22 Of the Herring Fishery, 



and to warm the place gradually ; for which reason tiTev 

 begjn with lighting a lire in the middle of it : twoutv-four 

 hours after they light two other fires; and then two more, 

 if the drying-place is large. 



Care must be taken not to let the herrings get too warm : 

 however, about the end of the process a sniart lire is made 

 to give them a perlecl drying, and the entrance of the stove 

 is closed with a large cloth. 



Of the Preparation nf Red Herrings in England, 



Tji^ method of curing red herrings at Yarmouth is very 

 nearly the same as that we ha\'c now described. But as the 

 English make red herrings of almost all those they take, 

 their establishments for this purpose are generally larger 

 than ours. Some of their drving-places are fiftv or sixty 

 feet high, and may contain six or seven hundred thousand 

 herrings ; which causes a great oeconomy of wood and of 

 hands. 



When the herrings have dripped, the fires are lighted 

 much in the same manner as in France, and arc continued 

 for thirteen days, after which the herrings are left for three 

 days in the piss. Then the fires are lighted again and kept 

 for eight days, at the expiration of which they are left again 

 in the piss for four days, and then they get the last lire, 

 which lasts three days. 



Thus their herrings remain in the diying-places for near 

 five weeks, whereas in France this process lasts only about 

 twenty-one or twenty-^-three days. It is true, that as the 

 Yarmouth herrings are fatter than those of the Channel, 

 they take more time to dry, and that if they were not dry 

 enough they would corrupt, particularly if they were to be 

 sent to remote and hot countries. 



Some people find fault with the English herrjngs on ac- 

 count of their being of a darker colour than the French her- 

 rings ; but this is not a real imperfection, as their colour is 

 owing to their being fatter, on which account they must 

 be kept longer in the stoves : some are of opinion, that 

 when the English use beech in their stoves their herrings 

 are less brown than when thev burn oak ; and we are not 

 to imagine that thev heat their stoves with pit coal. It is 

 certain that the Yarmouth herrinofs are of a superior quality, 

 and that they are cured very soon after bmig taken ; which 

 is a considerable advantage. Bin as there is no police to 

 regulate the package of them, as there is in Holland and in 

 several ports of France, bad herrings arc often found in the 

 Yarmouth barrels intermixed with ilie iiood ones. 



Of 



