THE OUTLETS 337 



directly on to the Thames, opening upon the wharf, 

 where muscular porters, dressed in white and wearing 

 felt hats with enormous brims, unload the contents of 

 the trawlers or carriers which are moored there. On 

 the other side of the market, in Fish Street, there is all 

 night long a slow procession, a block of vans coming 

 from the different railway stations with their < perishable ' 

 goods ; then, during the whole morning, other vans 

 remove the lots which have been sold. The neighbour- 

 hood of the market consists entirely of the warehouses 

 of wholesale fish merchants, who sort the fish and give 

 them a preliminary cleaning before sending them to the 

 retail merchants, the large restaurants, and also to pri- 

 vate people, directly, in small cases which are delivered 

 in vans." Before being declared fit for sale, the fish is 

 inspected by a commission of the " Worshipful Company 

 of Fishmongers," which holds letters patent granted by 

 King Edward I. at the beginning of the thirteenth century. 

 It is this ancient society which in 1882 founded the 

 " North Sea Fishery Protection Association," a federation 

 of more than 50 fishing companies situated in the 

 various ports of the United Kingdom. 



I have already, in speaking of Basle, given some details 

 concerning refrigerator cars. A propos of Billingsgate, I 

 must touch upon the matter of reservoirs. I shall thus 

 have mentioned the two ideal methods of transporting 

 fish : frozen or chilled, or in the living state. 



The simplest reservoir is that of the Norwegian herring- 

 fishers : they tow close inshore and anchor their seines 

 bursting with herring, which they take out as they need 

 them. 1 The French sole and plaice fishers put the fish in 



1 In St. Ives Bay the pilchard seine is often left for a few days 

 moored in shallow water ; usualty when the fishermen are waiting 

 for fine weather for the " tucking " process. [TRANS.] 



22 



