THE EISH MARKET ANT) THE FISH TRADE. 47 



The roads outside the market are lined witli vehicles of various kinds, in 

 which the hawkers convey the fish they have purchased in the morning 

 throughout the city. Other vehicles are arriving every now and then from the 

 wharfs, Avith the harvests which have been gleaned by fishermen in various 

 places up and down the coast. Inside, the market is scrupulously clean, and 

 lighted with numerous lamps. "When I wended my way thither, before the 

 sun had risen yesterday morning, the air was thick with a heavy dark fog, 

 which clung to the earth like a wet blanket. Through it the lamps in the 

 silent deserted streets glimmered dimly like points of light, and shed their 

 ineffectual lustre but a few feet around. In sudden contrast to the deserted 

 streets, however, all was bustle and business at the markets. Precisely at 

 5 a.m. the sale began. 



It may not be generally known that the fish are sold to the hawkers, or 

 whoever chooses to purchase them by auction, and that the duty of aactioneer 

 falls to the lot of Mr. Seymour. At 5 o'clock every morning he commences 

 the auction, which sometiines lasts till 9 a.m. Of course, if there are any 

 fish unfit for human food brought into the market, they are promptly seized 

 by the inspector, and placed beyond the reach of doing any harm — a cir- 

 cumstance which every reader of the newspapers knows is of no infrequent 

 occurrence. Perhaps it was the necessity of having some such inspection of 

 the fish offered for sale to the public which induced the Corporatiou to place 

 the functions of auctioneer in Mr. Seymour's hands. In any case, the 

 conclusion the spectator of the proceedings at the Fish Markets will come to 

 is, it could scarcely have been placed in better hands. Such a heterogeneous 

 assemblage as that at the markets every morning, it is perhaps needless to 

 say, even to the most casual observer of human nature, is possessed of divers 

 idiosyncracies. Mr. Seymour is en rapport with them all. Every hawker is 

 marked out, and his characteristics are evidently always before the eyes of the 

 energetic auctioneer. Some of the buyers were clearly of an evasive turn, 

 and these were accorded no sort of privilege by the inspector. The promj^t 

 " Come now, cash up ! " of Mr. Seymour always followed a transaction with 

 these characters, whose financial standing was perhaps of a doubtful descrip- 

 tion. Other bidders were evidently given a certain amount of credit. Por 

 some of the hawkers the auctioneer had characteristic names, such as 

 "i*^ebuchadnezzar," "IceCream," "Dundrearv," "Longbags," " Wideawake," 

 " Grenadier," " The Soudan," " Mephistopheles," " Ivo Bligh," " Blueskin," 

 " G-raball " — an honest tradesman, with hands of more than ample description, 

 whose tendency may perhaps be conjectured by his name ; " Chips," 

 " Daftie," and many others, all appliecl and accepted with equal gravity. 

 Probably these names were fastened upon those who bear them in a jocular 

 moment by the inspector, who is evidently the possessor of a rough mother- 

 wit, for the exercise of which he finds time even amid the exactions of the 

 auction. After a hurried run of prices it is somewhat humorous to hear the 

 auctioneer exclaim "Sic, sic, sic, sic, sic, sic, (six and six), "Nebuchadnezzar," 

 and perceive an individual with a decided facial prominence gravely step 

 forward, and begin to shovel his fish into his basket with hands that certainly 

 never could have been like those of his kingly namesake. Por the better 

 understanding of the scene at the markets, it is necessary to explain a little. 

 The fish caught at Port Stephens, Lake Macquarie, Broken Bay, Port 

 Hacking, Botany, in the harbour, and other grounds are sent by the fishermen 

 who capture them to the agents. Of these there are five. To each agent a 

 certain portion of the market-floor is allotted, which is enclosed by a red-line 

 boundary. Within this again are drawn white chalk boundai-ies, enclosing 

 the particular catch of each fisherman. These catches are divided into heaps, 



