninth of the fish between them; the 

 division of the fish is made as soon as they are brought 

 on shore, and every household does a little curing on 

 its own account, for a Cornishman is not happy in 

 his own county unless he have a stock of pilchards for 

 his use in winter. The blowsers are paid in proportion 

 to the catch of fish. 



Curing is done generally, but there are some establish- 

 ments in which the operation is carried out on a large 

 scale, and the fish when properly prepared are exported 

 to the Mediterranean, the Italian ports being the 

 general destination. The curing is the especial work of 

 the women, who pack the pilchards in alternate layers 

 of coarse salt and fish on the stone floor of the curing 

 house until the " bulk " has reached a height of 5 or 

 6 feet. Here the fish remain for a month, and the oil 

 and brine draining from them are carried off by gutters 

 in the floor to a cistern. When tlie fish have been 

 sufficiently salted they are washed and packed in hogs- 

 heads with the heads outwards and a rosette of fish in 

 the centre ; a circular piece of wood called a ''" buckler," 

 rather smaller than the head of the cask, is then placed 

 on the top of the fish, and strong but gradual pressure 

 is applied by means of a lever, until the mass offish is 

 reduced one-third in bulk, and a great quantity of oil 

 squeezed from them; this drains through the sides and 

 bottom of the cask, and is collected as before. The cask 







