902 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



eter, and this mixture was widely known to the learned throughout 

 Europe. In Southern Italy it was used for cooling lemonades, and from 

 thence, in the middle of the seventeenth century, sprang the Paris "limon- 

 adiers," as well as the i)reparation of flavored ices and creams, the gelati 

 and sorhetti of the Italians. 



Neapolitans and Swiss Italians have remained preeminent in the man- 

 agement of cafes and the preparation of iced confections. They estab- 

 lished themselves early in all the large cities of Europe. It is but re- 

 cently that an Italian Swiss, by the name of Carlo Gatti, died wealthy 

 and esteemed in London. He was the first practical introducer of ice- 

 creams to the British public. His stall stood forty years since in Hunger- 

 ford fish-market, and he himself has informed me that, in his early days, 

 he had great difficulty in inducing people to appreciate his gelati. He 

 walked about the market with a glassful of ice-cream, and offered spoon- 

 fuls to passers-by until they began to acquire the taste for and recognize 

 the wholesome character of cold delicacies. They dreaded them as much 

 as the Brazilians have dreaded ice until recently, being regarded as 

 productive of serious illness. Gatti not only introduced his ice-creams, 

 but did much to poi)ularize the use of ice in London, and to the last he 

 retained a large share of a trade, greatly encouraged by his discrimin- 

 ation and integrity. 



In Gatti's early days, Thomas Masters published his Ice Book (1844), 

 which contained some interesting historical data, though the work 

 appeared to advertise patent ice-cream freezers, knife-cleaners, &c. It 

 tended to make the use of ice popular, especially among the rich 5 and, 

 the growing wants of the metropolis, compelled fishermen to use more 

 and more ice year by year. 



The growing wealth of British cities, the facilities for the transport 

 of fish by sea, and a wider appreciation of wholesome fish food, drove 

 the trawlers further and further, year after year, seeking fresh ground 

 and using more ice, the greater the catches and the longer the distance 

 of the fishing-grounds reached from shore. An enterprising firm, of 

 late years organized as a limited liability company (Messrs. Hewett & 

 Co.), established a fleet of steam carrying vessels as their fish business 

 grew. 



The steamers are small and carry about 35 tons of ice each, some more, 

 8ome less. Were they larger, the difficult process, of transferring the fish 

 from the boats, would be attended with even greater danger than it is 

 at present. The steamer is small enough to drop into the trough of the 

 sea with the boat, and the two hug eacU other, without danger of a crush- 

 ing collision. 



It is in this way that England, and especially London and the fishing- 

 ports of Great Yarmouth and Grimsby, have become the centres of a very 

 extensive and lucrative ice-trade from Norway. In the early days of the 

 British ice-trade a company was formed to import ice from the New 

 World, and "Wenham Lake" ice became the staple and favorite brand. 



