SEA 



Ramadan Egypt consumes .80,000 worth of dried or 

 smoked fish, a third of which comes from the United 

 Kingdom. 



Let us pass on to the exports of salted cod. 



Norway, England, Holland, and France are the great 

 providers of this article. All the countries of Spanish 

 origin, with Spain at their head, eat stock-fish ; Portugal, 

 the Antilles, Brazil, the Argentine ; then Italy, Greece, 

 Syria, Egypt, the United States, and finally Australia. 



Spain buys over 20,000 tons of cod annually from 

 Norway. The " baccaleo secco," as the Spaniards term 

 it, is shipped from Aalsund to Bilbao and Vigo. The 

 traffic is considerable, and I was surprised, on visiting 

 the great warehouses of Herr Ronneberg at Aalsund, to 

 hear several Norwegians speaking Spanish. 



France and England each export 15,000 tons of cod. 

 The fish consumed in Malaga and the province of 

 Granada are of English and American brands. They 

 are specially prepared so as to keep a long time without 

 deterioration. "For this reason the merchants prefer 

 them, as their stock is safe in case it should remain in 

 the warehouse. It is not the same with French cod. 

 The latter, although a fish of better quality, is prepared 

 with less salt than the English article, which grows hard 

 after being in stock a certain time. The French fish 

 soon depreciates in a high temperature ; red spots 

 appear round the central ridge, which mark the first 

 symptoms of decomposition, due to a degree of desicca- 

 tion insufficient for warm, damp climates. 1 This article 

 being so largely consumed in the country districts, the 



1 The red spots are due to a cryptogamic vegetation, which can 

 be attacked by means of a 5 per cent, solution of sulpho-benzoate 

 of sodium. The fumigation of the hold of the fishing vessel with 

 sulphur will also act as a preventive. 



