210 FISHERIES OF THE ORIENTAL REGION, 



In Sumatra and many other places in the East, the Malays 

 collect certain species of sea-weed such as Spfuerococcus lichenoides, 

 Gelidium cornetwi, and G. spiniforme. These, well boiled down, 

 form a jelly called, when dry, Agar-agar, which is largely exported 

 to China. There it is used as medicine, aad by coiners for glue. 

 These alg* grow abundantly on rocks round many of the islands 

 of the Archipelago, and quantities get washed up on the beach 

 during the south-west monsoon. "When gathered, it is first dried 

 in the sun for two or three days, and then all tlie salt and lime 

 ci'ystals which are encrusted upon it are cai'efully washed off in 

 three and four rinsings with fresh-water. It is then spread on 

 mats and exposed to the sun until it is bleached. About half an 

 ounce powdered will make a quart of stiff jelly, which, when 

 flavored with spices, lemon and sugai', makes a most palatable as 

 well as nourishing food for invalids. 



Gelidium curneum and G. spiniforme are used for making a good 

 deal of the confectionery of the Chinese, who call the substance 

 "Yang-tsai."' It is found both on the Indian and Malayan coasts. 

 and even as far as China and Japan. The jelly formed by boiling 

 this sea-weed product or crude gelose in water, and allowing the 

 solution to cool, requires a high temperature for fusion, differing 

 in this respect from a jelly made from isinglass, which readily fuses 

 and dissolves in warm water. This character occasions a pecu- 

 liarity in the taste of culinary jellies made of the new material, 

 inasmuch as they do not dissolve in the mouth like ordinary 

 animal jelly. The jelly of gelose is but little prone to undergo 

 change; so little indeed that sometimes, under the name of "sea- 

 weed jelly" it is exported from Singapore, sweetened, flavoured, and 

 ready for use, and in this state it may be kept for years without 

 deterioration. Of late it has been much used for the purpose of 

 Bacteria culture according to Koch's method.* 



Splicurococcus is one of the genera of the RnoDYMENlACEiE, a 

 family of Florideous sea-weeds of purplish or blood-red colour, with 

 expanded fronds composed of polygonal cells minute and irregularly 



• See Dymock's Vegetable Materia Medica of Western India. 



