BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 361 
daub, for no one stands on ceremony, and politeness can not be observed 
; in the midst of a pushing, surging crowd, every individual of which 
seems to think only of the business that he is intent upon. 
“The only comparison,” says Sala “I can find for the aspect, the 
sights and sounds of the place is— a rush. A rush hither and thither 
at helter-skelter speed, apparently blindly, apparently without motive, 
but really with a business-like and engrossing preoccupation for fish 
and all things-fishy. Baskets borne on the shoulders of the faccliini of 
the place skim through the air with such rapidity that you might take 
them to be flying-fish. Out of the way ! Here is an animated salmon 
leap. Stand on one side! a shoal of fresh herring will swallow you 
up else.” 
On all sides may be heard above the general din the stentorian tones 
of the loud-voiced salesmen, who perched on their stands, and raised 
somewhat above the heads of the hurrying crowd around, shout their 
calls to attract buyers. From one we hear the cry : “ tlere, ye sole 
buyers, sole buyers, sole buyers, who’ll have this fine trunk of soles?” 
While a rival calls out: 44 This way, ye haddock buyers, come on had- 
dock buyers, give us an offer for this lot of fine haddocks.” Others 
call for 44 cod buyers,” 44 plaice buyers,” etc., through the whole list, per- 
haps, of edible fishes, until the confusion of sounds is so great that a 
stranger can scarcely comprehend how business can be conducted under 
such circumstances, and it would be impossible for one who has not 
seen it to form any conception of such a scene as may be witnessed on 
any week-day morning at Billingsgate. One thing is more remarkable, 
perhaps, than anything else, namely, the method of bidding, which seems 
peculiar to the place, for though we tried hard to catch the sound of a 
buyer’s voice, or to detect a sign by which he indicated his bid, we in- 
gloriously failed in every instance, which was rather mortifying when 
we were made aware that the sharp-eyed or keen-eared salesmen had 
received dozens of offers from persons in the crowd almost at cur elbow. 
As fast as the fish are sold they are removed by porters and the vacant 
places filled by new material until the sales end for the day. While 
fish are sold at auction in Billingsgate, the system of selling by Dutch 
auction generally prevails in the markets of the smaller ports where 
there are no licensed auctioners. 
“On the coast the fish is generally bought by a buyer who is in direct 
communication with some firm at Billingsgate, which acts as the buyer’s 
salesman. At Billingsgate the fish is either bought by the retailer 
direct, or by a middleman, who is known in the market as a 4 bomaree.’ 
The 4 bomaree’ fulfills the same functions in the fish market which the 
‘regrater’ used to discharge in the corn market. He buys fish for which 
there is no immediate demand at the moment, and sells it again later 
on in the day. # # * But for 1 his intervention many small retail 
tradesmen would be forced to attend the market at an hour when their 
attendance would be inconvenient to them. The 4 bomaree’ enables the 
