126 MADRAS FISHERIES BULLETIN VOL. XI, 



intents a chalky coat as it consists wholly of calcareous spicules. 

 In other countries the coating being left on the product renders it 

 of very low market value. Saville-Kent {loc. cit., page 233) says of 

 the Australian " sand-fish " (his Holothuria fiisco-cinerea, H. ediiUs 

 and H. impatiens) that in these this chalky coat is so abundantly 

 developed that it is possible to utilize the dried bodies, like chalk, 

 for marking purposes. He adds that when mixing these " sand- 

 fish " with other more valuable species the subterfuge is not 

 infrequently resorted to of dyeing their bodies a deep red-brown 

 in a decoction of the bark of the red mangrove, Rhizophora 

 mucronata. Thus treated they are not easily detected, when mixed 

 in bulk, from the poorer descriptions of ordinary red-fish. 



It is one of these disparaged species with which we have to 

 deal in India ; the following is the method of preparation as 

 worked out by the Chinese curers : — The animals as soon as 

 possible after they are brought to the curing station are heaped up 

 in shallow cauldrons supported on mud walls over fires fed with 

 leaf-butts of palmyra leaves. No water is added as it is found the 

 animals expel a sufficiency from within their bodies as they feel 

 the heat and contract. A furious fire is kept going and in about 

 fifty minutes the animals have shrunk to about one-half their 

 original length and have begun to give out a distinctive cooked 

 odour. At this stage they are removed and buried in a shallow 

 pit dug in the sand close to the water's edge. Sand is heaped over 

 and a plentiful amount of sea-water thrown on the sand in order 

 that the buried material may be kept moist and run no risk of 

 drying up. Here the beche-de-mer remains usually 12 to 18 hours 

 or even more according to size. When judged sufficiently " ripe," 

 the bodies are disinterred and removed to a large basket about 2Y2 

 feet in depth by about the same diameter. As they are lifted one by 

 one the curer's thumb is run over the surface, loosening and dislodg- 

 ing much of the chalky encrustation. If the material has not been 

 buried sufficiently long, this coat adheres too strongly and will not 

 yield a satisfactory result when dried. As soon as the basket is 

 half filled a curer jumps in and proceeds to tramp upon the filthy- 

 looking mass, the while an assistant pours in successive bucketsful 

 of sea-water. If the period of burial has been judged aright, the 

 surface layer containing the chalky spicules is sufficiently decom- 

 posed to peel off readily and leave the underlying thick connective 

 tissue layers free from the original chalky deposit, After a final 



