Part 22

Another Californian paper, the _Sacramento Union_, remarks:--‘The fishing interest in the Sacramento at this point is increasing and expanding with astonishing rapidity, from year to year, and from month to month. The water of the river must be alive with salmon, or such numbers caught daily would sensibly reduce their numbers. But experienced fishermen inform us, while the run lasts, so countless is the number, that no matter how many are employed in the business, or how many are taken daily, no diminution can be perceived. Even the ‘tules’ between this and the Coast Range are reported to be filled with salmon. The run this year is said to be greater than ever before known at this season. The extraordinary run of the present time is only expected to continue for something like three weeks. They seem to run in immense schools, with some weeks intervening between the appearance of each school, during which the numbers taken are light, as compared with the quantity taken during a time like the present. No account is kept of the number engaged in fishing, or of the amount caught, and all statements relative thereto are made from estimates obtained from those who have experience in the business, and probably approximate correctness. These estimates give the number of men employed now in taking fish in the Sacramento at about 6OO--the number of fish taken daily, on an average, at 2,000--their average weight 17 lbs., making 34,000 lbs. per day. Two cents per lb., which is probably more than the present average price by the quantity, would give a daily income to those employed of 680 dollars, not very high pay. Either the number of men engaged in the business, we imagine, must be over estimated, or the number of fish caught under estimated. It requires two men to man a boat, which would give 300 boats for 600 men: 2,000 fish a day would give to each man a fraction over three as his share. We presume few are fishing who do not catch a good many more than that number. We saw a boat-load, the product of the previous night, consisting of 66 salmon, weighed yesterday morning. They averaged a fraction over 17 lbs., and gave 33 as the number caught by each man, instead of three, as estimated above. Say the 600 fishermen man, on an average, 200 boats a night; the average number caught by each boat put at 20, and the sum total would be 4,000 fish, instead of 2,000, as estimated. Our impression is that the latter comes nearer the mark than the former, as a good many of the fishermen send their fish directly to San Francisco; others take them to different points for salting. Large numbers are salted down daily, several firms and individuals being extensively engaged in this branch of the trade. The fish are put down in hogsheads, which average, when filled, about 800 lbs. From 1,000 to 3,000 lbs. are put down daily by those engaged in salting. An acquaintance has filled 65 hogsheads this season. The most of those engaged in salting live on the Washington side of the river, and salt their fish there. Including those engaged in salting, catching, and selling, probably the fish business furnishes employment for 1,000 men.’

The salmon is found in no other waters in such vast multitudes as are met in the rivers emptying into the Pacific. On the Atlantic side, the leading fish feature is the run of shad in the spring; on the Pacific side, salmon ascend the rivers at all seasons, in numbers beyond all computation. In California and Oregon, the rivers are alive with them; the great number taken by fishermen are but a drop from the bucket. Above this, on the coast side, tribes of Indians use no other food. As a table luxury, they are esteemed by most persons the finest fish caught. Unlike many fish, they contain but few bones, and the orange-coloured meat can be served in slices to suit customers. It is emphatically the meat for the million; it costs so little--not a quarter that of other meats--that rich and poor can feast upon salmon as often in the day as they choose to indulge in the luxury. In the course of a few years, salmon fishing will extend itself to all the prominent rivers in the North Pacific States. Catching and curing salmon will then have become a systematized business; the fish consumption will then have extended itself generally over those States, and more than likely become, in the meantime, an important article of export.

While upon the subject of these fisheries, it may be added, that a considerable portion of the Chinese population, both at San Francisco and at Sacramento, have engaged extensively in this business. In the vicinity of Mission Creek, near the former city, they have gone into the business upon a large scale. The average ‘catch,’ each day, is estimated at about 5,000 lbs., for which a ready market is found among the Chinese population, at five dollars per cwt. The process of catching, cleaning, and curing, presents a busy and curious scene.

