82 AMERICAN FISHERIES S(K:IETY. 



until he is called to his senses by the exclamation, " Hout the 

 way." " The only comparison I can find for the aspect, the 

 sights and sounds of the place," says a well known writer, "is a 

 rush hither and thither at a helter shelter speed, apparently 

 blindly, apparently without motive, but really with a business- 

 like and engrossing pre-occupation for fish and all things fishy. 

 Baskets full of turbot, borne on the shoulders of the facchini of 

 the place, skim through the air with such rapidity that you 

 might take them to be flying fish." 



"At that piscatorial bourse," says Bertram (" Harvest of the 

 Sea," ]). 59), we can see in the curiv morning the produce of our 

 most distant seas brought to uur greatest scat of pcjpuhition. 

 sure of finding a ready and profitable market. The aldermaiiic 

 turbot, the tempting s<jle, the gigantic codfish, the valuable 

 salmon, the cheap sprat and the universal herring, are all t(j be 

 found in their different seasons in great |)lenty at Billingsgate 

 and in the lower depths of tlie market buildings, countless 

 quantities c^f sliellfish of all kinds stored in tubs may be seen, 

 and all over is sprinkled the dripping sea water, and all around 

 we feel tiiat ' ancient and fish-like smell ' which is concomitant 

 of such a place." 



Commercially si)eaking, fish are divided by the Londoner into 

 two classes : i. Prime. 2. Offal. The former comprehend the 

 choice varieties, such as sole, brill, turbot, etc. The latter in- 

 cludes the commoner, coarse kinds, such as place, roker, had- 

 dock, etc. The quantities that come into Billingsgate are very 

 disproportionate. Mr. Little says that thirteen boxes of offal 

 reaches the market to one box of prime. That gentleman lias 

 very kindly furnished me a table showing the quantity of fish 

 arriving at Billingsgate per month during the year 1883, which 

 I shall make a part of this paper, as also a series of tables 

 showing the amount of fish coming to London since 1875. ' It 

 will be seen from Mr. Little's statement, chat the quantity com- 

 ing by water is much less than by land. Special trains bear- 

 ing fish alone run daily to London from Grimsby, Hull, Yar- 

 mouth and other places. As these trains do not come in the vic- 

 inity of Billingsgate, the fish have to be carted through the nar- 

 row streets and tortuous lanes, across the city to the market, in 



