PACIFIC COD FISHERIES 



439 



sharpened nail, to which the fish are attached so that they may not 

 slip away while he is splitting them. The board inset obviates the 

 necessity of renewing the whole table top after the splitter has cut 

 and chopped here for a short time. 



Usually there are two or three gangs at a station, and in addition 

 to the above there are usually two men who trundle the dressed fish 

 in large wheelbarrows to the butt house, where two salters receive 

 and salt them in the large tanks. 



During the summer months the livers of the cod are saved and 

 dumped into large casks just outside the dress house, this work being 



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Fig. 13. — Dories nested and dress gang finishing up the 

 day's catch 



done by the header. Here they are allowed to rot out. The oil 

 gradually comes to the surface and at intervals is dipped out into 

 barrels or drums. At present no attempt is made to prepare medic- 

 inal oil, although the Union Fish Co. had a plant for this purpose 

 at the Pirate Cove station some years ago. As the healthy and dis- 

 eased livers are used together, only oil suitable for use in the arts is 

 rendered at present. 



The offal passes through chutes into the water under the dress 

 house, from whence it is either washed away, rots, or is devoured 

 by gulls and sand fleas. At some stations the' latter are so numerous 

 that in a surprisingly short time the bones of the fish are polished 

 clean. 



