FISHERY. 



the herring in fresh water, and steep 

 them 12 or 15 hours in a strong brine, 

 before we proceed to barrel them. 



Red Herrings must lie 24 hours in the 

 brine, in as much as they are to take all 

 their salt there, and when they are taken 

 out, they are spitted, that is, strung by 

 the head on little wooden spits, and 

 then hung in a chimney made for that 

 purpose. After which a fire of brush- 

 wood, which yields a deal of smoke, but 

 no flame, being made under them, they 

 remain there till sufficiently smoked and 

 dried, and are afterwards barrelled up 

 for keeping. 



FISHERY, mackerel. The mackerel are 

 found in large shoals in the ocean, but 

 especially on the French and English 

 coasts. They enter the English channel 

 in April, and proceeding as the summer 

 advances, about June they are on the 

 coasts of Cornwall, Sussex, Normandy, 

 Picardy, &c. where the fishery is most 

 considerable. They are taken either with 

 a line or nets : the latter is preferable, 

 and is usually performed in the night 

 time. They are pickled two ways, first 

 by opening and gutting them, and cram- 

 ming their bellies as hard as possible 

 with salt, by means of a stick, and then 

 laying them in rows at the bottom of 

 the vessel, strewing salt between each 

 layer. The second way is putting them 

 directly into tubs full of brine, made of 

 salt and fresh water, and leaving them 

 to steep till they have taken salt enough 

 to keep. After this, they are barrelled 

 up and pressed close down. 



FisHEar, pearl. See PEARL fishery. 



FISHERY, pilchard. The chief pilchard 

 fisheries are along the coasts of Dalmatia, 

 on the coast of Bretagne, and along the 

 coasts of Cornwall and Devonshire. That 

 of Dalmatia is very plentiful : that on the 

 coasts of Bretagne employs annually 

 about 300 ships. The pilchards caught 

 on our coasts, though bigger, are not so 

 much valued as those on the coasts of 

 France, owing principally to their not be- 

 ing so thoroughly cured. They naturally 

 follow the light, which contributes much 

 to the facility of the fishery : the sea- 

 son is from June to September. On the 

 coasts of France they make use of the 

 roes of the cod-fish as a bait, which,thrown 

 into the sea, makes them rise from the 

 bottom, and run into the nets : on our 

 coasts there are persons posted ashore, 

 who, spying by the colour of the water 

 where the shoals are, make signs to the 



VOI. A 



boats to go among them to cast their 

 nets. When taken, they are brought on 

 shore to a warehouse, where they are 

 laid up in broad piles, supported with 

 backs and sides, and as they are piled 

 they salt them with bay salt, in which 

 lying to soak 20 or 30 days, they run out 

 a deal of blood, with dirty pickle and 

 bittern: then they wash them clean in 

 sea-water; and when dry barrel and press 

 them hard down, to squeeze out the oil, 

 which issues out at a hole in the bot- 

 tom of the cask. The Cornish men ob- 

 serve of the pilchard, that it is the least 

 fish in size, most in number, and greatest 

 for gain, of any they take out of the sea. 



FISHERY, salmon. The chief salmon 

 fisheries in Europe are in England, Scot- 

 land, and Ireland, in the rivers and sea- 

 coasts adjoining to the river mouths. 

 Those most distinguished for salmon in 

 Scotland are, the river Tweed, the Clyde, 

 the Tay, the Dee, the Don, the Spey, the 

 Ness, the Bewley, &c. in most of which 

 it is very common about the height of 

 summer, especially if the weather happen 

 to be very hot, to catch four or five score 

 of salmon at a draught. The chief rivers 

 in England for salmon are, the Tyne, the 

 Trent, the Severn, and the Thames. The 

 fishing usually begins about January, and 

 in Scotland they are obliged to give 

 over about the 15th of August, because^ 

 as it is then supposed the fish come up 

 to spawn, it would be quite depopulating 

 the rivers to continue fishing any longer. 

 It is performed with nets, and sometimes 

 with a kind of locks or wears made on 

 purpose, which in certain places have 

 iron or wooden grates so disposed, in an 

 angle, that being impelled by any force 

 in a contrary direction to the course of 

 the river, they may give way and open a 

 little at the point of contact, and immedi- 

 ately shut again, closing the angle. The 

 salmon, therefore, coming up into the ri- 

 vers, are admitted into these grates, 

 which open, and suffer them to pass 

 through, but shut again, and prevent 

 their return. Salmon are also caught 

 with a spear, which they dart into him 

 when they see him swimming near the 

 surface of the water. It is customary like- 

 wise to catch them with a candle and 

 lanthorn, or a wisp of straw set on fire ; 

 for the fish, naturally following the light, 

 are struck with the spear, or taken in a 

 net spread for that purpose, and lifted 

 with a sudden jerk from the bottom. We 

 make no mention of the method of catch- 



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