390 ANIMAL FOOD RESOUECES OF DIFFERENT NATIONS. 



The principal shrimping grounds near Margate are the 

 " Queen's Channel," the " Gore," and the grounds below 

 the Nore Light. 



The art of shrimping was first discovered at Margate 

 by Mr. J. Shrubsall, fish merchant, of that town. When 

 he fii'st began, half a century ago, he could take from 

 30 to 100 gallons at one haul. In the neighbourhood of 

 Pegwell Bay and Ramsgate most of the shrimps are 

 caught by " pushing " — i.e., by a hand-net worked by a 

 man wading. Morecambe Bay may be said to be placed 

 next in importance as regards shrimps to the Thames 

 estuary. We learn from the report of the Commissioners 

 for Sea Fisheries that the Morecambe Bay shrimp 

 fisheries alone are worth about £4,000 a year. Shrimps 

 from this part of Lancashire are sent mostly to the vast 

 manufacturing populations of the iron districts and the 

 midland counties. 



A very large number of shrimps are used in London 

 for food. Sometimes the red shrimps are sold mixed 

 with the brown, but generally they are sent to market 

 separately. The most abundant of the two kinds is the 

 bunting, the " chevrette " of the French. It is of a 

 grayish brown colour, dotted all over with brown spots, 

 and does not become red by heat. It is also called the 

 " grey shrimp " and the " sand shrimp." Connoisseurs in 

 shrimps consider the red or beaked shrimp much better 

 than the brown or flat-nosed species. 



The costermongers of London sell annually about 

 770,000 pints of shrimps at 2d. per pint, which is rather 

 below the market price. The value of this quantity will 

 be £6,400 a year. To this we must add the enormous 

 quantities sold in shops, and those consumed in Birming- 

 ham, Manchester, and Liverpool ; in fact, all over Eng- 

 land. Shrimps are boiled before being carried to market, 

 and there is an art even in the apparently simple process 

 of boiling shrimps. They are placed in nets, and plunged 

 alive in water that is fiercely on the boil. The putting 

 in of the shrimps lowers the temperature of the water 

 for a moment. The experienced shrimp boiler, therefore 



