HERRINGS AND HERRING-FISHING. 
315 
consists in affixing to each barrel a series of letters, indicat- 
ing the month and day in which the herrings were caught and 
cured, the name and address of the curer, and also the presence 
or absence of the gills and alimentary canal. Red herrings, or 
rather herrings which are about to be made red, are placed in 
barrels, with salt, and left for three or four days, just as in the 
case of the salt-fish. They are then removed and hung upon 
spits which contain about twenty herrings apiece. These spits 
are now plunged frequently in vessels of cold water, until the 
herrings have undergone the requisite amount of washing. 
Next, they are removed to the open air and dried, and are then 
ready for the “ smoking-house.” In this house they are sus- 
pended from the roof and are subjected to the influence of the 
smoke arising from wood fires made upon the floor of the 
chamber. Those red herrings which we ourselves purchase 
are exposed to the operation of the peculiar principles of the 
smoke for about ten days, but those intended for exportation 
often remain as long as three weeks in the smoking -liouse 
before being packed in barrels for the market. In the curing 
of bloaters a far more speedy process than either of those 
described is chosen. The freshly-caught fish are placed for a 
few hours in a very strong solution of salt and water ; next 
they are put upon spits and plunged in cold water ; and finally 
they are removed to the smoking-house, and submitted to the 
action of the smoke of small fires, which, having been kindled 
some time previously, emit but a slight quantity of fumes. This 
process extends over a period of about eight hours, and the 
herrings are then taken down and packed in the usual manner. 
Kippered herrings are merely modified bloaters. 
Who first pickled herrings and who was the discoverer of the 
red herring, are questions which in the midst of the obscurity 
that herring enthusiasts have given rise to by their many con- 
troversies, will probably never receive satisfactory replies. 
The French claim the latter discovery, whilst the former has 
been yielded to the Dutch. Indeed, an English writer goes so 
far as to say that the word pickle itself originated in the name 
of the individual who first salted herrings. We are told that 
“ Flanders had the honour of inventing the art of pickling 
herrings. One William Beukelen, of Biervlet, near Sluys, hit 
upon this useful expedient : from him was derived the name 
pickle, which we borrow from the Dutch aud German.” * 
Ere we conclude this brief sketch of “ Herrings and Her- 
ring-Fishing,” we would commend to the perusal of the reader 
interested in the subject, the valuable and lucid report pre- 
sented by Her Majesty's Commissioners to the Houses of 
Pennant, vol. iii. Consult also Badhain, loc> cit note to p. 319, 
