BRITTANY: THE LAND OF THE SARDINE 



561 



BRETON WASHERWOMEN (SEE PAGE 566) Photo from Hugh M. Smith 



In ordinary seasons, boats that fish 

 regularly will earn from $400 to $1,200, 

 averaging, perhaps, $600 or $700. 



WOMEN DO MOST OE THE WORK IN THE 

 CANNING FACTORIES 



It is not needful for us to look into the 

 details of the sardine canning industry, 

 but there are a few points of general in- 

 terest to which we may devote a few words. 



The construction of the first canning 

 establishments dates from 1845, since 

 which time the growth of the business 

 has been uninterrupted and rapid. More 

 than 100 canneries are now in operation, 

 and the output in ordinary years is tre- 

 mendous, the pack of some of the largest 

 factories being 5,000,000 boxes each. 



Practically all the work about the fac- 

 tories is done by women and girls — at 

 good wages. With deftness and expedi- 

 tion they remove the heads and viscera 



from the sardines, soak the fish in brine, 

 place them in wire baskets or on wooden 

 trays to drain and dry, immerse baskets 

 and fish in boiling oil, pack the fish in 

 tin boxes after cooling, insert spices of 

 various kinds, then fill the boxes with oil, 

 seal them, and put them in vats of boiling 

 water for two hours (to complete cook- 

 ing, soften the bones, and kill bacteria). 



THE CAPITAL OE THE SARDINE INDUSTRY 



The chief center of the sardine indus- 

 try is Concarneau, a town of 10,000 peo- 

 ple, of whom 3,500 are sardine fishermen 

 and 3,000 are men, women, and children 

 in the sardine factories. Some of the 

 canneries are operated by American citi- 

 zens and with American capital, and rep- 

 resentatives of foreign dealers in French 

 sardines have their offices here. 



Concarneau is a very ancient place 

 and shows the scars of a checkered 



