132 MADRAS FISHERIES BULLETIN VOL. XI, 



The importance of complete evisceration was not fully 

 appreciated during the first season's work and as a consequence 

 a certain portion of the material was dried with considerable 

 quantities of sand enclosed within the body walls ; this undoubtedly 

 affected adversely the value to some extent when put upon the 

 market. Even with this partial defect, local opinion was emphatic 

 that the cure was a marked improvement upon the quality turned 

 out of recent years by the Kilakarai curers. This opinion received 

 confirmation from the comparatively high prices eventually realized. 

 During the current season special means are being taken to do 

 away entirely with this defect by means of a partial slitting open 

 of the body-wall before boiling, whereby perfect evisceration is 

 obtained. The dried weight will be considerably reduced, but I 

 have little doubt that purchasers will appreciate this improvement 

 by paying higher rates. That the produce of the Government 

 factory may be readily recognizable, a special trade brand has 

 been adopted, and it is hoped that this will soon come to be 

 known as a guarantee of prime quality and so become an asset of 

 considerable importance. 



During the initial season's working only a small quantity of mate- 

 rial was smoked as the kiln was not ready at the beginning. This 

 had no adverse financial consequence, for the Singapore brokers 

 reported that it so happened at the time of the consignement's 

 arrival that the market was bare of unsmoked material and as this, 

 when of good quality, is preferred for purely local consumption, 

 excellent prices were obtained as the buyers found the consign- 

 ment clean, well-dried and generally to their liking. From this it 

 would appear that so long as the consignments are small there is 

 no objection — ^sometimes even an advantage — in a proportion of 

 the material being sun-dried if in good condition otherwise; such 

 supplies the local markets of the Malay Peninsula, whereas smoked 

 material, owing to its better keeping quality, is more suitable for 

 re-export to China. It follows therefore that as the Singapore 

 home consumption is limited, the larger be the consignments and 

 the more frequent they be, will necessitate a larger proportion being 

 sent in the smoked condition. 



A point the beche-de-mer curer must note carefully is that the 

 boiled body juice of the material is exceedingly corrosive in its 

 effect upon metal ; hence the boilers must be most carefully 

 emptied and rinsed out with clean water at the end of each day's 



