CEPHALOPODS AS FOOD. 95 



and then another, and so on, until it is quite fastened among the 

 openings between the pieces of the cowrie, when it is drawn up 

 into the canoe and secured.* 



.V species of Ommastrephes is extensively fished in Japan. 

 Mr. Arthur Adams related that off Nisi- 1 Jama, in the Oki Islands, 

 he saw a number of lights moving upon the surface of the water, in 

 all directions, which he found were used to attract the cephalopods 

 to the surface ; where they were secured by a jig, an iron shank 

 terminated by a circle of recurved hooks. Mr. Adams visited a 

 small fishing village near the Hakodadi, where lie saw hundreds 

 of thousands of squids, cleaned and stretched on bamboo sticks, 

 suspended on lines to dry in the sun and air. 



The natives of the Now Hebrides. New Caledonia, and the Fee- 

 geo group of islands, capture the Nautilus, and use it as an article 

 of food. They take them in their fish-falls, in from three to five 

 fathoms of water; the bait they use is the Echinus. They are 

 very fond of them. In some of the islands they make a kind of 

 soup of them. At the Island of Ware, about 30 miles from New 

 Caledonia, they are roasted, and taste like whelks (Bucdnum). 



The Foogoans esteem the Pearly Nautilus highly as an agree- 

 able viand, and their mode of capturing it for the embers or the 

 pot, is not a little interesting. When the water is smooth, so 

 that the bottom at several fathoms of depth, near the border of 

 the reef, may be distinctly seen, the lishernian in his little frail 

 canoe scrutinizes the sands and the coral masses below, to dis- 

 cover the animal in its favorite haunts. The experienced eye of 

 the native mav probably encounter it in its usual position, cling- 

 ing to some prominent ledge, with the shell turned downwards. 

 The tackle consists, lirst. of a large round wicker-work basket, 

 shaped very much like a cage rat-trap, having an opening above, 

 with a circlet of points directed inwards, so as to permit of entry, 

 but preclude escape ; secondly, a rough piece of native rope, of 

 sufficient length to reach the bottom ; and thirdly, a small piece 

 of branched wood, with the branches sharpened to form a sort of 

 grapnel, to which a perforated stone is attached, answering the 

 purpose of a sinker. The basket is now weighted with stones, w r ell- 

 baited with boiled cray-Iish. and then dropped gently down near 



* "Lovell's Edible British Mollusks," p. 167. 



