FOOD PEODTJCTS OF THE SEA — FISHES. 295 



esteemed. The flesh of this fish is coarse, but white and 

 well-flavoured ; as it is however very fat, it does not agree 

 with all stomachs. In many places the conger eels arc 

 dried for exportation. For this purpose they are cut 

 open in their underpart thrbugh their entire length, the 

 intestines are removed, deep scarifications are made upon 

 the back, the parts are kept separate by means of small 

 sticks, and they are suspended by the tail to poles or 

 the branches of trees. When they are perfectly dry, they 

 are collected in packets, each weighing about two 

 hundred pounds. 



The extensive fringes of reefs and rocks encircling all 

 the Channel Islands, the shallows and banks between 

 them, are grand habitats of this species of the genus eel, 

 and nowhere on our British coasts are they so numerous, 

 so huge, and so generally utilised for food. In the 

 markets of Guernsey and Jersey they may constantly be 

 seen in larger or smaller quantities, their coarse, repul- 

 sive, snake-like carcases selling readily for three half- 

 pence, twopence, or threepence per pound, according to 

 the " take " and the condition ; for, coarseness and un- 

 comeliness notwithstanding, your Conger vulgaris, as some 

 naturalists call him, is esteemed delectable and nutritious 

 fare by the Channel Islander; He swears by the tooth- 

 someness and restorative properties of his conger eel 

 soup, and seems to have inherited the taste from many 

 a bygone ancestor. So far back as King John's time we 

 hear a something of this predilection, for conger fishing 

 and salting were included in the charter of privileges 

 which that monarch granted to the Channel Isles. A 

 duty on this fish and on mackerel — "esperkeria" is the 

 old name of the tax — was, we may also find, paid to the 

 Crown in 1331, for in Edward Ill's Extent, or rent roll 

 for Guernsey, one of the articles says, 'Our Lord the 

 King also has a revenue from a certain custom called the 

 fishery of congers and mackerel, and on all fish of the 

 islands, the whole extent of which is 210 livres 13 sous and 

 4 deniers.' Then, after mentioning who might or might 

 not carry on the fishery, and to whom the fish might or 



