112 BRITISH IND USTRIES. 



means of a capstan on the beach, work in which every- 

 one is glad to lend a hand, may have led to the use of 

 the expression " heav-ah, heav-ah," which is heard 

 on all sides under such circumstances, and to which 

 so much mystery has been attached. The seans 

 belong for the most part to companies or large pro- 

 prietors, and the fishermen receive regular pay in 

 money and a certain proportion of the fish they have 

 succeeded in catching. The division of the fish is 

 made as soon as they are brought on shore, and every 

 household does a little curing on its own account, and 

 provides what is thought almost a necessity in Corn- 

 wall a stock of pilchards for use in winter. 



Curing is carried out on a large scale at some of the 

 establishments at St. Ives whenever the fish are abun- 

 dant, and preparations must be made accordingly ; but 

 the fishery is a very fluctuating one, depending, as it 

 does, not so much on the abundance of fish on the 

 coast, but on the shoals coming into localities where 

 the seans can be advantageously worked. 



The curing is the especial work of the women, who 

 pack the pilchards in alternate layers of coarse salt 

 and fish on the stone floor of the curing house, until 

 the " bulk " has reached a height of five or six feet. 

 Here the fish remain for a month, and the oil and 

 brine draining from them are carried off by gutters in 

 the floor to a cistern. When the fish have been suffi- 

 ciently salted, they are washed and packed in hogsheads, 

 each layer of fish being placed with their heads out- 

 wards and with a " rose " of fish in the centre ; a 

 circular piece of wood, called a " buckler," and rather 



