THE FRENCH SARDINE INDUSTRY. 
13 
A Sardine Fisherman bringing Fish ashore in Baskets. 
basket having 200 iish (plus 5 per cent for possible imperfect fish). When the tide 
is low some men remain in the boats and count the fish into baskets, while others 
haul the baskets to the wharf by ropes and cany them to the shore. The baskets 
could hold three to five times as many sardines as are put in them, but it is the desire 
not to crowd the fish. If sardines of different sizes have been caught, it is necessary 
to sort them into separate baskets; as a matter of fact, however, the nets do the 
sorting, as each kind of mesh takes fish of a rather uniform size. 
Before the sardines pass into the hands of the canner, the fishermen take baskets 
small one-room wooden houses which serve as their headquarters for the purchase of 
fish. To some of these cabins a telephone wire runs from the factory, so that instruc- 
tions as to prices and information regarding the quantity of fish landed may be 
mutually communicated. 
The cannery managers, having determined on the approximate prices they will 
pay for the different sizes of fish, send their purchasing women to the wharf as the 
boats come in and the bargains are then made. Sometimes the fishermen hold out 
for better prices and animated discussions ensue. 
On arriving at the wharves the fishermen at once begin to discharge their catch. 
The fish are counted by hand into wicker baskets with round bottoms and sides, each 
