" FINNAN HADDIES." 205 



Methuen, the fish-curer, wrote some few years ago : — " This morn- 

 ing I am told that an Edinburgh fishmonger has bought all the 

 cod brought into Newhaven at 5s. to 7s. each. I recollect when 

 I cured thousands of cod at 3d. and 4d. each ; they were caught 

 between Burntisland and Kincardine, on which ground not a cod 

 is now to be got ; and at the great cod emporium of CeUardyke, 

 the cod fishing, instead of threescore for a boat's fishing, has 

 dwindled down to about half-a-dozen cod." 



The old belief in the migratory habits of fish comes again 

 into notice in connection with the haddock. Pennant having 

 taught us that the haddock appeared periodically in great 

 quantities about mid-winter, that theory is still believed, al- 

 though the appearance of this fish in shoals may be easily 

 explained, from the local habits of most of the denizens of the 

 great deep. It is said that " in stormy weather the haddock 

 refuses every kind of bait, and seeks refuge among marine plants 

 in the deepest parts of the ocean, where it remains until the 

 violence of the elements is somewhat subsided." This fish does 

 not grow to any great size ; it usually averages about five 

 pounds. I prefer it as a table fish to the cod. The very best 

 haddocks are taken on the coast of Ireland. The scarcity of 

 fresh haddocks may in some degree be accounted for by the 

 immense quantities which are converted into " Finnan haddies " 

 — a well-known breakfast luxury no longer confined to Scotland. 

 It is difficult to procure genuine Finnans, smoked in the original 

 way by means of peat-reek ; like everything else for which there 

 is a great demand. Finnan haddocks are now " manufactured " 

 in quantity ; and, to make the trade a profitable one, they are 

 cured by the hundred in smoking-houses built for the purpose, 

 and are smoked by burning wood or sawdust, which, however, 

 does not give them the proper govi. In fact the wood-smoked 

 Finnans, except that they are fish, have no more the right flavour 

 than Scotch marmalade would have were it manufactured from 

 turnips instead of bitter oranges. Fifty years ago it was differ- 

 ent ; then the haddocks were smoked in small quantities in the 

 fishing villages between Aberdeen and Stonehaven, and entirely 

 over a peat fire. The peat-reek imparted to them that peculiar 

 flavour which gained them a reputation. The fisher-wives along 

 the north-east coast used to pack small quantities of these 

 delicately-cured fish into a basket, and give them to the guard 

 of the " Defiance " coach, which ran between Aberdeen and Edin- 

 burgh, and the guard brought them to town, confiding them for 



