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CHAPTER VI. 



THE SARDINE FISHERY. 



Derivation of the name "sardine" — Extent of the French fishery — Mode of 

 preparing the fish for market — Statistics of the fisheries — Dried sardines — 

 The anchovy — The menhaden, or moss-bunker, prepared in oil in America. 



The purity and delicacy of the little fish (Chipea sprattus, 

 Lin.) which haunts the Bay of Biscay and the Mediterranean 

 is known everywhere ; its excellent keeping qualities, when 

 preserved in oil, enabling it to be transported for an indefi- 

 nite distance. It has much in common with the sprat in 

 flavour, but also reminds the epicure of the anchovy, which 

 is also common on the Mediterranean and other coasts of 

 France. 



There are sardines and sardines, for the family to which 

 this fish belongs includes the whitebait, the sprat, and the 

 pilchard. As they were chiefly found in large shoals on 

 the coasts of Sardinia, they have thence derived their 

 popular name, and this has also been incorporated into the 

 specific name of Chipea sardina, Cuvier. In Italy, how- 

 ever, these fish are known as " sardella," and the anchovy 

 as " sardon." 



The sardine fishery is eminently French. It is carried 

 on from the Gulf of Gascony to the east. Quitting the 

 Mediterranean, where they are born, the sardines, on the 



