FIS

rI S 437

of curing salmon when the fish are taken, they are opened alongthe hack, the guts and gills, and the greatest part of the hones re-moved, so as to make the inside as smooth as possible. Theythen salt the fish in large tubs for the purpose, where they lie aconsiderable time soaking in brine; and about October, they,pack them close up in barrels,'anil send them to London or up theMediterranean. They have also in Scotland a great deal of sal-mon salted in the common way, which after soaking in brine a |competent time is well pressed, and then dried in smoke: this iscalled kipper, and is chiellv made lor home consumption; and ifproperly cured and prepared, is reckoned very delicious.

Sturgeon-Fishery. 'The greatest sturgeon-fishery is in themouth of the Volga, on the Caspian sea ; w here the Muscovitesemploy a great number of hands, and catch them in a kind of in-closure formed by huge stakes representing the letter Z repealedseveral times. These fisheries are open on the side next the sea,and close on the other, by which means the fish ascending in itsseason up the river, is embarrassed in these narrow angular re-treats, and is easily killed with a hurpiug-iron. Sturgeons, whenfresh, eat deliciously; and in order to make them keep, they aresalted or pickled in largo pieces, and put in eags of from 3Q to 50pounds. But the great object of this fishery is the roe, of whichthe Muscovites are extremely fond, and of which is made thecavear, or kavia, so much esteemed by the Italians . SeeKavia.

Tunny-Fishery. The tunny (a species of Scomber, whichsee) was a lish well-known to the antients, and made a great arti-cle of commerce; and there are still very considerable tunny-hsheiies on the coasts of Sicily , as well as severed other parts of theMediterranean. The nets are spread over a large space of sea bymeans ot cables fastened to anchors, and are divided into severalcompartments. The entrance is always directed, according to Iheseason, towards that part of the sea from which the lish are knownto come. A man placed upon the summit of a rock high abovethe water, gives tiie signal of the fish being arrived ; for he candiscern from that elevation what passes under the waters infinitelybetter than any person nearer the surface. As soon as notice isgiven that the shoal of fish has penetrated as far as the inner com-partment, or the chamber of death, the passage is drawn close,an d the slaughter begins. The undertakers of these fisheries pay'an acknowledgement to the king, or thelord upon whose land theythe main stay or fool of the lomutra; they make the best bar-gain they can; and till success lias crowned their endeavours, ob-tain this leave for a small consideration ; but the rent is afterwardsraised in proportion to their capture. The tunny enters the Me-diterranean about the venial equinox, travelling in a triangularPhalanx, so as to cut the waters with its point, and to present anextensive base for the tides and currents to act against and impel°r\vavds. These lish repair to the warm seas of Greece to spawn,peering their course thither along the European shores, but as. return, approach the African coast; the young fry is placed!!* tbe van of the squadron as they travel. They come back fromhe east in May, and abound on the coast of Sicily anil Calabria ‘ l ■’out that time. In autumn they steer northward, anil frequenthe neighbourhood of Amalsi and Naples; hut during the wholeea-on stragglers are occasionally caught. When taken in May,m usual time of their appearance in the Calabrian bays, they areml of spawn, and their flesh is then esteemed unwholesome, aptP occasion heail-achs and flatulency ; the mills and roes are pur-■< ularly so at that season. To prevent these bad effects, thetl'* !'l e J fl '.v them in oil, and afterwards salt them. The quantity of^hshsh consumed annually in the two Sicilies almost exceeds the^ uunds of calculation. From the beginning of May to tbe end ofsab 0 i >Pr 4. ' s miten fresh, anil all the rest of the year it is in use( lCl ■ 1 he most delicate part is the muzzle. The belly salted

■s called tarantallum, and accounted a great delicacy by themans; its present name is surra. The rest of the bodv is cut"»>> slices, and put into tubs.

