80 COPEIA 



greatest abundance in October and November, at which time, 

 they are with roe, and the roes are prepared in the following 

 manner: Several are spread upon a white pine board about two 

 feet long and ten inches wide with sufficient space between them 

 to allow for spreading. A similar board is placed upon them, 

 and as they dry and harden, the weight on the upper board is 

 gradually increased so as not to break the membrane in which 

 the eggs are contained. It takes two or three days to press 

 the roes properly. After pressing they are hung up to dry in 

 the sun. They dry to a leathery consistency and a rich golden 

 brown color, and will keep indefinitely. Roes thus prepared 

 sell for 60 cents to a dollar a pound. 



Before being eaten, this dried mullet roe is boiled for a 

 few minutes or steamed, and served with melted butter and a 

 little lemon. This is a very rich dish and considered a great 

 delicacy. 



In the Hawaiian Islands, the mullet is an important food 

 fish, and since legendary times there, the market supply has 

 been augmented and conserved by fish ponds which are de- 

 scribed fully in "The Commercial Fisheries 'of the Hawaiian 

 Islands," by John S. Cobb. Bull. XXIII, U. S. Bureau of Fish- 

 eries, 1903, p. 716. To quote from that article: "The ponds 

 are found principally in the bays indenting the shores of the 

 islands, the common method of construction having been to build 

 a wall of lava rock across the narrowest part of the entrance 

 to a small bay or bight of land and use the inclosed space for 

 the pond * * * In the sea ponds, the walls are about 5 feet in 

 width and are built somewhat loosely, in order that the water 

 may percolate freely * * * The sea ponds generally have sluice 

 gates which can be raised or lowered, or else which open and 

 close like a door * * ** The gate is opened when the tide is 

 coming in and closed when it turns. There is usually a small 

 runway, built of two parallel rows of loosely piled stones, from 

 the gate to about 10 feet into the pond. Since the fish congre- 

 gate in this runway as the tide is going out, it is very easy to 

 dip out the supply needed for market. Seines and gill nets are 

 also used in taking fish from the ponds, a method which is easy, 

 owing to the shallowness of the ponds. Besides, the fish which 

 come in through the open gates at certain seasons of the year, 

 the owner usually has men engaged in catching young ama-ama 

 [mullet] in the open sea and bays, and transporting them alive 

 to these enclosures, where they are kept until they attain a 

 marketable size, and longer, frequently, if the prices quoted in 

 the market are not satisfactory. It costs almost nothing to keep 

 them as they find their own food in the sea ponds. It is sup- 

 posed that they eat a fine moss which is quite common there." 



