FISHERY. 



salmon with a line and hook, because it 

 is much the same with trout fishing. 



Curing salmon. When the salmon are 

 taken, they open them along the back, 

 take out the guts and gills, and cut out 

 the greatest part of the bones, endea- 

 vouring to make the inside as smooth as 

 possible, then salt the fish in large tubs 

 for the purpose, where they lie a consi- 

 derable time soaking in brine, and about 

 October they are packed close up in bar- 

 rels, and sent to London, or exported up 

 the Mediterranean. They have also in 

 Scotland a great deal of salmon salted in 

 the common way, which, after soaking in 

 brine a competent time, is well pressed, 

 and then dried in smoke ; this is called 

 kipper, and is chiefly made for home 

 consumption, and if properly cured and 

 prepared is reckoned very delicious. 



FISHERY, sturgeon. The greatest stur- 

 geon fishery is in the mouth of the Vol- 

 ga, on the Caspian Sea, where the Mus- 

 covites employ a great number of hands, 

 and catch them in a kind of enclosure 

 formed by huge stakes, representing the 

 letter Z, repeated several times. These 

 fisheries are open on the side next the 

 sea, and close on the other, by which 

 means, the fish ascending in the season 

 up the river are embarrassed in these 

 narrow angular retreats, and thus are 

 easily killed with a harping-iron. Sturge- 

 ons, when fresh, eat deliciously ; and in 

 order to make them keep, they are salt- 

 ed or pickled in large pieces, and put up 

 in kegs from thirty to fifty pounds. But 

 the great object of this fishery is the roe, 

 of which the Muscovites are extremely 

 fond, and of which is made the cavear or 

 kavia, so much esteemed by the Italians. 

 See CAVEAH. 



FISHERY, -whale. Whales are chiefly 

 caught in the North Sea : the largest sort 

 are found about Greenland or Spitzber- 

 gen. At the first discovery of this coun- 

 try, whales, not being used to be disturb- 

 ed, frequently came into the very bays, 

 and were accordingly killed almost close 

 to the shore, so that the blubber being 

 cutoflfwas immediately boiled into oil on 

 the spot. The ships, in those times, took 

 in nothing but the pure oil and the fins, 

 and all the business was executed in the 

 country, by which means, a ship could 

 bring home the product of many more 

 whales, than she can according to the 

 present method of conducting this trade. 

 The fishery also was then so plentiful, 

 that they were obliged sometimes to send 



other "ships to fetch off the oil they had 

 made, the quantity being more than the 

 fishing ships could bring away. But time 

 and change of circumstances have shift- 

 ed the situation of this trade. The ships 

 coming in such numbers from Holland, 

 Denmark, Hamburgh, and other northern 

 countries, all intruders upon the English, 

 who were the first discoverers of Green- 

 land, disturbed the whales, and gradually, 

 as other fish often do, forsaking the 

 place, were not to be killed so near the 

 shore as before ; but are now found, and 

 have been so ever since, in the openings 

 and spaces among the ice, where they 

 have deep water, and where they go 

 sometimes a great many leagues from the 

 shore. 



The whale fishery begins in May, and 

 continues all June and July ; but whether 

 the ships have good or bad success, they 

 must come away and get clear of the ice 

 by the end of August ; so that in the 

 month of September, at farthest, they 

 may be expected home ; but a ship that 

 meets with a fortunate and early fishery 

 in May may return in June or July. 



The manner of taking whales at pre- 

 sent is as follows : as soon as the fisher- 

 men hear the whale blow, they cry out 

 fall ! falH and every ship gets out its long 

 boat, in .each of which there are six or 

 seven men : they row till they come pret- 

 ty near the whale, then the harpooner 

 strikes it with the harpoon. This requires 

 great dexterity, for through the bone of 

 his head there is no striking, but near 

 his spout there is a soft piece of flesh, 

 into which the iron sinks with ease. As 

 soon as he is struck, they take care to 

 give him rope enough, otherwise, when 

 he goes down, as he frequently does, he 

 would inevitably sink the boat : this rope 

 he draws with such violence, that, if it 

 were not well watered, it would, by its 

 friction against the sides of the boat, be 

 soon set on fire. The line fastened to the 

 harpoon is six or seven fathoms long, 

 and is called the fore-runner : it is made 

 of the finest and softest hemp, that it may 

 slip the easier : to this they join a heap 

 of lines of 90 or 100 fathoms each, and 

 when there are not enough in one long 

 boat they borrow from another. The 

 man at the helm observes which way the 

 rope goes, and steers the boat accord- 

 ingly, that It may run exactly out before : 

 for the whale runs away with the line 

 with so much rapidity, that he would over- 

 set the boat if it were not kept straight 



