CEPHALOPOPS AS FOOD. 1)5 



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.* 



A species of Ommastrephes is extensively fished in Japan. 

 Mr. Arthur Adams related that off Nisi-Bama 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 he 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 New Hebrides. New Caledonia, and the Fee- 

 gec group of ishmds, capture the Nautilus, and use il us an article 

 of food. They lake them in their fish-falls, in from three to live 

 fathoms of water ; the bail they use is the Kehinus. They tire 

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

 soup of them. At the Ishmd of Ware, about .'>() miles from New 

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



The Feegeans esteem the Pearly Naut ilus highly as an agree- 

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

 poi.isnola little interesting. When the wafer is smooth, so 

 that ihe holloin at several fathoms of depth, near the bonier of 

 the raef, may be distinctly seen, the fisherman in his little frail 

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

 cover the animal in its favorite 1 haunts. The experienced eve of 

 ihe naiive may probably encounter it in its usual position, cling- 

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

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

 shaped very much like a cage 1 rat-trap, having an opening above, 

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

 but preclude escape ; secondly.:! rough piece of native rope, of 

 suflicient length to reach the boltoin ; and thirdly, a small piece 

 of branehcd 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, well- 

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



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



