338 ANCHOVIES IN THE ENGLISH CHANNEL. 



I also wrote to Mr. Duniij wlio is connected witli a fish-curing 

 factory at Mevagissey, and he told me that he had been trying expe- 

 riments on them, but the results were still to be proved. He did 

 not say whence he got the anchovies, but when I was at Torquay on 

 January 30th I was told by a fish-buyer there that he had sent some 

 barrels of anchovies to Mr. Dunn, who was willing to take more, but 

 at that time no more could be got. 



I have also examined the different preparations of anchovies sold 

 m England. Anchovy sauce and anchovy paste could be made from 

 English anchovies as well as from imported. Entire anchovies in 

 brine are sold in small bottles ; a bottle of those prepared by 

 Burgess and Son costs lO^d. and contains about seventeen fish. 

 French anchovies prepared in Paris are also sold in England. These 

 are preserved in oil and put up in smaller bottles than Burgess's 

 Gorgona anchovies ; each bottle contains a smaller weight of fish, 

 but the price is the same. The individual French anchovies are 

 smaller than Burgess's and no larger than those I have obtained at 

 Plymouth and Torquay. Then there is another kind of preserved fish 

 sold as " Norwegian anchovies." These are small fish packed in 

 little wooden barrels, and preserved in salt and bay leaves and pepper. 

 When I was at Torquay, Mr. Slade, who kindly assisted me greatly 

 in my inquiries there, told me that these " Norwegian anchovies " 

 were not anchovies at all. I had never looked at them myself, so I 

 bought a barrel and examined its contents, and to my surprise found 

 that the fish it contained were nothing but sprats. All the fish in 

 the barrel were of the same kind, all were without exception of the 

 species Clupea sprattus. I paid Is. 9d. for this barrel and found it 

 contained 111 sprats weighing 2 lbs. 5 oz. Fresh sprats are sold retail 

 in England at Id. per lb. I bought another barrel in Plymouth and 

 examined its contents with the same result. So here we have the 

 curious anomaly that at Torquay genuine anchovies are caught and 

 wasted, while sprats brought from Norway are being sold at about 

 8d. per lb. These barrels of '^ Norwegian anchovies " are labelled 

 merely " Finest selected, 0. L. & S." The contents are not other- 

 wise described. But, as far as I understand the Merchandise Marks 

 Act, goods imported into this country must now be labelled with a 

 true and accurate description of their character, and I hope the 

 proper authorities will not be long in compelling the Norwegian 

 exporters to label their pretended anchovies as sprats. When that 

 is done there will be more prospect of obtaining a sale for genuine 

 English anchovies. 



It seems to me that the creation of a trade in English anchovies 

 lies with Mr. Dunn, of Mevagissey. His energy and experience will 

 enable him without diflficulty to prepare anchovies in such a way as to 



