Class IV. CONGER EEL. 199 



each eight feet asunder, baited with pilchards 

 or mackrel : the Bulters are sunk to the ground 

 by a stone fastened to them : sometimes such a 

 number of these are tied together as to reach a 

 mile. We have been told that the fishermen 

 are very fearful of large congers, least they 

 should endanger their legs by clinging round 

 them ; they therefore kill them as soon as pos- 

 sible by striking them on the navel. 



They are afterwards cured in this manner: 

 they are slit, and hung on a frame till they dry, 

 having a considerable quantity of fat, which it 

 is necessary should exude before they are fit 

 for use. It is remarkable that a conger of a 

 hundred weight will waste by drying to twenty- 

 four pounds ; the people therefore prefer the 

 smallest, possibly because they are soonest 

 cured. During the process there is a consider- 

 able stench, and it is said, that in the fishing 

 villages the poultry are fed with the maggots 

 thatdrop from the fish. 



The Portuguese and Spaniards use those 

 dried congers after they have been ground into 

 a powder, to thicken and give a relish to their 

 soups. We think they are sold for about forty 

 shillings the quintal, which weighs one hundred 

 and twenty-six pounds. 



