Of the Herr'mg Fishery , 47 



ary. Each sort to be packed up separately in barrels pro- 

 perly filled up, stopped, hooped, &c< Lastly. — No herrings 

 can be sold or brought to market in this country that are 

 not picked and sorted in the following manner. By this 

 sorting and marking, the diflerent kinds oi' herrings, and 

 the time they were taken, are discriminated and named ac- 

 cordingly. Thus are to be met with in the market, St. 

 John's herrings, St James's herrings, St. Bartholomew's 

 herrings — none but these can be packed. The take of St. 

 John is sent ashore in lighters, in order to be sold immedi- 

 ately for consumption. The St. James's herrings undergo 

 a second packing, are reduced from fourteen barrels to 

 twelve, then marked by the overseers : these are sent off 

 in a commercial way. 



The take of St. Bartholomew, the 28th of August, are 

 marked with the arms of the city, and commcniy sent to 

 Cologne in Germany. The take of the 14th of Septcnjber 

 are likewise marked with the arms of the city, and sent ge- 

 nerally to Rouen in Normandy : they are not marked until 

 they have remained in the first pickle eight or ten days. 

 Lastly. — ^They must have remained in salt ten days before 

 they can be sold. No Scotch or other foreign herrings can 

 be worked, cured, and packed, as if they were Dutch : they 

 may be simply packed up in barrels without any stamp- 

 The precaution on this head is carried so far, that no empty 

 barrels of our?, marked as above, can be exported to any 

 other country. This extract of regulations concerning the 

 raiportant commerce of the herring fishery, possessed as 

 well bv the Staffs General as by the states of the province 

 of Holland, is drawn from the Great Placart book, from 

 the treaty with the city of Hamburgh, from the book of 

 Handvoealen, all which the reader must examine, if he re- 

 quires a more e.-cact knowledge of the matter. 



We have said above, that the inspection of the curing, 

 packing, &c. is intrusted to overseers, who are appointed 

 by government, and take up their residence conveniently 

 to the harbours, or place where the business is going for- 

 ward. 



I have said already, and the common suffrage of all na- 

 tiorls confirms it, that the Dutch herrings are the best. No 

 other cause can be assigned for this general preference, than 

 the scrupulous adherence to the regulations and provisions 

 just now mentioned, it being by no means true, that the 

 art of curing, salting, and packing herrings is confined to 

 the Dutch alone. Other nations are ns expert at doing all 

 that a3 we can be ; but in no other country is so much at- 

 tention 



