THE TREPANG FISHERIES. 127 



thirty, and, in exceptional cases, forty inches in length. The skin of the animal is 

 usually thick and leathery ; it is crowned by a mouth with a fringe of tentacula, which 

 expand like a flower when it is unmolested. They particularly avoid the glare of light. 

 One large eatable species is common in the Mediterranean, and is used for food in Naples 

 .and elsewhere. But it is in the Indian, Malayan, and Chinese seas that the Holothuria 

 eclnUs, known there as the trepang, is an important adjunct to the food of the natives. 

 Thousands of junks are employed in the trepang fisheries. The Malay fisherman will 

 harpoon them with a long bamboo terminating in a sharp hook at a distance of thirty 

 yards. In four or five fathoms of water native divers are employed, who seize them in 

 their hands, and will bring up several at a time. They are then boiled, and flattened with 

 stones ; after which process they are spread out on bamboo mats to dry, first in the sun 

 .and afterwards by smoking. They are then put in sacks and shipped principally to Chinese 

 ports, where they are considered a luxury. 



The great French navigator, Dumout d'Urville, witnessed the processes employed 

 Avhile in Raffles Bay. An hour after the arrival of four prows all the men were at work 

 ashore cooking them in boilers placed over roughly-constructed stone furnaces, after which 

 they were dried on hurdled roofs. Captain d'Urville went on board one of the Malay 

 vessels, where he was received with cordiality by the padrone, or captain. " He," says 

 that navigator, "showed us over his little ship. The keel appeared to us sufficiently 

 solid ; even the lines did not want elegance ; but great disorder seemed to reign in the 

 stowage department. From a kind of bridge, formed by hurdles of bamboos and junk, 

 we saw the cabin, which looked like a poultry house : bags of rice, packets and boxes were 

 huddled together. Below was the store of water, of cured trepang, and the sailors'' berths. 

 Each boat was furnished with two rudders, one at each end, which lifted itself when the 

 boat touched the bottom. The craft was furnished with two masts, without shrouds, which 

 oould be lowered on to the bridge at will by means of a hinge; they carry the ordinary 

 sail ; the anchors are of wood, for iron is rarely used by the Malays ; their cables are 

 made of rattan fibre; the crew of each bark consists of about thirty-seven, each shore 

 boat having a crew of six men. At the moment of our visit they were all occupied in 

 fishing operations, some of them being anchored very near to us. Seven or eight of 

 their number, nearly naked, were diving for trepang; the padrone alone was unoccupied. 

 An ardent sun darted its rays upon their heads without appearing to incommode them, 

 an exposure which no European could hold up under. It was near mid-day, and the 

 moment, as our Malay captain assured us, most favourable for the fishing. In fact, we 

 saw that each diver returned to the surface with at least one animal, and sometimes two, in 

 his hands. It appears that the higher the sun is above the horizon, the more easily is 

 the creature distinguished at the bottom. The divers were so rapid in their movements 

 that they scarcely touched the boat, into which they threw the animals before they 

 dived again. When the boat was filled with them, it proceeded to the shore, and its 

 place was supplied by an empty one." The Holothuria taken there were five to six 

 inches long. D'Urville tasted it when prepared, and says that it resembled lobster. 

 His men, however, took more kindly to it than did he. 



We must now examine a most important class of pulpy animals, the Mollusca, 



