a large one, and most of the fish have been taken, the carry-ways are despatched at once to the factory on shore. If not quite loaded, they are generally retained until another school is taken, when they are sent off.

When they reach the factory, they run alongside of the dock, and the fish are hoisted out into a car. When this is full, it is hauled by steam up the track leading from the dock to the cooking-vats and thrown into them. When a vat is full of fish, water from elevated tanks is let on until the fish are covered. Then steam is introduced and the whole is boiled. To properly cook a tankful of fish takes from 20 to 40 minutes, according to circumstances. In some factories the cooking is very short; in others, it is preferred to take a longer time, so that the fish shall be equally cooked throughout the mass. At the conclusion of this process part of the oil has been boiled out, but by far the greater portion still remains in the fish; and this must be removed by means of the hydraulic press. With one of these machines from 200,000 to 300,000 fish can be pressed in 10 hours. Two curbs are used with these presses, so that there is no delay in the work.

As soon as the oil has ceased to run from the curb, the press is lowered, and the curb, containing the mass of scrap, is rolled away over small turn-tables and out on the track to the scrap-houses, where the two handles holding up the bottom are released, and the whole mass is thrown out. While this is going on another curb has been put in the press. The curb then comes back to the vats for a new load. In this way the work goes on until all the vats are emptied. The oil and water as it comes from the press runs down to the separating-tank. In this tank there is a partition from top to bottom. The oil flows across this in two openings, cut in the top, while the water passes under

the bottom. Here men stand and skim off the oil, while the water is allowed to run away. In some establishments the separating-tank is so arranged that the oil can flow into the oil-tanks without having to be dipped out. This of course, saves much labour.

The oil is now stored in the tanks. When a better grade of oil is desired, it is bleached by exposing it in a shallow "sun-tank" to the action of the sun. If a still finer quality is required, another kind of tank is used, having a frame for the reception of a sash, so that all dust and dirt is excluded, and the oil is bleached without waste. In the bottom of the vats, in the separating-tanks, and elsewhere, a great mass of sediment collects, consisting of a fine refuse, mixed with some oil. This is put into the "gurry-tank," steam is turned on, and it is thoroughly cooked till the oil rises to the surface; the "gurry" that remains is then put up in barrels and sold to the soapmakers, who use it for making "fish-oil soap."

These fish yield a large quantity of oil, the highest percentage being about four and a half gallons per barrel of fish in the month of September. A thousand fish will yield on the average 13 to 14 gallons of oil, though this depends largely upon the season, and the good or bad condition of the fish.

The uses to which the oil is put are very numerous. It is said to be good for table purposes, and, when properly prepared, the best kind is extensively used under the name of olive oil. As a vehicle for paint, it has a good body, and does not readily abandon the paint which may be mixed with it. It is quite rare to find such paint rubbing off in the shape of powder. Much of the linseed oil in the market has a large amount of menhaden oil mixed with it. This is no disadvantage to the painter's work, but a serious

detriment to his pocket. Fish oil cannot, however, be used for lubrication. Its body and the rapidity with which it absorbs oxygen and "gums" entirely precludes its application to machinery. The literal and metaphorical bad odour formerly attached to fish oil is passing away. It has been found that by cooking the fish while they are fresh a perfectly sweet oil can be obtained. The vile smell of former (and to some extent of latter) days resulted from the treatment of stale or decaying fish. The common kind of oil is extensively used by curriers and in other trades, and the flesh and bones, after the oil is extracted, form a manure which is in great demand for the cotton fields of the south.

The amount of capital invested in this business is very large. In 1873 it was ascertained that £500,000 was invested in 43 factories scattered along the coasts of Long Island Sound, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and Maine. The quantity of fish caught was 1,173,700 barrels. The yield of oil, 2,250,000 gallons, was valued at over £200,000; and that of fish manure, 36,000 tons, at £125,000.

Q

CHAPTER VII.

THE SHARK FISHERY FOR THE OIL OBTAINED.

Fishery in Norway-The Greenland shark-Mode of capture-The basking shark-Sharks in Australia and New Zealand-Shark fishery in India— Sharks' fins exported to China for food.

The Shark Fishery of Norway. There are four species of the shark tribe which inhabit the northern latitudes, viz., the Scymnus borealis or Squalus glacialis, Selache maximus, Squalus acanthias, and Squalus spinax niger.

The Greenland shark (Scymnus borealis) frequents in numbers the banks which are traced in a line nearly the whole length of the western coast, at distances varying from 50 to 100 miles from the main; in greater abundance, however, on that portion which lines the coast of Nordland and Finmark, as far as the North Cape, and between the latter and Cherry or Bear Island. They are to be met with, however, all over the North Sea and Arctic Ocean, as well as in most of the large fiords on the west coast, at depths varying from 100 to 200 fathoms.

Formerly the fishery was exclusively confined to the immediate vicinity of the coast; but of late it has been more specially and lucratively prosecuted on the banks, commencing in about lat. 68° to the North Cape, and between that and Cherry Island. The vessels employed in

this fishery generally range from 25 to 35 tons, manned with a crew of six men. They lie at anchor on the banks with 150 to 200 fathoms water, moored by a grapnel weighing two cwt., with a warp about 300 fathoms in circumference.

A box perforated with holes, or a canvas bag containing the residuum or refuse of blubber, after the oil has been extracted by boiling, is attached to the line not far from the bottom, near the grapnel. Globules of oil are found to ooze out or to percolate through the holes or bag, and to float away in a continuous stream, serving as a decoy, in a similar manner as the cod ova are applied in France, where they are thrown into the sea as ground bait to attract the sardines. Led by this stream, the sharks are guided to the main bait, which is attached to a thin iron chain, of from one to two fathoms in length. This is fastened to a line of about the thickness of the stem of a common tobaccopipe. At the end of the chain the hook is attached, which is usually of the size of a salmon-gaff, and is baited with some kind of fish, or, what is preferable, about a pound of seal blubber. The seals from which this blubber is taken are generally caught at Spitzbergen, and there salted fresh. No kind of bait appears so efficacious or so attractive as this, and it throws off readily its fatty particles, which being carried to a considerable distance, form a trail to the bait, which the fish greedily take, if of blubber; but, it has been observed, not so readily if the blubber is at all rancid. Five barrels of blubber is considered necessary for the season, and appears to be the average quantity used by each vessel.

On hooking the shark, he is hauled to the surface of the water by the aid of a single purchase. Each vessel is furnished with four of these, two on each side. The line,