12 



California War Papers. 



other freshwater streams of the Pacific 

 coast. They weigh 1^ to 2 pounds to 

 the dozen and are taken in small hoop 

 nets similar to eel pots. When they can 

 not be shipped alive the usual custom has 

 been to place them alive in a preparation 

 of white wine and spices and boil them 

 for about ten minutes. The crawfish and 

 the liquor in which they have been boiled 

 are next packed in tin buckets holding 

 from 2 to 3 dozen each. 



INVERTEBRATES. 



SEA CUCUMBER The Holothurian, 

 known commonly as the sea cucumber, is 

 a very abundant animal everywhere on 

 this coast, but no use is made of it as 

 yet, and as a result we are losing many 

 thousands of dollars annually. In the 

 South Seas immense quantities are pre- 

 pared for market by boiling and smoking, 

 the resulting product being known as 

 beche-de-mer, or trepang. It is highly 

 prized by orientals, who prepare a most 

 delicious soup from it. In 1913 it fetched 

 as high as $512 a ton in China, the prin- 

 cipal market for the product. 



The sea cucumber is cylindrical in 

 form, but has the power of changing its 

 shape in a surprising manner. It is 

 found in the sea from low water mark 

 to a depth of several fathoms, and grows 

 from 3 to 18 inches in length. They are 

 especially abundant in the shallow waters 

 along the shores of southeast Alaska in 

 May and June. 



In preparing it for the Chinese market 

 the animals are taken straight ashore, 

 split open with a knife and the viscera 

 taken out, and are then boiled in a deep 

 iron try-pot. Previously a substantial 

 drying shed has been built, walled in 

 from the winds on every side, and only 

 the narrowest of entrances left. Within 

 should be constructed a platform of shut- 

 ters of reed or other grass, raised some 

 four or five feet above the floor. On these 

 the holothurians, after the boiling pro- 

 cess, are laid out to dry in a dense column 

 of smoke which a carefully tended fire of 

 driftwood below sends up night and day. 

 When thoroughly cured, in the course of 

 which process they undergo considerable 

 shrinkage, the animals, according to their 

 class, are put into sacks, and are then 

 reauy for shipment. They must be kept 

 dry at all times, as they spoil very rap- 

 idly with the least damp. 



By a quite tedious preparation of strip- 

 ping and soaking, the beche-de-mer is made 

 into a delicious gelatinous soup, which has 

 most invigorating properties for invalids. 



Beche-de-mer is consumed in this coun- 

 try only by orientals, but whites would 



find it excellent were they to try it. It 

 is frequently served at many restaurants 

 in Paris. In the Hawaiian Islands it is 

 frequently eaten by the natives, who half 

 boil the large ones to make them soft, 

 while the small ones are eaten fresh. The 

 boiled ones are chopped up in slices and 

 mixed with the meat of the sea egg. 



SEA URCHIN The sea urchin, or sea 

 egg, which is quite abundant on this coast, 

 will some day be an article of economic 

 importance. At present a few are gath- 

 ered and the meat eaten by Japanese in 

 California and by natives in Alaska. It 

 is an important item of food in the 

 Hawaiian Islands. 



The sea urchins abound in all seas and 

 vary remarkably in shape, from the curi- 

 ous flat sand-dollar found on our coast 

 all the way up to big urchins, five inches 

 across, with long, variously colored needle- 

 like spines six inches in length, also found 

 on our coast as far north as the Arctic 

 Ocean. The spines vary in length from 

 slight excrescenses to those noted above. 



The animals are very gregarious and 

 frequently are so crowded together as to 

 literally pave the surface of rocks. In 

 many instances the animals hollow out 

 cavities in the rocks in which they seek 

 shelter against the powerful surf continu- 

 ally beating against the rocks. 



In many countries it constitutes an im- 

 portant item of food, especially along the 

 Mediterranean coast, where it is called 

 the sea egg. In the markets they are 

 deftly opened by the fishwives, the left 

 hand being protected against the sharp 

 spines by a stout cloth wrapped around it. 

 The stomach sac is cut out and the fine 

 orange-colored eggs in the center exposed 

 and handed upon the shell to the cus- 

 tomer. In the Mediterranean the eggs are 

 only to be found in the urchin between 

 the months of October and March, and 

 the same will probably be found to be true 

 about the species found on this coast. 



They are generally captured by means 

 of a cleft stick, with which the fisherman 

 pokes about in their haunts, and by 

 diving. 



In the Pacific Islands the missionaries 

 used as slate pencils the spines of the 

 large urchins. An indelible ink can be 

 prepared by grinding to powder the sand- 

 dollar found on our coast and mixing it 

 with some liquid. The latter also make 

 excellent bait for various species of fish. 



AQUATIC MAMMALS. 



WHAI.E MEAT In 1914 I stated in a 

 paper read before the Pacific Fisheries 

 Society that "In Japan whale meat is of 

 considerable economic importance as a 



