234 CURING HERRING. 



to be slightly cured, or for ten days if intended for the 

 foreign market; they are then washed in large vats filled 

 with fresh water ; " spits," (pieces of wood about four feet 

 long and of the thickness of a man's thumb) are passed 

 through their heads or gills, and they are then hung up in 

 rows to the top of the building. Wood fires are then kindled 

 under them, and are continued day and night, with slight 

 intermissions to allow the fat and oil to drop, until the fish 

 are sufiiciently cured, which, if they are intended for the- 

 foreign market, is at the end of fourteen days, but if for 

 home consumption, three or four days suffice. The first 

 are called " red" herrings, from the deep color which they 

 acquire, and the others are known as " bloaters." When 

 cured, the herrings are taken doAvn and placed in bar- 

 rels which contain each about seven hundred fish. From 

 thirty to forty thousand barrels are sent yearly from Yar- 

 mouth to the towns on the Mediterranean coasts. The 

 'annual supply of herrings at Billingsgate Market is estimated 

 at one hundred and twenty thousand tons, valued at one 

 million two hundred pounds sterling! The greatest enemy 

 to the herring fishermen is the dog-fish, which, in pursuit of 

 the herring, frequently becomes entangled in the nets, and 

 does great damage to them in endeavoring to escape. 



The herring fisheries sometimes suff'er very considerably 

 from the ravages of this fish, the popular name of some of 

 the smaller species of shark, owing this designation to their 

 habit of following their prey like dogs hunting in packs. 

 These predaceous fishes are seldom abundant when the her- 

 rings are in a compact body ; but sometimes they commit 

 great destruction when a shoal is first drawn in near land. 

 They have been known to consume as many herrings as 

 would fill a dozen barrels out of one boat's nets in the 

 course of an hour. They are also very destructive to the 

 nets when they get entangled, their hard fins tearing them 

 to pieces. In like manner they make sad havoc with otlier 



