cock abalone) will average five holes. The foot-holding is attached to 

 the part in the shell near the center where the huge muscle which controls 

 the foot has been holding. Its mouth has a long ribbon-like tongue, thickly 

 set with flinty hooks, or teeth, with which food is rasped off the rocks into 

 shreds fit for swallowing. In the adult this lingual ribbon is about one- 

 fourth inch wide by three inches long. The eyes are at the end of two 

 tentacles near the mouth. 



As a food the abalone is greatly prized by the Chinese and Japanese, 

 who pay from seven to twelve cents a pound for them dried. It takes about 

 one hundred pounds of fresh abalones to make ten pounds of the dried 

 article. That the original Inhabitants along the Pacific Coast used aba- 

 lones largely for food is evidenced by the existence of thousands of enor- 

 mous ancient shell mounds, all containing abalone shells when in the 

 vicinity of abalone territory. The present inhabitants eat them, and in 

 the estimation of many it is the most delicious food taken from any waters. 

 It is well to give here the process of preparing this animal for food, 

 for many have attempted to cook it, only to find it too tough to chew. 

 Place the shell, top down, on coals or a hot stove for a moment or two, and 

 the animal will be easily removed. Put the meat in a strong solution of 

 lye, made from wood ashes mixed with a little water, for about fifteen min- 

 utes, then rub with a brush or cloth, when all the black skin will come off. 

 After rinsing in water, slice into steaks about one third of an inch thick. 

 Place a slice between cotton cloth and pound it with some wooden im- 

 plement until the fiber of the meat is separated; then boil, fry, or broil, 

 seasoning to taste. 



A short time since a good law was passed by the State Legislature 

 to prevent the taking of abalones under fifteen inches in circumference for 

 the red and green varieties, and limiting the black (the inferior kind) to 

 twelve inches. This law amply protects this valuable product from any 

 chance of extermination, as a full investigation will demonstrate; but in 

 1907 a bill was passed quietly, and seemingly with no other purpose than 

 to injure the abalone canning and drying industry, which forbids the use 

 of diving suits in procuring the animal. It would seem that this new law 

 should be repealed, for otherwise we will be deprived of enjoying this de- 

 licious article of food, because in no other way than by the use of diving 

 apparatus can the business be maintained with profit. From the fact that 

 the diver is compelled to operate in deep water along our rough coast, and 

 sometimes goes to a depth of 120 feet, there can never be an appreciable 

 scarcity of abalones by this method. 



Beyond twenty feet of water they can be taken in no other way. By 

 removing the larger animals, the smaller ones will be able to get more food, 

 the supply of which is limited. If not taken they will only die, since, as 

 before stated, they cannot leave their abode in deep water, while nearer 

 in shore, where the divers dare not go, they may be shifted about to some 

 extent during storms. 



A diver used a chisel-like instrument to remove the animals from the 

 rocks, when he placed them in a basket made of rope, holding about 

 twenty; then he gave a signal to the boat above to haul up. The diver 

 remained below about five hours unless interfered with by devil-fish, which 

 often attacked him, shutting off his air and otherwise preventing work. 

 On being hauled up to free the diver from the grasp of this powerful inver- 

 tebrate, hatchets had to be used frequently to force him to let go by 

 cutting off an arm or two. 



It will be seen by any thinking person that this perilous undertaking 

 for a livelihood would never attract an army of workers to follow the occu- 

 pation of hunting abalones. A few white men might be induced to under- 

 take such a job, if paid enough, but their figures would be prohibitive. 

 The Japanese diver knows no dangers, having come from a race which for 

 ages has operated along the shores of his own country diving for abalones, 

 a business of vast importance there. 



About twenty years ago two Chinamen were hunting from a boat for 

 abalones off Cypress Point, near Monterey. Spying a large, abalone, the 



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