SUB-BRACHIAN MALACOPTERYGII. 157 



the belly with a double-edged knife, called a cut- 

 throat, extracts the liver and entrails, and with a 

 slight wrench of the left hand, assisted by the knife, 

 cuts off the head ; all this is the operation of an 

 instant. The liver is pushed down a square hole 

 in the table, beneath which a cask is placed, and 

 the head and offal fall through another hole into 

 the sea. We may just pause to observe, that the 

 liver, which is large, melts almost completely away 

 into a very clear oil of rather agreeable odour, which 

 is by no means the least valuable product of the fish- 

 ery. A hundred quintals * of fish will generally yield 

 two hogsheads of oil, averaging 221. per tun. But 

 to return : the header pushes along the fish to the 

 second man, the splitter, who with another kind of 

 knife cuts out the spine about as far as the vent, 

 the lower part being left in. It is then thrown 

 down on the floor of the stage, where, after having 

 been washed, it is arranged with others in layers, 

 a layer of fish, opened, and laid back downwards, 

 and a layer of salt, alternately. A hundred quintals 

 of fish require ten hogsheads of salt. The pile of 

 fish lies in this state for a few days, until the salt 

 has penetrated the flesh; they are then taken out 

 in hand barrows on a sunny day, and spread singly 

 either on the naked shingle-beach, or on flakes for 

 the purpose, a sort of low but broad scaffolding 

 erected, with poles laid across, and loosely covered 

 with the flat boughs of the spruce or fir, so that 

 the air reaches each side of the drying fish. For 

 * A quintal is 1121bs. 



