THE DUTCH CUBE. 41 



■of cure was kept a profound secret, it being a strict rule that 

 no stranger should be admitted on board the fishery vessels. 



The superiority of the Dutch cure is said to be owing to the 

 use of a superior kind of salt, which the boat-owners take great 

 pains to procure, and to -purify still further after they obtain it, 

 and also to the very careful selection and assorting of the fish 

 into difierent classes, as " full " herrings, " Matjes," etc. Only 

 a portion of the intestines is taken out of the herring by the 

 Dutch; they content themselves with removing the gUls and 

 stomach, leaving the crown-gut in the fish. The herrings, as 

 fast as they are prepared, are thrown into a strong brine, in 

 which they are kept for eighteen hours before being packed in 

 the barrels. It is an imperative rule of the great fishery that 

 all herrings taken on one day must be cured during that day ; 

 herrings that cannot be cured on the day they are caught must 

 Be thrown overboard, or as an alternative they may be so packed 

 as to be sold for inferior fish. There is a penalty of 300 guilders 

 exigible from the master of the buss in case he should fail to 

 perform his duty according to rules which are laid down for his 

 guidance. As I have said, great pains are taken to procure fine 

 salt. All the fish caught before St. James's Day are cured with 

 Spanish or Portuguese salt ; those fish are known as herrings of 

 the lourge salt ; the herrings cured after that date are known as 

 herrings of the fine salt, only the finest Dutch-made small salt 

 being used. Then it is a rule of the great fisheiy that barrels 

 made of new and good oak only must be used. A small steamer 

 in attendance on the fleet starts ofiF to Vlaardingen as soon as it 

 can collect a hundred barrels of fish, the " hunters " or " yagers " 

 in attendance on the fishery vessels, follow as rapidly as they 

 can, the first one after the steamer with 120 barrels, the second 

 one with fifty more, etc., and the first fish bring the great prices 

 already alluded to. In consequence of the crew having both to 

 fish and to cure, the mass of the herrings taken cannot be dealt 

 with so as to receive the Government brand ; they lie in salt, 

 therefore, in the vessel, and after arriving at home, are taken 

 out and smoked, but of course only realise an inferior price. 



Having been told that Dutch salmon was excellent, large in 

 size, and delicious in flavour, and knowing that a considerable 

 quantity of that fish is annually sent to London, — ^indeed Rhine 

 salmon are now sold in Edinburgh in December,- — I felt anxious 

 during a visit to the Netherlands to obtain reliable infor- 

 mation about the Dutch salmon fisheries. The Rhine having 