to Turbots glow to a large size, viz. from 23

land . ^'bey are taken chiellv oil' the north coast of Fug-

<•' 1 , others ott'tho Dutch coast. The large turbot t.as well as

theV? k'" c k of flat fish) are taken by the hook and line, for

stake 1 1U " ,;itc ' r 1 the method of taking them in weirs ortost4 ll, ls l,<J i”g wry precarious. When the fishermen go out'iCach person i$provided with three lines, which are coiledV0L n— no. 84. *

on a flat oblong piece of wicker-work; the hooks being baited, andplaced regularly in the centre of the coil. Each line is furnishedwith 14 score of hooks, at the distance of six feet two inches fromeach other. The hooks are fastened to the lines upon sneads oftwisted horsehair 27 indies iu length. W hen fishing, there arealways three men iu each coble, and consequently nine of theselinos are fastened together, and ti ed as one line, extending inlength near three miles, and furnished with 2520 hooks. Ananchor and a buoy are tixed at the first end of the line, and onemore of each at the end of each man’s lines; in all four anchors,which are commonly perforated stones, anil lour buoys made ofleather or cork. The line is always laid across the current. Thelilies of ilooil and ebb continue an equal time upon our coast, and,when undisturbed by winds, run each way about six hours ; theyare so rapid that the fishermen can only shoot and haul their linesat tin* turn of the tide, and therefore the lines always remain uponthe ground about six hours; during which the myxine gli.linosaof i.inmeus will frequently penetrate the lish that are on the hooks,and entirely devour them, leaving only the skin and bones. Thesame rapidity of tides prevents their using hand-lines: and there-fore two of the people commonly wrap themselves in the sail, andsleep, while the other keeps a strict look-out, for fear of being rc.ndown by ships, and to observe (lie weather. For storms often riseso suddenly, that it is with extreme dilliculty they can sometimesescape to the shore, leaving their line, behind. Bc.-ides the coble,tlie fishermen have also a live-men boat, which is forty feet longand fifteen broad, and twenty-live tons burden ; it is so called,though navigated by six men and a boy, because one of the men iscommonly hired to cook, &c. and does not share in the profitswith the other five. This boat is decked at each end, but openin die middle, and has two large lug-sails. All our able fishermengo iu these boats to the herring-fishery at A ailuoulh in die endof September, anil return abo.it die middle of November. Tbeboats are then laid up till the beginning of Lent , at which timethey go off in them to the edge of the liogger, and other places,to lish for turbot, cod, ling, skates, &e. 'l’liey always take twocobles on board; and when they come upon their ground, anchorthe boat, throw out die cobles, and lish in the same manner as thosewho do go from the shore in a coble ; with this ditference only,that here each man is provided with double the quantity of lines,and instead of waiting the return of the title in the coble, they re-turn to their boat and bait their other lines; thus bawling one setand shooting another every turn of tide. Thev commonly run- intoharbour twice a week to deliver their fish. The best bait is freshherring cut in pieces of a proper size : the five-men bouts are al-ways furnished with nets for taking them. Next to herrings arethe lesser lampreys. The next baits in esteem are small haildoi kscut in pieces, sand-worms, and limpets, ben* called Didders; andwhen none of tlir-c can be had, they use bullock’s liver. Thehooks are two inches and a halt'long in the shank, and near aninch wide between die slutnk and the point. The line is made ofsmall cording, and is always tanned before it is used. Turbots arcextremely delicate in their choice of y baits ; tor it a piece of Iter-ring or haddock has been twelve hours out of the sea, and thenused as bait, they will not touch it.

Fishery, Whaj.e. For the natural history of the whale, theimportance of the whale-fishery to Britain , and other particulars,seethe article Bamkna. We shall here only remark, that thelegislature, justlv considering that trade as of great national im-portance, bestowed on it at iliiferen! periods very considerableencouragement. In particular, every British \essei or 200 tons orupwards, hound to the Greenland seas on the whale-fishery, iffound to lie dulv qualified according to the act, obtained a licencefrom the commissioners of the customs to proceed on such voyage ;

| and on the ship’s return, the master ami mate making oatli thattliev proceeded on such voyage and no other, and used ail theirendeavours to take whales, kr. anti that ali the w hale-fins, blub-ber, oil, lire, imported in their ship, were taken by their crew inthose seas, there was allowed 40s. for every ton, according to.theadmeasurement of the ship. It was afterwards found, however,that so great a bounty was neither necessary to the success of thetrade, nor expedient with regard to the public. In 17815, there-fore, the act, eonfeiring the said emoluments being upon the pointot expiring, the subject was brought under the consideration ofparliament; and it wa- proposed to continue Use lormer measures,U i T but