Sir John Bowring remarks that, ‘The multitudes of persons who live by the fisheries in China afford evidence not only that the land is cultivated to the greatest possible extent, but that it is insufficient to supply the necessities of the overflowing population; for agriculture is held in high honour in China, and the husbandman stands next in rank to the sage, or literary man, in the social hierarchy. It has been supposed that nearly a tenth of the population derive their means of support from fisheries. Hundreds and thousands of boats crowd the whole coasts of China--sometimes acting in communities, sometimes independent and isolated. There is no species of craft by which a fish can be inveigled which is not practised with success in China. Every variety of net, from vast seines, embracing miles, to the smallest hand-filet in the care of a child. Fishing by night and fishing by day--fishing in moonlight, by torchlight, and in utter darkness--fishing in boats of all sizes--fishing by those who are stationary on the rock by the seaside, and by those who are absent for weeks on the wildest of seas--fishing by cormorants--fishing by divers--fishing with lines, with baskets--by every imaginable decoy and device. There is no river which is not staked to assist the fisherman in his craft. There is no lake, no pond, which is not crowded with fish. A piece of water is nearly as valuable as a field of fertile land. At daybreak every city is crowded with sellers of live fish, who carry their commodity in buckets of water, saving all they do not sell to be returned to the pond or kept for another day’s service.

The fishing grounds of Van Diemen’s Land are periodically visited by a splendid fish named arbouka, a well-known piscatory visitant on the coast of New Zealand. Great numbers of these beautiful denizens of the deep have been caught, varying in weight from 60 lbs. to 100 lbs. each. The trumpeter is one of the most magnificent of Tasmanian fish; and is unrivalled in the quality of its flesh by any visitant in those waters. A demand has been created for them in Victoria; and before long, a stirring trade will be established between the two colonies in these beautiful fish.

The native cooking-oven of New Zealand, called the unu, is a very curious contrivance, and is thus described by Mr. S. C. Brees. It consists of a round hole, about two or three feet in diameter, and twelve inches deep, in which some wood is placed and lighted. Large pebble-stones are then thrown on the fire and heated, which remain at the bottom of the hole after the wood is consumed; the stones are next arranged, so as to present a level surface, and sprinkled with water; wild cabbage or other leaves are moistened and spread over them, upon which the food intended to be cooked is laid; the whole is then covered over with leaves and flax-baskets, and lastly, filled over with earth, which completes the operation. After allowing it to remain a certain time, according to circumstances, which the cook determines with the utmost precision, the oven is opened and the food removed. Eels and potatoes are delicious when cooked in this manner, and every other kind of provision.

The seer-fish (_Cybium guttatum_) is generally considered the finest flavoured of the finny race that swims in the Indian seas; it has a good deal the flavour of salmon.

There are several esteemed fish obtained round Ceylon. The Pomfret bull’s eye (_Holocentrus ruber_) is found at certain seasons in abundance on the southern coast of Ceylon, in deep water. It is greatly esteemed by the natives as an article of food, and reaches a considerable size, frequently nearly two feet in length. The flesh is white and solid. For splendour and beauty, this fish is almost unsurpassed.

A fish called by the natives great-fire (_Scorpæna volitans_) is eaten by the native fishermen, the flesh being white, solid, and nutritive. Linnæus describes the flesh as delicious.

The pookoorowah (_Holocentrus argenteus_) is a very delicious fish, seldom exceeding twelve or thirteen inches in length. The gal-handah (_Chætodon araneus_), a singular and much admired fish, only about three inches in length, has a delicate and white flesh, and is greatly esteemed.

In Java and Sumatra, a preparation of small fish, with red-rice, having the appearance of anchovies, and the colour of red-cabbage, is esteemed a delicacy. So in India, the preparation called tamarind fish is much prized as a breakfast relish, where the acid of the tamarind is made use of for preserving the white pomfret-fish, cut in transverse slices. The mango-fish (_Polynemus longifilis_, Cuvier; _P. paradiscus_ of Linnæus), about eight or nine inches long by two deep, is much esteemed in India. At Calcutta the _Lates nobilis_, different species of _Polynemus_, and the _Mugil Corsula_, daily cover the tables of Europeans, who will more readily recognize these fishes under the names of the _Begti_ or _Cockup_, _Sudjeh_, _Tupsi_, and the Indian Mullet.

