86 FISHERIES OF THE ORIENTAL REGION, 



This word " Garos " occurs again in Book XXXII., chap. 

 53, where Pliny gives the names of all the animals that exist in 

 the sea, 176 in number. Like the majority of the names 

 enumerated there, Garos has not been identified. By a strange 

 coincidence the Malay word for salt at the present day is Garam, 

 and it is just possible that we may trace in this an Indian origin 

 for the condiment. Just as our word indigo, from the Latin 

 Indicum, asserts the Indian origin of the pigment brought from 

 the East amongst the Greeks and Romans ; and the Sanscrit names 

 for elephant, ivory, monkey, and peacock amongst the Hebrews, 

 tell us of the intercourse between the Hindoos and Jews in 

 ancient times, and the country from which these animals were 

 derived; so the word Garum in Latin and Garos in Greek traces 

 the origin of this classico-oriental condiment. Now the Sanscrit 

 word for salt is " Sara," and this word is represented in the 

 Malay " Garam," the Roman " Garum," and the Greek " Garos," 

 and even the Javanese " Trasi." For the natives of South Celebes 

 use for salt the word " Gara " and " Sela." In Sulu the term 

 used is "Gasi;" in Buru (North Moluccas), " Sasi ;" in Gilolo, 

 " Gasi f in Amboyna, " Tasi f in some small islands south-east 

 of the Moluccas (Matabello), " Sira." 



But let us go on with Pliny, and finish with what he says about 

 Balachan. " At the present day, however, the most esteemed 

 kind of Garum is that prepared from the Scomber in the fisheries 

 of Carthago Spartasia ; it is known as ( Garum of the allies,' and 

 for a couple of congii we have to pay but little less than one 

 thousand sesterces. Indeed there is no liquid hardly, with the 

 exception of the unguents, that has sold at higher prices of late ; 

 so much so, that the nations which produce it, have become quite 

 ennobled thereby. There are fisheries too of the Scomber on the 

 coasts of Mauretania, and at Carteia on Bcetica, near the Straits, 

 which lie at the entrance to the ocean ; this being the only use 

 that is made of the fish. For the production of Garum, Clazo- 

 mense is also famed, Pompeii too, and Leptis ; while for their 

 Muria, Antipolis, Thurii, and of late Dalmatia, enjoy a high 

 reputation. 



