The Salmon-canning Industry 
furnace beneath the brickwork, and are _ her- 
metically sealed. Other Chinamen now take 
the cans and put them into trays, which are 
put into a steam-heated retort which holds 
thirty-two cases, of four dozen cans to a case. 
Here they remain for fifty-five minutes at a 
temperature of 228° F., which cooks the con- 
tents of the cans. They are then taken out 
and placed on a table in front of another China- 
man, who has in his hand a small wooden mallet 
with a small spike inserted in it. With this 
instrument he proceeds to knock a small hole in 
the top of each can, from out of which spurts a 
small jet of boiling water and steam. Another 
man follows immediately afterwards and re- 
seals these small holes with a hot iron and a stick 
of solder, the small round disc of tin previously 
mentioned preventing any of the solder falling 
on to the contents. The cans are gathered 
together once more in trays, and are subjected 
to the heat of another retort at a temperature 
of 242° F., and for eighty minutes. This com- 
pletes the process of cooking. The cans are now 
scrubbed in a lye bath, and are then placed 
out of doors on a brick floor, where they are 
allowed to cool, cold water being sometimes 
thrown on them to hasten the process. This 
seems to be the critical time of the operation ; 
for if everything has gone well the top of the 
can collapses with a report caused by the 
219 