At the Sandheads may be found some of those delicious fishes, which are more familiar to the residents of Madras and Bombay, for instance, the Indian soles, the roll-fish, and above all, the black and white pomfrets, and the bummolah, which latter in a dried state is known by the name of the Bombay duck. The bummolah is a small glutinous transparent fish, about the size of smelt.

There are many excellent fish obtained from the sea round the Cape Colony, and about 2,500 tons are shipped annually to the Mauritius, forming nearly three fourths of the island consumption; the principal consumers being the coolie labourers or Indian population.

Geelbeck, or yellow mouth, sometimes called Cape salmon (_Otolithus æquidens_, Cuv. and Val.), is the finest as to quality; they are taken abundantly with the hook and line, or net, and weigh about 14 lbs. The cost of preparation ready for shipment is about £12. It forms an article of food for the poor and lazy. The Malays at the Cape cure a great deal in vinegar (for home consumption), the same as pickled salmon in England; and it is not a bad representative of it. For exportation they are opened down the back, the intestines taken out, head cut off, salted for a night, and dried in the sun.

Snook (_Thyrsites atua_), similar to the baraconta, is a long, slim, oily fish, taken with any shining bait; it is a perfect salt-water pike, very strong and ferocious, and is dispatched, after being pulled on board, by blows on the head with a kind of knob-kerrie. These are cured the same way as the geelbeck; the cost of production is about £16 per ton. They are highly prized by the colonists, and esteemed before any fish imported into Mauritius, fetching about £2 per ton more than cod. These fish are very fine eating when cured fresh. They are also much esteemed in Ceylon. The Malays cure them without salt by drying in the sun, with a little pepper and spice; they are then delicious.

Silver fish (_Dentex argyrozona_) are similar to the bream of England; each weighs from 6 to 8 lbs. They are got up for shipment the same as the others; the cost of production is about £10 per ton. They are the least esteemed of any at the Mauritius market, but when fresh they are very nice eating. The bastard silver fish (_D. rupestris_) is considered one of the very finest fishes in the colony. It is esteemed for foreign markets. Harders are a mullet, about eight inches long, which are principally cured in small casks in brine, for up-country use. The Cape farmers are very fond of them, but few are exported. They have also mackerel very large, very fat, which are better cured than fresh.

The Jacob Evertsen (_Sebastes capensis_), so called after a Dutch captain, remarkable for a red face and large projecting eyes, is a fish which, though common in Table Bay almost at all seasons, is highly prized for its flesh by most colonists. Another species, the sancord (_S. maculatus_), which is not so common, is a very delicious fish. The kabeljauw (_Sciæna hololepidota_) is a large fish from two to three feet long, common on the coast, being caught with the hook and the drag-net. It is one of the staple fishes in the Cape Town market; dried and salted like cod it is exported to the Mauritius and elsewhere. Its flesh when young is good, but firm and dry in adult individuals. The baardmannetje (_Umbrina capensis_, Pappe), another newly described fish of the same family, which is chiefly caught in False Bay during summer, measures from 2 to 2½ feet, and is reputed for its delicious flesh.

The hangberger (_Sargus Hottentotus_), a fish about 18 inches long, which is common in Table Bay from June to August, is much in request, particularly at the time when it is with roe. It is also cured and pickled for economical purposes. It feeds on shell fish, and is caught with the hook.

The Hottentot fish (_Sargus capensis_), from 12 to 14 inches long, which is mostly confined to Table Bay and the West Coast, may be caught at all seasons with the hook. It is not only a superior table fish, but forms when salted and dried an article of export.

The roode steen brassem of the Dutch (_Chrysophrys laticeps_, Cuvier) is a bulky fish, often exceeding 3½ feet in length and 14 inches in breadth. It is very voracious, and feeds generally on crabs and cuttle fish (_Sepia_ and _Loligo_). As food it is much prized, and is also cured for exportation.

The Roman fish (_Chrysophrys cristiceps_) is one of the prettiest and most delicious fish met with in the Cape markets. It is generally acknowledged to be a superior dish.

