1 907.] FROM ZAXZIBAR AND EAST AFRICA. 453 



Mr. Orossland has furnished the following notes on its capture 

 and preparation by the Swahili : — 



" All the larger Cephalopoda are eaten by the natives of Zan- 

 zibar, though the most prized species is the largest and most 

 abundant, Polyjnis Jiorsti. At low spring tides this is found 

 hiding in the small but proportionately deep crevices of the reef- 

 edge, the presence of a specimen being indicated outside only by 

 the movement of the water from the mantle-cavity, if at all. 



" The whole apparatus, apart from his means of access to the 

 reef -edge, required by the Octopus fisher consists of half-a-dozen 

 switches a foot or two long. With these he probes the hiding 

 place until the inmate is compelled slowly to come out, which it 

 does usually by crawling up the stick on which it is impaled. 



" When the animal is alive its colour varies between yellow- 

 ochre and chocolate-brown, and may be mottled or uniform. 

 During this process of torture, however, the colour varies rapidly 

 and irregularly, and when dying distinct waves of chocolate-brown 

 pass quickly over the now greyish body, the colour becoming more 

 and more restricted and the waves less frequent until all pig- 

 ment finally disappears so that the animal, when dead, is uniformly 

 grey. 



" The further prepai-ation of the body was observed during my 

 sta}" on the islet of Mnemba, which is situated ofi" the N.E. coast 

 of Zanzibar. Although the whole opposite coast is extremely 

 sparsely inhabited, a considerable number of fishermen assemble 

 here at the time of spring tides for the collection of Octopus from 

 the edges of the great reef upon which the islet stands, and the 

 products of their fishing are exported to all parts of Zanzibar. 



" One would think that such portions as the liver and genital 

 gland would be the most edible of all, but the first step in the 

 treatment consists in the removal of all the viscera, from the ink- 

 gland to the oesophagus. Seated on the sand, the fisherman then 

 subjects the empty carcase to a very thorough beating with a 

 heavy piece of wood, after which the body is kneaded vigorously 

 for a considerable time. Presumably this violent and prolonged 

 treatment has for its object the reduction of the indiarubber-like 

 consistence of the muscle and connective tissues, but such tenacity 

 have these soft bodies that but little visible effect is produced 

 upon them. 



" The clear space in the centre of the islet is now occupied by 

 scores of Octopus hung in rows to dry, threaded upon sticks which 

 are supported in the forks of uprights at each end at a height of 

 thi"ee or four feet from the ground. During this drying, the dead 

 Octopus, never in appearance an attractive object, becomes of a 

 dull red colour, which with the pvitrid smell which is soon emitted 

 makes the beasts appear a particularly revolting form of carrion. 

 However, the natives (including my own boat boys) evidently 

 regard them as a delicacy, and I am assured by an English 

 resident that they are not at all unpalatable when thoroughly 

 boiled." 



