NEWFOUNDLAND COD-FISHERY. 163 



mainland, for them to undergo the subsequent processes of 

 drying. These boats, as they arrive, are moored to an oblong 

 square vessel made of planks, put loosely together, so that a 

 current of sea-water is always flowing through them. This 

 vessel, called a * Ram's Horn ' (supposed to be a corruption of 

 the French term rinar or rin$oir\ is fixed at the head of the 

 stage. Three or four men stand in it to wash and scour the 

 fish with mops as they are thrown singly out of the boat into 

 the vessel ; as fast as they are cleaned one of the men throws 

 the fish up on a scaffold half the height of the stage, and from 

 thence others throw them on the stage itself, where they are 

 received into barrows, and removed to the flakes to dry. 



' The livers of the fish, it has been mentioned, are collected 

 in casks, placed for the purpose under the table ; these tubs 

 are emptied as fast as they are filled into larger puncheons, 

 which receive the full action of the sun's rays ; in about a week 

 the livers resolve into oil, which is drawn off by a tap at about 

 half-way between the top and bottom of the puncheon, so as to 

 leave all the solid and dirty parts behind ; the oil thus sepa- 

 rated is again further purified by a similar process, and being 

 put into clean hogsheads, is exported as train-oil, a name given 

 to it on the spot to distinguish it from whale, or seal oil, which 

 is called fat-oil. The refuse in the first puncheon, consisting 

 of blood and dirt, is let out, and boiled in copper cauldrons, by 

 which a further portion of inferior oil is obtained. The Cod-oil 

 is employed in dressing leather, and the better quality as a 

 medicine. 



' Besides Cod, Newfoundland and the adjacent coasts and 

 rivers furnish Salmon, Herrings, Capelins, Plaice, Soles, 

 Haddock, Mackerel, Halibut, &c. The Capelin is a small 

 species of the Salmon genus, and is an excellent fish ; it re- 

 sorts to Labrador and Newfoundland in shoals rivalling in 

 magnitude those of the Herring ; these generally arrive about 

 the middle of June, and the fishery is carried on by two per- 

 sons in each boat, which they easily fill in a couple of hours. 

 They employ a cylindrical net, open at both ends, one of which 

 is loaded with lead to sink it, and the other is gathered in by a 

 running rope. The fisherman holds the rope in one hand and 



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