Salting Fish at Home

A Naxian farmer used to barter a quantity of splendid onions for a fresh haul of anchovy (gávros) and pilchard (sardélla) in autumn. He then sat at his door overlooking the harbour with these two piles of fish, two large petrol cans and a sackful of sea salt culled illicitly from the rocks, salt being a state monopoly. Assisted by his children and a gallon bottle of amber wine, he pulled the heads off the fish which at the same time removed the guts, and laid the fish neatly in the petrol cans, alternating each layer with a layer of salt and finally putting a weighted board on top.