The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1883-04-21 00:00:00

THE INTERNATIONAL FISHERIES
EXHIBITION.

The oases oi_contributions from the large number of
foreign countrits taking part in the Exhibition are
now arriving with great rapidity.
Six hundred tons of exhibits from Canada, as well
as heavy consignments from Japan, Tasmania, and
the Straits Settlements, are at the docks. The Com-
missioners for the United States, Sweden, and New.
foundland have already delivered many scores of van.
loads of goods at the buildings. A large staff of men
is now engaged in receiving goods and on the general
work of installation.

The Chinese court of the Exhibition is fast approach-
ing completion. The decoration of this court, which
is specially characteristic of Chinese ornamental
design, promises to be exceedingly rich and brilliant.
The Chinese models of boats will undoubtedly attract
great and deserved attention. Among the most re-
markable of these models is one of a Swatow cargo junk
capable of carrying 1,000 tons ; not more than two or
three of these remarkable boats are believed to be in
existence. Also noteworthy is a model of the peculiar
boats used at the annual Dragon festivals, and among
the models of houses, those of a Chinese temple and an
ice house.

Among the many objects of interest to be exhibited
at the forthcoming International Fisheries Exhibition
is the series of corals, sponges, and zoophytie, collected -
by Lady Brassey during the voyage of the Sunbeam.
Her ladyship has also consented to exhibit the model
of the "Viking ship" built by the Marquis of Alias,
as well as her unique collection of coral jewellery.

On Tuesday a number of exhibits were dispatched
from Orkney to the International Fisheries Exhibi•
ti on. They were mostly fishing appliances, boat
models, and a map showing the principal fishing
stations and the necessity for further telegraphic
facilities. The map shows the relative importance of
Orkney and Shetland as a fishing district compared
with the rest of Scotland, and gives statistics of
quantities of fish caught at each station.

Referring to the curiosities to be displayed at the
forthcoming Exhibition the Daily News says :
At the International Fisheries exhibition to beshortly
opened the public will be not lees eager to make ac-
quaintance with strange fishes themselves than with the
various means of catching them. It will be amusing,
no doubt, to compare these proverbial mares the French.
man's net with the English angler's silver hook, and
fisherman's weight with troy and avoirdupois,
but it will be at least as interesting to see
either alive or stuffed those odd American fish
with names so much more odd as to merit
the particular attention of Mr. Freeman. A
few of those most frequently seen at table in the
United States are known to English travellers, as, for
instance, the blue-fish, which is silly enough to need
no more alluring bait than a hook upon the shank
of which a bright leaden sinker has been placed; the
brilliant and delicate Spanish mackerel, the shad,
the white-fish, and the haddock. But these and
frozen salmon are by no means the only aliment
offered to the American ichthyophagist. There is the
sheepshead, an admirably-named creature with a
genuine sheep face and teeth, and gizzard for grind-
ing up molluscs. Like the drum-fish the ebeePlP
head is said to be a deadly enemy to the oyiter,
and therefore is caught and devoured with a refine-.
ment of revengeful hunger. The pompano, once is
special delicacy of New Orleans, is now caught in the
Gulf of Mexico, and sent by steamer to New York.
American whitebait also is probably different to our
own; and what are those compensations for the want
of soles and turbot, the names whereof read BO oddly
in the American market quotations? What is a
" tom-cod ?" We know that a buck-shad is the male
fish, sold at a low price as compared with the female
or roe-ash, but a tom-cod bewilders us almost
as much as a "red snapper." Is the latter
related in any way to that celebrated and savoury
reptile the snapping turtle? Again, what is a " wall-
eyed pike" and a "buffalo fish?" Is there any
obliquity of vision in the former, and from what pecu-
liarity does the buffalo of the sea derive his name?
Has he a hump like a perch, or what manner of fish Is
he? What is a "gooper," is the " weak-fish "
Inca-
pable of taking care of himself, and does the " catfish "
resemble a cat more than a dog-fish does a dog!
These are a few of the questions which we may expect
to be answered at the International Fisheries Zahibi-
tion.