COENISH PILCHAKD FISHERIES. 163 



ducing, in the form of an abstract, his vahiahle infor- 

 mation. 



He thus writes : 



" One drawback to the complete success of the pilchard 

 fishery is the absence of any market for the cured fish 

 other than the Italian, in which there is a great demand 

 both before and during Lent. An experiment was once 

 made to smoke them in the same manner as herrings. 

 It was found that the weight of the body broke the neck, 

 and the fish fell into the fires. 



'^ The approved method of cooking them is to split and 

 X^epper, place one fish fiat on another, backs outside, and 

 roast on a gridiron. This is the process proviucially 

 termed * scrowling.' An admirable way of curing them 

 is that of ' marinating.' 



" The mode of curing pilchards into * fumados,' or 

 ^fermade,' is as follows : Women arrange them; first 

 putting a layer of salt, then a layer of pilchards, and so 

 on till the ' bulk ' is from three to five feet high ; the 

 outside row of fish are laid with their heads out and 

 slightly turned up, and the inner rows at right angles to 

 them. French and Spanish salt, being a larger grain, 

 is much preferred to English for this pm-pose. The fish 

 remain in the bulk thirty days, during which time brine 

 and oil drain from them into pits specially arranged for 

 the purpose. They are then taken out, sifted free from 

 the diy salt, washed in another sieve, and placed in 

 regular order in casks of fifty gallons, called hogsheads ; 

 the tails of the fish pointing to the centre and heads 

 out. Pressure is next applied by means of levers to 

 which weights are hung, and the casks are refilled and 

 pressed three times during the space of nine days ; when 

 the weight of the hogshead should be 4761bs., and the 

 fish in each cask will vary fi-om 2,500 to 3,000, accord- 



