COD-FISHERIES OF CAPE ANN. 701 



his advantage to " gut" or even split them before selling. The average 

 price paid for cod during the winter of 1878-'79 was $1 per hundred 

 pounds for round, $1.25 for gutted, and $2 for split fish. 



The method of dressing is often quite interesting to the stranger, as 

 the work is carried on with great rapidity. A single dressing-gang con- 

 sists of three men, each performing a particular jiart of the work. After 

 the fish have been weighed and i)itched into a tub — usually half of a 

 hogshead — the "header," armed with a sharp and pointed knife, seizes 

 the fish by the mouth with his left hand, and rests its back upon the 

 edge of the tub. He then, with one stroke of the knife, severs the at- 

 tachment between the gill-covering and the belly, and inserting it in 

 the opening thus made, slits the abdomen to the vent. He then makes 

 a cut on either side of the head at the base of the skull, and while its 

 back still rests on the edge of the tub, and his left hand holds its head, 

 he places his right hand upon the body of the fish, and throws his 

 weight upon it, separating the backbone from the skull and tearing the 

 head from the body, cutting away any flesh that tends to hold them to- 

 gether. The fish is now allowed to fall back into the tub, when the 

 " gutter" seizes it and removes the viscera, transferring the livers to 

 one barrel at his side, and the ovaries to another, allowing the re- 

 mainder to drop down at his feet or to fall back into the tub. He then 

 throws it upon a table, where the "splitter" places its back against a 

 little strip of wood to keej) it from slipping, and holding the fish open 

 with his left hand, takes a splitting-knife in his right and cuts along 

 the left side of the backbone to the base of the tail. The fish now lies 

 open on the table, when with a hard stroke of the knife he severs the 

 backbone near its middle, and catching the end thus freed, lifts it slowly, 

 and following along its side with his knife quickly cuts it from the body, 

 sliding the fish from the table into a tub of water, where it is washed 

 before going to the salt-house. Three men will usually dress from two 

 to four thousand pounds jjer hour, the quantity varying with the size of 

 the fish. When a large quantity is to be dressed, or when dressing on 

 board a vessel, a double gang of seven men is usually employed, the 

 extra man, called the idler, pitching the fish into the tubs and drawing 

 the water to wash them after they have been split. 



Two methods are employed in curing the fish. By the first they are 

 placed in butts, with a quantity of salt, and covered with the strongest 

 pickle. Here they must remain for about two weeks in order to become 

 thoroughly " struck," after which they may be placed on the flakes, when, 

 after one or two days' drying, they are ready for the market, though still 

 quite damp and full of salt. This method is emi)loyed only on shore, 

 and such fish are known as i^ickle-cured fish, being inferior in quality to 

 the kench-cured fish, though they find a ready market in all the inland 

 towns. 



In " kenching," the fish are salted in f>iles, either in the hold of a vessel 

 or on the floor of a fish-house. Each fish is placed back downward, so 