The daggerath (_Pagrus laniarius_) is of a dark rose colour, about 12 inches long. It is highly prized in the colony for its delicious flesh. This handsome fish owes its surname, _laniarius_ (butcher), both to its colour and to its sharp teeth and voracity.

The windtoy (_Cantharus Blochii_) is a delicious table fish, more commonly caught in winter, and often put up in bundles along with the Hottentot fish (_Sargus capensis_). The flesh of the dasje fish, another species (_Cantharus emarginatus_), is also highly esteemed as food.

There is a fish called by the colonists the bamboo fish (_Boops salpa_), from feeding on algæ and being caught principally in localities where there is an abundance of sea-weed. On account of its vegetable nourishment, it exhibits at times a particular smell when embowelled, and is for that reason called stink-fish by some of the fishermen. It is a rich and delicate fish, and though scarce in the Cape Town market, is common in Saldanha Bay, where it is dried and salted for home consumption.

The flesh of the bastard Jacob Evertsen (_Pimelepterus fuscus_) is well flavoured and very nice. This fish is of a uniform dusky brown colour. It feeds on shell-fish.

The galleon fish (_Dipterodon capensis_) is more plentiful in the western division of the Cape Colony; it is highly esteemed as food and always fetches a good price. It is, however, disliked by some on account of the many black veins traversing its flesh, and is at times rather unwholesome, from being too rich and requiring good digestive organs.

The elft-fish (_Temnodon saltator_) is uniformly lead coloured, shaded with dark green on its back. From leaping now and then out of the water it has obtained its name of _saltator_ (jumper). It is held in great esteem as a table fish, and the younger individuals are truly deemed a dainty.

There are several species of mullet recorded as inhabitants of the bays and rivers of the Cape Colony. All of them are caught with the net. They make good table fish, but are more frequently salted or smoke-dried (under the name of bokkoms) like the herring, and thus preserved, form a very considerable article of home consumption as well as of export.

The klip-fish (_Blennius versicolor_, Pappe) is greatly reputed for its flesh, which is nice, well flavoured, and wholesome.

The flesh of the bagger (_Bagrus capensis_) is extremely delicate, and bears a greater resemblance to that of the eel than that of any other sea fish in the colony. Owing to its ugliness, this curious fish, which hides itself among stones in muddy water the better to entrap its unsuspecting prey, is from popular prejudice less prized than it deserves.

English writers on Ichthyology comment very unfavourably on the merits of the hake (_Gadus merluccius_) and call it ‘a coarse fish, scarcely fit for the dinner table.’ At the Cape its qualities are generally and fully appreciated; in fact, its flesh is highly delicate and little inferior to that of the haddock (_Gadus æglefinus_). At times it makes its appearance in large shoals. It is then abundantly caught, salted, and dried, for exportation. The cured or dried Cape stock-fish is an excellent dish, far superior to that insipid stuff introduced from Holland or other countries.

The rock-cod (_Serranus Cuvierii_) is highly esteemed as an article of food.

Sardines in myriads swarm round Table Bay, at one season of the year; klip-fish, king klip-fish, and soles (rather scarce), are considered a luxury.

It is hardly requisite to say much of that cosmopolitan fish, the sole, which is for its delicacy prized as well at the Cape as elsewhere.

Thousands of cray-fish are caught daily; four of the largest can be obtained for a penny; but it is not fashionable to eat them, although they are very good.

The quantity of fish throughout the whole extent of the coast, bordering on the Agulha’s bank, is immense, and would be the richest fishery in the world. Exports of sardines in the French style, of potted cray-fish in the American, and the choicest fish preserved fresh in tins, might be made profitable.

I may add here that Dr. L. Pappe, of Cape Town, to whom I am indebted for my information on the Cape fishes, has published in the Colony an interesting synopsis of the edible fishes at the Cape of Good Hope, in which he furnishes much new and interesting descriptive scientific detail.

INSECTS.

