" PILCHARD-PIE." 177 



thicker fluid afterwards obtained by stronger pressure. 

 A bulking-house, when filled, presents a remarkable sight, 

 and with the long tiers of heads, set in salt and pointing 

 outwards, bears some resemblance to a fairy's wine-bin 

 in which the precious juice would be stored, we suppose, 

 in tiny silver flasks. The whole of the " take," however, 

 is not put in bulk, a portion being kept for local consump- 

 tion. The Cornishman never eats his pilchard fresh (a 

 " fair maid" is its then designation) ; but he likes it salt; 

 and boiled with new potatoes, it makes a savoury, though, 

 we should think, a not very nutritious dish. Sometimes 

 pilchard-pie is set before a guest ; and having tasted of it, 

 we can aflirm that for those who like paste with a spratty 

 flavour, it is not so bad. We wonder the Cornishmen 

 don't take a lesson from the fishers of Brittany, and pack 

 up their pilchards in cases like sardines. Young pilchards 

 cannot easily be distinguished from sardines, and are sub- 

 stituted for them on the Brittany coast. 



In the fisheries at St. Ives and its neighbourhood the 

 seine-net is used ; at Newly n, the drift-net is in favour. 

 The disadvantage of seineing is, that it is limited by certain 

 conditions the net must touch ground, and the water must 

 be tolerably smooth ; whereas the drift-net may be fished 

 in water of any depth, and in defiance of tides. We are 

 inclined to think, -however, that the fish are taken by the 

 seine in better condition, as they certainly are in larger 

 numbers. The mesh of the drift-net is large, and the 

 pilchard gets its head into it, though its body cannot fol- 

 low. Hence, when hauled up its appearance is provoca- 

 tive of laughter, for it is stuck full of " wriggling creatures 

 caught by their gills," painful for the fish, certainly, but 

 ridiculous in the eyes of a spectator. 



