54 COD-CURING. 



fishing-towns of Scotland. There is 110 particular diffi- 

 culty in the process. First, catch your fish. Next, cure 

 it as soon as possible after it is caught. Split it open 

 from head to tail ; cleanse it thoroughly from every par- 

 ticle of blood ; drain it, after cutting away a portion of the 

 back-bone ; deposit it with other fish, similarly prepared, 

 in a long vat or trough, and cover it well with salt, placing 

 a heavy weight upon it to keep it down in the pickle. 



Take your fish, when sufficiently pickled, out of its 

 repository ; drain it ; wash and cleanse it ; and bleach or 

 pine it by exposure to the sun and air on the open beach. 

 After a while it will acquire a peculiar whitish appear- 

 ance, technically known as the bloom. Then your labour 

 is over, and your dried cod is ready for the store, closet, 

 or the market. 



Ling is cured in the same manner; and both ]ing and cod 

 are very palatable when thus prepared, either boiled and 

 served up with sauce, or toasted like a Finnan haddock. 



Fresh cod are in season from September to March ; 

 they are in finest condition in the months of November, 

 December, and January. 



The largest cod-fisheries are carried on in the North 

 Sea and off the banks of Newfoundland. To the latter 

 we shall presently refer. The cod-bank at the Faroe 

 Islands has been almost ruined by over-fishing, and the 

 same is true of the once celebrated Dogger-Bank. There 

 are immense supplies, however, on the west coast of Ice- 

 land, which, as yet, have been scarcely touched. At 

 present the greater proportion of the white-fish sent to 

 the London market comes from the North Sea fishing- 

 grounds, and the fishery is conducted after the following 

 fashion : 



