716 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OP FISH AND FISHERIES. 



used, and in case of necessity the fish may be converted into stockfish ; 

 after five days, however, the fish are good for nothing, and they are 

 obh'ged to throw them in the sea. In the Doggerbanktesheries, and 

 those of Iceland and Newfoundland, where they do not use nets, and 

 where the fish is caught alive, they kill it immediately and thus obtaiu 

 a finer and whiter article. With us in Norway the fish is never killed 

 at the moment when it is drawn from the water, and the blood ac- 

 cumulating in the entrails is always detrimental to its appearance. 

 When the fisherman has reached land with his fish, he prepares it; that 

 is, he does not sell it just as caught, which is done sometimes. The 

 liver, roe, and head are taken from it 5 the liver is put aside, but the 

 roe is salted immediately ; the heads (as stated) are thrown to one side, 

 and the entrails as well. The cod is then made either into salt fish 

 (Mij)Jisch), or perhaps stockfish {stocJiJisch). Its manufacture into Mip- 

 Jisch was introduced into Christiansund by Englishmen toward the end 

 of the eighteenth century. 



i. Preparation of the cod. 



a. tSalted Jish* {Mipfiscli) or fiat cod. — The cod is delivered to the 

 buyers, who have to split and dry it. In Loflbden these buyers are 

 generally coasters, sometimes speculating for merchants, or, w^hat is 

 rarer, trading on their own account. In Nordmore, Komsdal, and Sond- 

 more, where all the fish are converted into Idipfisch^ the fishermen some- 

 times deliver the fish fresh to the neighboring cities, as Aalesund and 

 Christiansund, so advantageously situated for this jiurpose, or to the 

 country merchants, but often the fisherman prepares them himself. The 

 amount of salt employed is generally 4 J hectoliters (12f bushels) to a 

 thousand cod. The best salt is that of Liverpool, used generally in the 

 fisheries of Scotland, Iceland, Newfoundland, and Labrador. Cadiz 

 salt is good, too, and is generally employed in Norway. The gray salt of 

 Western France (Croisic Vannes, St. Martin, de Ee) preserves the fish 

 very well without salting them too much, but requires careful washings 

 to give to the fish a fine appearance. With us the salting is done prin- 

 cipally in the holds of the vessels, often in the store houses, and sometimes 

 on the shore, so that the fish may become soaked in the brine ; in the latter 

 event it becomes salted more effectually, but it is necessary in this case 

 to press more strongly at the time of drying. As soon as the weather 

 permits, the cod is washed ; that is, all the superfluous brine is removed, 

 and the fish stretched upon the rocks, where the fresh land-breeze and 

 the sun dry them. Much care is required to produce a good article, and 

 when snow or rain falls they must be gathered together as quickly as 

 possible in heaps. In this way the outside fishes only suffer. When 

 the weather becomes clear they again stretch the fish upon the rocks, 

 and if the sun darts upon them they must be turned over and over con- 

 tinually, that they may not burn. The fish deteriorates when the sun's 

 * This is what is known in Massacliusetts as Kench-cured fish.— Tkanslator. 



