46 THE SILVERY HOSTS OF THE NORTH SEA. 



accommodation for salt, billet-wood, etc., is necessary. 

 After the fishing season is ended, the cooperage, 

 which has been silent and deserted during this time, 

 again resounds with the hammer, as the barrels for 

 another campaign are being made. Some curers, 

 however, employ local tradesmen to make these 

 packages, and therefore make no provision for work- 

 ing this branch of the business. As the process of 

 pickling herrings differs very essentially from the 

 process of smoking, it is advisable to carry it on in 

 separate premises, which should however, if possible, 

 for obvious reasons adjoin the other buildings. For 

 this purpose a spacious yard, with sheds round the 

 sides in which to store the empty barrels and do the 

 packing, and a store for salt, are necessary. Such 

 premises, including counting-house and other minor 

 but necessary offices, form a considerable block of 

 buildings. Visitors looking over such curing works 

 are struck by the heaps of herrings, the immense size 

 of the vats used for washing them, and the large 

 number of black-looking rods, about four feet long 

 and as thick as an average walking-stick, called spits, 

 upon which the herrings are to be strung. As the 

 herrings are brought in, they are salted and laid in 

 " cobs " (heaps) on the barfe-house floors, where they 

 remain until they have acquired the degree of salt- 

 ness for the purpose intended. They are then care- 

 fully washed in the large vats filled with fresh water, 

 and placed in " maunds " (large baskets) to drain ; 

 after which they are turned out into wooden troughs, 

 and the women, called " rivers," string them upon the 



