288 SEALE. 



These are made of split pieces of bamboo or small slats. A tTench 1 . meter 

 in width and a half meter deep, is then dug beneath the lower platform along its 

 entire length, for the fires. Tubs filled with salt water are placed at short 

 intervals along the trench, with buckets near at hand for use in preventing the 

 fire blazing up and burning the trepang or destroying the house. 



The process of curing is as follows : The trepang is first caught and gutted 

 and washed in fresh water; it is then carried into the curing house and placed 

 on the lower platform where it is spread out about 14 centimeters (5 inches) 

 thick, to dry. When this platform is covered with the trepang, the fires are 

 lighted in the trench; they must constantly be kept going, day and flight, 'and 

 be carefully guarded. Much skill is required in properly drying the trepang 

 as well as in boiling it, as too much heat will cause it to blister and get porous, 

 like a sponge, whereas too little will lead to its spoiling and turning putrid 

 within twenty-four hours after being boiled; care is requisite likewise in gutting, 

 for if this is not properly attended to the animals will turn into a blubbery 

 mass within a few hours after being caught. On the afternoon of the second 

 day after the fires are lighted, they are extinguished for a short time ' and the 

 trepang is shifted to the upper platform ; ; splints of wood should be put in those 

 not properly drying. The lower platform is then filled again with a fresh 

 supply of trepang from the pots, and the fires are again lighted. The trepang 

 on the lower pljitform should be turned frequently during the first twelve hours. 

 After another two days the fires are again put out and the trepang on the Upper 

 platform shoved over at one end to make room for those on the lower platform, 

 and the same proceeding repeated for the two following days, by which 

 time (six days in all) the first day's product will be cured properly. The 

 trepang is then taken off the upper platform and carefully examined, those not 

 dry are put back again, and the quantity cured is stowed away in bags on 

 shipboard or in a dry storehouse. The product soon becomes damp unless 

 packed in air-tight casks. If held in storage for three months, it requires to be 

 dried again for a short time in the sun. 



Forty men are necessary to work a house of the above size to its greatest 

 capacity. 



UTILIZING TBBPANQ AS FOOD. 



The chief use of trepang as food is in the form of a savory soup, 

 as heretofore described. It is also eaten as a meat by certain natives 

 of the Philippines, after it has been roasted. In some islands of the 

 Busnanga group, the natives collect these animals and by irritation cause 

 them to eject a viscous white fluid which swells up greatly when it comes 

 in contact with sea- water and splits into numerous white threads, 

 not unlike cotton; these threads are cooked and eaten and are regarded 

 as a delicacy. However, as the animal frequently ejects almost all the 

 viscera as well as the mucus, the dish probably would not appeal to 

 Europeans or Americans. 



The Chinese believe that trepang is not only a most delicious food, 

 but that it also possesses excellent medicinal qualities. 



QUANTITY AND VALUE OF EXPORTED PHILIPPINE TEEPANG. 



Sixty-six thousand eight hundred thirty-eight kilograms of trepang 

 were exported from the Philippines in 1909. The export in 1910 was 

 130,969 kilograms, which, at the low price for third grade quality, would 



