On the other side of the cod bin was a strong bench, the cutting table, 

 on which work on the cod was carried on. 



Each fish was seized from the bin by a first man, the "header", who 

 placed it on the table and cut off its head. Part of the heads were saved for 

 the daily stew of the crew. Others were saved for bait. The surplus was 

 thrown in the sea. 



From the header, the cod passed to the "splitter". The latter operated 

 differently according to the preparation, au plat , or hollandaise . 



In the first case (au plat) the cod was split from one end to the other, 

 from the beginning of the tail, saving on the back just enough flesh for it to 

 open flat without inequalities in thickness. The fish thus opened, the split- 

 ter pulled out the backbone back to the tail; then he carefully washed the 

 abdominal cavity in a pail filled with water in such a way as to remove the 

 last traces of blood. The cod were then thrown in the hold where the Salter 

 gave them the "first salting" by rubbing them one by one, then piling them 

 one on the other in lots separated by a thickness of salt proportional to the 

 size of each fish. A few days later, the first salting was followed by a fi- 

 nal salting, with packing away of the fish for the rest of the trip. 



When the cod was prepared hollandaise or "in the round" a practice 

 which, while much in vogue in Iceland, was never followed much in New- 

 foundland, the splitter opened only the body cavity to the anus, saving al- 

 most all the bone. Then the fish was washed, brushed, and twisted to re- 

 move all the blood. The cod, piled as nearly as possible by lots of equal 

 weight, were then salted and carefully packed in casks where, after a first 

 natural settling, they were pressed down by means of a screw-jack. 



The work was followed thus each day of the trip, with a short rest for 

 a noontime meal. At the last light of evening, when it was no longer pos- 

 sible to see the lines, the captain called a halt. Each man brought him the 

 tongues by which his count for the day was checked and written in the ac- 

 count book. Those who had the smallest captures by number had to wash 

 down the decks of all the detritus which had accumulated during the day's 

 work. 



The drift fishery was practiced on the banks in the 16th, 17th and 18th 

 centuries. In the course of this long period, some ameliorations were in- 

 troduced for the fishermen. The first consisted of doing away with the ex- 

 terior platform and installing the barrels on the deck itself, along the side. 



24 



