THE SARDINE CATCH

Lake Wakatip Mail, Issue 3714, 12 October 1926, Page 7

THE SARDINE CATCH

REMEDIES SUGGESTED Brittany has more to show holi-day-maker than Menhirs and “ P%f dons ” (writes Maud Morin, in the ‘Weekly Scotsman’). Under a brilliant sky at Donarnenez the sardine boats come into the harbor. Every little vessel is heaped with the tiny fish, gleaming and irridescent. Their wonderful coloring matches the lovely nets in which they are caught, the “filet bleu”; these are so decorative when stretched out upon the quay to dry, or hung in filmy meshes from the masts, where they look like huge blue lace veils. In delightful contrast are the sails of the boats, colored in many shades of amber, sienna, and brown. The fishermen themselves arc as picturesque as their boats. They wear loose butcher blue trousers, and their jumpers are either a brilliant scarlet or of the same warm shade as their sails; their headgear is the Breton beret. The sardine girls are down on the quay to meet the boats. The Donarnenez cap is one of the prettiest among the great variety seen in Brittany. It is of a fine lace-bordered net, fitting close to the head, puritanwise.

The women and girls all wear smart little shoulder shawls, fringed and coming to a point down their backs. These arc in different colors, but more often of a lovely sea green. They look very becoming over their black dresses. The boats are unloaded with extraordinary rapidity, the nets spread to dry, and the fish carried up to the long, low sheds, looking like rope walks, all clown one side of the street. The - opposite side is occupied with stands, where the fish, after having been dipped in oil and arranged slantwise on wire racks, are set to dry in the sun. They are then carried back to the sheds, where they are soldered down into boxes.