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    The work of the graviers consisted at first in putting cod in piles in a manner which caused them to sweat for several days. The next step was to spread them daily on the beach, not forgetting to turn them and turn them again, nor to pile them each night only to spread them out again the next day.

    When the cod were at last well dried, they were placed in heaps before being stored in special camps, les cageots, (the crates) to await the end of the season.

    During the last years of the French Shore, green cod was also prepared on the coast, the small boat fishermen of Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon having neither the money nor the time necessary to construct stages and cageots or to pay graviers.

    An important detail is that it required much less salt to make dried cod than to make green cod, about fourteen times less, which constituted a considerable economy for the producer who replaced that expense by hiring graviers who were paid a pittance.