Insects furnish more food delicacies than is generally supposed. In the popular _Introduction to Entomology_, by Kirby and Spence, it is well remarked, that,

‘If we could lay aside our English prejudices, there is no reason why some of the insects might not be eaten, for those used by various nations as food, generally speaking, live on vegetable substances, and are consequently much more select and cleanly in their diet than the pig or the duck, which form a favourite part of our food. They who would turn with disgust from a locust, or the grub of a beetle, feel no symptoms of nausea when a lobster, crab, or shrimp is set before them. The fact is, that habit has reconciled us to the eating of these last, which, viewed in themselves, with their threatening claws, and many feet, are really more disgusting than the former. Had the habit been reversed, we should have viewed the former with appetite, and the latter with abhorrence--as do the Arabs, who are as much astounded at our eating crabs, lobsters, and oysters, as we are at their eating locusts.’

Herrick, an old author, 200 years ago, in describing a feast given by Oberon to the fairy elves, alludes to the insects as amongst their choicest cates.

‘Gladding his palate with some store Of emmet’s eggs: what would he more? But beards of mice, a newt’s stewed thigh, A bloated earwig, and a fly. With the red-capp’d worm that’s shut Within the concave of a nut, Brown as his tooth;--a little moth, Late fatten’d in a piece of cloth.’

Herrick’s _Hesperides_, 1658.

COLEOPTERA.

Many larvæ of insects, and especially of beetles, are eaten in different parts of the world.

The grub of the palm weevil (_Cordylia palmarum_), which is the size of the thumb, has long been in request in the East and West Indies. The natives of Surinam roast and eat them as something exquisite. In Jamaica, where it is known as the grou-grou worm, I have seen it eaten commonly. A grub named _Macauco_ is also there in request at the principal tables. It is eaten both by whites and blacks, who empty, wash, and roast them, and find them delicious. A similar insect is dressed at Mauritius, and eaten by all classes.

An old writer--Brookes, _On the Properties and Uses of Insects_, 1772, says--‘They are eaten by the French, in the West Indies, after they have been roasted before the fire, when a small wooden spit has been thrust through them. When they begin to be hot, they powder them with a crust of rasped bread, mixed with salt, and a little pepper and nutmeg. This powder keeps in the fat, or at least, sucks it up; and when they are done enough, they are served up with orange juice. They are highly esteemed by the French, as excellent eating.’

The larva, or grub, of one of the species of beetles which infest cocoa-nut trees, is called _Tucuma_, or _Grugou_, in British Guiana. It is about two or three inches long, and three-quarters of an inch in diameter, and the head is black. They are reckoned a great delicacy by wood-cutters and epicures of the country, and they are generally dressed by frying them in a pan. By some they are preferred in a raw state, and after seizing them by the black head, they are dipped in lime-juice, and forthwith swallowed.

The late Mr. J. C. Bidwell, a botanist, travelling in Australia, states--‘I never before tasted one of the large grubs, which are a favourite food of the blacks. They are about four inches long, and about as thick as a finger. They inhabit the wood of the gum-trees. I had often tried to taste one, but could not manage it. Now, however, hunger overcame my nausea. It was very good, but not as I had expected to find it--rich; it was only sweet and milky.’

Sir Robert Schomburgk writes:--‘The decaying woods of the West India islands, the Central and some of the southern portions of America, afford a delicacy to the Indian, which many colonists do not even refuse, in the larvæ of a large beetle, which is found in considerable numbers in the pith, when the trunk is near its decay. The larva, or grub, is frequently of the size of the little finger; and, after being boiled or roasted, resembles in its taste beef marrow. The Indians of Guiana frequently cut down the Mauritia palm, for the purpose of attracting the beetle to deposit its eggs in it, and when they collect a large quantity, they are roasted over a slow fire, to extract the fat, which is preserved in calabashes.

The Roman epicures fattened some of these larvæ, or grubs, on flour. Some naturalists think that the grubs of most of the beetles might be safely eaten; and that those of the cockchafer, which feeds upon the roots of grass, or the perfect insects themselves, which, if we may judge from the eagerness with which cats, and turkeys and other birds devour them, are no despicable morsel, might be added to our food delicacies. This would certainly be one means of keeping down the numbers of these occasionally destructive animals.