330 Fisnina iv American WATERS. 
as they changed feeding-grounds. On their return in the 
evening they ran alongside the planked docks, extending into 
the river from the salting and packing houses, erected part- 
ly over the water. From vessels the cod were pitched up 
on the docks (with forks made for the purpose), where they 
were beheaded, split, drawn, and cleaned, then pitched into 
the salting-room, where salt was rubbed into them for two 
days, and on the third day they were spread on the flakes to 
dry. The “flakes” are tables of fir-boughs, made by driving 
forked stakes into the ground, then laying poles across, and 
covering them with boughs of the fir-tree. These flakes were 
two yards wide, three feet high, and covered several acres. 
The fish, after being salted two days, on the third day are 
spread singly upon the flakes to dry. Here they are left four 
days, when they are grouped into small piles on the flakes 
of twenty-five fish in each pile, and left in that condition two 
days to sweat, when they are again spread on the flakes as at 
first, and, after two days more, are piled up two days as be- 
fore. Then they are gathered from the flakes and formed 
into round stacks, their necks at the outer edge of the stack, 
which is usually about five feet high, and contains a ton of 
fish. After leaving them a week in stack, they again distrib- 
ute them on the flakes to dry, and after another week they 
again stack them. They are thus continued on the flakes or 
in pack about a month in summer, but only half that time in 
autumn, when they are considered cured. The cod cured on 
the north shore of the Gulf are dried harder than those on 
the south shore for the United States market. Those cured 
on the north shore are generally sold in South America, tle 
West Indies, and to ports in the British Isles. 
The question of “ What luck have you had ?” is more espe- 
cially applicable to fishers for the market than to the disciple 
of rod and reel; for, without bait, a perilous voyage and a 
whole season’s labor produce nothing but disappointment. 
The caplin, spearing, and smelt are sometimes prevented by 
rough weather from approaching waters where they may be 
