4o8 A VOYAGE TO Book I 



day, or when the fait appears to have fufficiently 

 penetrated, they wafh them, and take them in pairs 

 by the tails, then fhake them in the water in order 

 to carry off the fciim extraded by the fait : after- 

 wards, that the water may run off, they are piled 

 up on little boards then they are ftretched out one 

 by one, with the fkin upwards, in order for drying, 

 where they are turned three or four times. Being 

 thus thoroughly dried, they are piled up in fm.all 

 parcels, that they may not entirely lofe the heat 

 communicated to them by the firft fajt : and now 

 being faked a fecond time, they are laid up in regu- 

 lar heaps on the ilage ^ and there they remain till 

 the liriie of (hipping them. As the boats go con^ 

 ftantly every day, the work of the feveral clafles 

 nvdy be imagined pretty hard and fatiguing. On 

 the return of the boats they immediately begin with 

 opening and faking the fifh, which takes up the 

 greater part of the nighty and the fucceeding parts 

 X)t the curing above-mentioned necelTarily keep them 

 employed the following day, when the return of 

 the barks call upon them to renew their tafl^ ; that 

 thus they have very few hours left for (leep and re- 

 frefhment. There are two kinds of cod, as to their 

 quality ; and of each three lizes. Both have a line 

 running from the gills to the tail following the figure 

 of the belly of the fifh, and winds a little downwards 

 from the head to the tail ; but this is more diftin6t 

 in one fpecies than the other : and the whole fiOi 

 from this line to the back is of a dark brov/n, whilll 

 the lower part is fpotted with white. The con- 

 noiffeurs in fifh fay that this is better than the 

 other ; the whole body of which is of a darkilli 

 white with reddifn fpots ^ but the belly and all its 

 hinder parts the whitell. I fhall not enter into an 

 account of the difproportion of its head compara- 

 tively to the other fiOies, or the quantity of oil made 

 frpiTi it and the livers, v/hich are alio very large. 



