44 FISHERIES OP THE ORIENTAL REGION, 



the stones and brought to market. They say that there is no 

 particular spawning season, and that the young oysters come out 

 like buds on the outside of the shell, subsequently freeing them- 

 selves and getting attached to the stones. 



Bamboo oysters or Yu-tzu-hao, are grown as follows : — Bamboo 

 laths about two feet long, one and a half inches wide, and 

 about half an inch thick, are pointed at one end, and split at the 

 other. A thin oyster shell is inserted in each split, as far as it 

 will go without wedging the lath asunder. A large thick oyster 

 shell, with a good round hole bored in the middle, is put over the 

 split ends to keep them together. A number of these laths 

 are planted over the mud flats closely together, making them look, 

 when the tide has uncovered them, like a young vineyard. The 

 strong currents in the tidal estuaries where the laths are always 

 placed, are evidently charged witlr embryo oysters which get caught 

 in what we may call this young oyster nursery. In about a month 

 these have developed into spat. These laths are then taken out 

 and planted wider apart in more sheltered situations, the bamboos 

 being then a foot or less apart. In less than half a year the 

 oysters have grown to such a size that they completely encrust 

 and cover the bamboos, and the plantation has a most odd 

 appearance. When they are sufficiently grown they are collected 

 and sold on the sticks. 



This method of oyster culture is by far the best that I have 

 seen, and it is one of the many instances where Chinese industry 

 and invention have been much in advance of that of Europeans. 

 Oyster culture in our countries is a thing of the most recent 

 origin, while amongst the Chinese it has been practised for 

 centuries. The method here referred to is not as often seen in 

 Malaysia as in China, partly because the Chinese cannot get from 

 the Malays the necessary control of the mangrove swamps. 



Balachan. — Any description of the fish food of Malaysia would 

 be incomplete without reference to Balachan or Balachong, which 

 corresponds with what is known in India as Gnapee or Nga-pee. 

 In Javanese it is called Trasi : in the northern Philippine islands 



