FOOD PRODUCTS OF THE SEA — FISHES. 297 



taken weighing seventy to eighty pounds. They are 

 not particularly common in the London markets, but may 

 often be seen in the markets at Liverpool, Birming- 

 liam, &c. The French and Italians are particularly fond 

 of congers. According to M. Court, congers were formerly 

 cut across in such a manner as to allow of their being- 

 sewn five or six together in the form of a sheet. In this 

 condition they were dried in the sun without salt, and 

 under the name of " conger douce " formed a profitable 

 article of commerce with Spain and Portugal. They are 

 sometimes exported to those countries in the dried state, 

 where they are ground down into a kind of powder, and 

 used for enriching soups. An excellent soup is thus 

 made in the Channel Islands, and is called "Bouilli 

 Baisse." According to the late Mr. Buckland, from 

 whose report on the sea fisheries I quote, a large quan- 

 tity of them are exported from the Channel Islands for 

 soup-making, and they form the basis of a very large 

 proportion of London-made soups, especially mock turtle. 



Eels. — The fresh- water eel is valued very highly, as it 

 forms the principal flesh food of large populations in 

 Europe, and salted, smoked or pickled it is an important 

 article of trade. The skin and fat are used for technical 

 purposes. At one period there was a strong prejudice 

 against eels, which still prevails among some people. 



There is an excellent eel fishery in the Parret, large 

 numbers of elvers or young eels are caught when ascending 

 this river in the spring months ; these are boiled, com- 

 pressed into cakes, and sold in the neighbouring markets, 

 where they form palatable and nutritious food. 



The price of eels varies from 2d. to 9d. the pound. 

 The broad-nosed eel is caught in the summer, and the 

 sharp-nosed eel in the fall of the year. 



Eels were once a staple of English diet, since they 

 supplied almost the only animal food to which the poor 

 could aspire. The rich a,nd oily flesh was a welcome 

 addition to their daily fare of rye-bread and beans. 



The England of the Middle Ages, abounding in lagoons 

 and ponds, and full of sluggish streams and sullen 



