.224 Of the Herring Fishery ^ 



as they often go out far from land, and are therefore ap- 

 prehensive the fish maybe spoiled before they can return to 

 port, take with them some ba; rels of salt for the ourpose of 

 at least corning the herrings, so as that they may keep for 

 some days : however, this sort of preparation is not suffi- 

 cient for the herrings that they take in the North and Yar- 

 mouth fisheries j they must be at least ciisked, and even 

 barrelled as far as possible. The Dutch and French that go 

 out on these iislieries practise this preparation, and the me- 

 thod of doing it is generally as follows : — The Normnn fish- 

 ermen place the herrings in ditrcrent conipartmer is upon 

 the deck : they open their necks a little with a small knife, 

 and take out the gills, and at the same time draw out tlie sto- 

 mach and intestine; this is called dressing the herrings; they 

 are then put into baskets, and carried behind to be poured 

 into large vats with a quantity of salt. In these the her- 

 rings and salt are stirred about, after which the herrings are 

 put into tubs : but in this state they could not keep many 

 days 3 and therefore when the men cannot return soon to 

 port they put them into barrels, pressing them together as 

 close as possible. They are often obliged to go through 

 these opei'ations in too great a hurry, on account of bad 

 weather, or for the purpose of clearing the deck, &c.; so 

 that sometimes they corn or barrel herrings that were not 

 dressed. There is an order of parliament against salting or 

 barrelling such herrings. But, whatever precautions may 

 be taken at sea, the barrels must be emptied on land, and 

 the herrings made up again with greater care, as will be 

 explained hereafter. 



Of the Salt used in the various Methods of curing. 



In whatever mannef herrings are to be cured, salt must 

 be used ; but there are different sorts of salt, some of which 

 are not good for this purpose. 



The sorts of salt that the French use are those of Poitou, 

 Saintonge, Britany, and Normandy. Every one allows 

 that of Brouage to be the best of all. It is made in the salt 

 marshes of Brouage, Marans, the Isle of Pie, and other 

 parts of Saintonge and Poitou. 



When the Brouage salt is old, and has become dry and 

 sweet, it leaves to the herrings their good taste, without 

 comnumicating any sharpness, or breaking them, or making 

 them tough or shrivelled. As to the salt of Britany, besides 

 what is used in the province, the Flemings and Picards take 

 some of it, whicli they refine and make white. This re- 

 fined salt is thought to be more sharp and corrosive than 



the 



