82 The Commercial Products of the Sea. 



The preparation these fish go through is thus described : 

 — They are first brought to the scaler, which consists of a 

 long shaft, on which are twelve wheels filled with long 

 blunt teeth. These revolve very rapidly, and take off every 

 scale in an incredibly short space of time. From the 

 scalers they are passed to hands who chop off the heads 

 and cut out the entrails. They are then placed in the 

 washing troughs, above which are a number of revolving 

 circular brushes, by contact with which the insides are 

 thoroughly cleaned. They are then deposited in pickle 

 vats, where they remain for a few hours, until they are 

 sufficiently salted ; after which they are spread upon large 

 tables, and placed in cooking cans. They are then taken 

 to the steaming tanks, of which there are seven, each 

 having a capacity for holding looo boxes. From the 

 steaming cans, they are again taken to the tables and 

 transferred to the permanent cans, when they are oiled and 

 spiced, and then handed over to the tinsmiths to be 

 soldered. The time from the fish being brought to the 

 factory until they are boxed and labelled, is three days. 



Now these fish are shipped in large quantities to every 

 part of the States, and by many are considered quite 

 equal in flavour to the sardines imported from France to 

 Italy. 



