CUBING THE PILCHARD. 237 



Bay, except that in the latter place, owing to the greater 

 depth of water, the nets are about thirty "feet deeper, and 

 they are also longer. Besides the method of capturing pil- 

 chards with deep nets in shallow water in the day-time,, 

 there is a far more common mode in Cornwall of taking them 

 in shallow nets, in deep water, by night. As these drii't- 

 nets are always spread in the open sea, Avhere they might 

 be destroyed by vessels sailing over them, their head-ropes 

 are sunk about eighteen feet below the surface, and kept 

 suspended at that depth by cork buoys fixed at regular in- 

 tervals. By this contrivance, not only are the nets pre- 

 served, but larger quantities of fish are taken. These nets, 

 each with a driving-boat attached, are left to go with the 

 wind or tide all the time the net remains in the water. 



As soon as the pilchards caught by the seine or drift- 

 nets are landed, some are sold in the neighboring towns and 

 villages, and the rest, when cured and placed in barrels, are 

 exported to the Mediterranean, where, during Lent, they 

 are much sought after. 



The method of curing the pilchards is very simple. Tliey 

 are placed in cellars, and women are employed in arranging^ 

 them in layers, with salt between. After remaining in bulk 

 about five weeks, during which oil and other matters drain 

 from them, they are put into troughs of water, washed quite 

 clean, and then carefully laid in casks, where they are sul)- 

 jected to heavy pressure for about a week. The oil tlnis 

 expressed flows out from holes at the bottom or crevices in 

 the sides of the untightened casks, and as this reduces their 

 contents, more fish are added, until each cask, when the 

 pressure is removed, weighs at least four hundredweight. 

 The capital employed in the Cornish pilchard fishery 

 amounts to at least two hundred and fifty thousand pounds,, 

 and afibrds employment to about ten thousand persons. 



The Sprat was formerly considered by naturalists to be 

 the young of the herring, as well as that of the pilchard ; it 



