340 FISHES OF WESTERN SOUTH AMERICA 
piraruct tow his canoe home’’, although it is more authentically related that the 
fish has been known to drag a canoe for some distance in its struggles. He says the 
piraruct is an article of export from Pard, but actually this city, Manaos, and 
Iquitos are the consumers for a vast hinterland. 
Most American and European writers in their brief accounts report that they 
themselves are indifferent to the dried paiche, McGovern (p. 54) for instance, com- 
Fig. 38. Continued. The strips of flesh removed from the eviscerated body. 
paring its flavor to rancid soap, or Lange (1912, pp. 261, 266) commenting upon the 
total lack of savor of the two principal Amazonian dishes, pirarucu and farinha. 
Others, however, find that in the fresh condition the flesh, or parts of it, are very 
acceptable. Spruce, for example, says ‘‘the lower belly, or ventrexa roasted on a 
spit, is a choice morsel.”’ Woodroffe testified (p. 256) as to the nutritious soup which 
could be made of the bones. I visited a rubber camp where a barbecued paiche 
head was the piéce-de-resistance, and would recommend it highly to a hungry man. 
The use of dried paiche as a dependable food is acknowledged by all writers 
