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THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



western Europe and often results in the 

 most heterogeneous aggregations imagi- 

 nable. Local authorities of the ports ad- 

 jacent to the fishing grounds have their 

 hands full in order to provide for the 

 proper housing, feeding, sanitation, etc., 

 of a tenfold increase in population during 

 the short period of a "run." I may cite 

 from the report of the Scotch Fishery 

 Board for 1907 the case of a sudden in- 

 flux of population at Balta Sound, in 

 the Shetland Islands: 



The normal population of Balta Sound is 

 less than 500, but at the beginning of June, 

 during a fairly successful season, this will have 

 increased to about 10,000 persons, and, in addi- 

 tion to the .purely Shetland element in this 

 population, there will probably be a fleet of 

 fishing vessels from the east and west coasts 

 of Scotland, steam drifters from England, sail- 

 ing craft from the Isle of Man and the north 

 of Ireland, and 'booms,' luggers, and steam 

 drifters from France, Belgium, Holland, Ger- 

 many, Denmark, Sweden, and Norway— the 

 number and variety of the various craft, the 

 picturesque and characteristic garb of the fish- 

 ermen of different nationalities, and the babel 

 of various tongues forming a scene probably 

 unparalleled at any other fishing port in the 

 world except Lerwick. Notwithstanding this 

 large addition to the population, it speaks vol- 

 umes for the law-abiding nature of those en- 

 gaged in the industry that it has never been 

 necessary to augment the staff of police usually 

 employed. 



When a herring vessel arrives in port 

 the fish are lifted out of the hold in bas- 

 kets and spread on deck, where they are 

 counted into baskets by hand, 100 fish to 

 a basket. These baskets are then passed 

 over the rail to the dock and emptied 

 into large, peculiarly shaped baskets hold- 

 ing 500 fish, arranged on the dock in 

 lines or tiers of 20 baskets each. The fish 

 are heaped in 10 piles over the edges of 

 adjoining baskets to facilitate counting. 

 A line of the large baskets constitutes a 

 last, which is the unit of measure in the 

 herring trade. A last represents about 

 i l / 2 tons of herring, or theoretically 

 10,000 fish, but as a matter of fact 13,200 

 fish of any size, as 132 fish are called 100 

 in counting. Herring are sold at public 

 auction by lasts. The buyer puts his 

 card or tag on the first basket of the tier, 

 and his drayman comes shortly after- 



wards and takes the fish to the pickling- 

 house or smoke-house. Sometimes, at 

 the height of the fishery, as many as 1,000 

 lasts (or 3,000,000 pounds) have been 

 landed and sold in one day at Yarmouth 

 and other ports ; and whenever the catch 

 is large the wharves present scenes of 

 great activity and excitement. 



THE "YARMOUTH BLOATUr" 



Considerable quantities of herring are 

 consumed in a fresh condition, and the 

 celebrated "whitebait" of England con- 

 sists almost exclusively of young herring ; 

 but the herring fishery and trade owe 

 their importance to the herring that are 

 preserved in various ways. Household 

 names in Great Britain applied to the dif- 

 ferent kinds of cured fish are "bloater," 

 "kippered herring," "white-cured her- 

 ring," and "red herring." The "bloater," 

 especially the "Yarmouth bloater," has a 

 world-wide reputation, either in its orig- 

 inal form or as now prepared in America 

 and Canada, and it is the favorite herring 

 for local consumption. In the United 

 States a bloater is a large, lightly smoked 

 herring; but in Great Britain a fish of 

 any size may be a bloater, which may be 

 defined as an unsplit, lightly salted, 

 lightly smoked herring intended for im- 

 mediate consumption. Among the varie- 

 ties of preserved herring none rank 

 higher than the "kippered" fish, the essen- 

 tial characteristic of which is that before 

 being salted and smoked they are split 

 and eviscerated. "White-cured herring" 

 give to the English and Scotch herring 

 trade the great extent it has attained, as 

 such fish, after being gutted through the 

 gill cavity and heavily salted, are packed 

 in barrels and sent all over the world. 



A very elaborate set of regulations for 

 preparing "white-cured hemng" has been 

 drawn up by the Scotch fishery board, 

 and each barrel of salt fish is officially 

 guaranteed by a mark or brand showing 

 size, quality, spawning condition, etc., of 

 the fish. "Red herring" are a special 

 grade of heavily salted fish that are 

 smoked for a long time, to give them a 

 rich brown color, and are intended chiefly 

 for the Italian, Grecian, and general 



