DUTCH METHOD OF CURING HERRINGS. 24.9 



becaufe they are then, and to the beginning of July, fatten 1 ; Dutch method 

 after which time, the nearer they approach the coafr, the of patching and 



J l r curing herrings. 



leaner and worfe they are. 



It redounds no Iefs ito the honour of the Dutch, than to 

 their advantage, that they pay the utmoft poffible attention 

 to thefe rules: according to which, the fiih mull be taken at 

 the proper feafon, properly faked, well afTorted, and rightly 

 packed ; to do all which, the captain and failors are by feveral 

 laws obliged to bind themfelves by oath, before they fail. 

 There are alfo overfeers well paid, that they may not betray 

 their truft, but watch and enforce every the minuteft regula- 

 tion ; to which circumftance alfo, the pre-eminence of Dutch 

 herrings throughout the world may partly be afcribed. 



As foon as the herrings are taken out of (he water, they 

 are thrown either upon the end of the deck, which has been 

 cleared, and made perfectly clean for the purpofe, or into 

 bafkets ; and then gipped (the gills and guts taken out) with 

 a knife, by fome of the crew, who are folely employed there- 

 in, having been brought up to that praclice. The milt, or 

 roe, however, is always left in the fi(h»* What are taken 

 during one night, are, before the following fun-fet, neatly 

 and fkilfully laid in oaken barrels, coarfe Spanith or Portu- 

 guefe bay fait being ftrewed between. This the fifhermen of 

 other countries either entirely neglect, or iefs carefully per- 

 form, being Iefs fcrupuloufly nice ; becaufe they either go out 

 to fea later, or, like the Scotch, commence fifhing too foon ; 

 or only navigate fmall boats near the coail ; do not kill the filh 

 with a knife,, or gut, fait, or pack them, while on board, 

 but throw them down in a boat, and when fully laden, go on 

 fhore, proceed at their leifure, cafl the fifli on the iea-coaft 

 in confiderable heaps, where they are even fuffered to lie 

 fomelimes feveral days, before they are gutted, (alted, and 

 packed, in confequence of which they grow ftale and ferment. 

 The Dutch, on the contrary, indefatigably purfue their me- 

 thod day and night, during twenty, twenty-four, or twenty- 

 fix weeks be the weather what it may. Hence, their fi(u 

 are ufually more tender, better flavoured, and not fo very 

 fait as the Englifli and the Scotch. 



* Mr. M'Culloch's Treatifs (fee note, page 413) fays, they 

 ftiould alfo be kept cleanly, and out of the fun, as well as froft or 

 fain. 



There 



