230 BECHES DE MER. 



but being cured, has become a valuable article of 

 commerce in the China market, whither it is carried 

 from many insular coasts of the Pacific by American 

 ships. We have seen a number of lads fill three 

 canoes in two hours with these sea-snails/ 



Thus uninviting as this slimy animal seems to 

 our English taste, there is evidently no doubt of its 

 being used by the Chinese as an article of food, and 

 according to the evidence of certain authors, is 

 esteemed by the ' barbarians ' a high-class luxury ; 

 but then we must remember that the inhabitants of 

 the land of gongs and chopsticks, have always been 

 famed for their singular gastronomic tastes. One 

 poet writes : - 



'That man had sure a palate covered o'er 

 With brass or steel, that, on the rocky shore, 

 First broke the oozy oyster's pearly coat, 

 And risked the living morsel down his throat.' 



But, ' Mandarins and Pigtails/ what was such risk, 

 I ask, compared to that which Tie endured, who 

 swallowed the first mouthful of birds'-nest soup ? or 

 horror of horrors, the first spoonful of sea-snail stew ? 

 Yet we are told that both the ' mucilage ' and the 

 Beches de Mer dishes are savoury and highly grate- 

 ful to the palate of an appreciating gourmand. 



A recent author, describing a Chinese dinner from 

 personal observation, tells us, that when the first 

 dish, composed of birds'-nest soup, was over, he 

 waited the advent of the next course with very 

 nervous excitement. ' It was a stew of sea-slugs. 



