THE WILD BOAES OF THE OCE^VN. 129 



VIII.— THE WILD BOARS OF THE OCEAN. 



Of all the fishes which gastronomy has pronounced 

 to be proper to be eaten by man — a compKment which 

 certain inhabitants of the deep return in kind when- 

 ever they get the chance — the tunny * is the largest, 

 the best, and the most nutritious. 



These qualifications (tlie first especially) may be 

 occasionally exaggerated, but as a Proven 9al, who 

 knows wliat fish is, I maintain them stoutly. Away 

 from the coast, we only know the tunny steeped in oil 



* The tunny (Scoviher Thjnnus) belongs to that family of Sconibc- 

 ridce which has been so well described by Linnseus, Cuvier, and Laco- 

 pede. Its flesh is compact, close-grained, and in some parts almost 

 black, and the flavour is more like that of animal food than that of any 

 other inhabitant of the sea. On the back it is blue-black, silvery on 

 the belly; near the dorsal fin are ten golden stripes, and upon the anal 

 fins from six to eight iridescent zigzags. This fish weighs ordinarily 

 from 80 to 200 pounds, but occasionally attains much more gigantic 

 proportions. Aldrovandi mentions a tunny which was 32 feet long 

 and 16 feet round at its largest circumference. It was captured near 

 Gibraltar in 1505. In the woi-k of that author, Be Plscibus, there is 

 an engraving representing this tunny, on the back of which is repre- 

 sented a fleet of ships reaching from the tail to the gills. In Sardinia, 

 on the coasts of Italy, and in the islands of Majorca and Minorca, the 

 tunny fish is salted just like the cod. Thus prepared, it is sold in 

 Spain, Italy, and even in Barbary ; but at Marseilles it is marinaded, 

 or soaked, in virgin olive oil — a sauce which is almost unknown ia 

 Paris, and which is never to be found anywhere in winter. It resembles 

 flakes of saffron snow. Every part of the tunny is good to eat ; lut 

 the favourite part is the belly, which is justly reputed to be the rncst 

 delicate in flavour, and is sold at a higher price than the rest. 



