410 ANIMAL FOOD RESOURCES OF DIFFERENT NATIONS. 



Yesso. The fishing season is the same as that of 

 Awabi, and the prices paid are from 21 to 23 dollars per 

 pieul. 



Prices at Kanagawa in August, 1864, were for cuttle 

 fish, 13^ dollars; shrimps, 13 dollars; sharks' fins, 16 

 dollars per picul. 



The flesh of the ear-shell {HaUotis sp.), called Awabi, 

 is cut into slices or strings, which are extended on a 

 board and dried. As this moUusk was the common food 

 of their necessitous ancestors, when the Japanese enter- 

 tain company at dinner, they always provide a dish of 

 it. Kaempfer states that it has hence become a custom 

 among all classes, when they forward one another 

 presents of any kind, to send along with it a string or 

 piece of this dried flesh, as a good omen, and as a 

 reminder of the indigence of their forefathers; Awabi 

 having been in days of yore the first sustenance and 

 support of the Japanese, as acorns were formerly the 

 primitive diet of the inhabitants of Europe. 



Amongst the mollusca none are more eagerly caught 

 and none have such a deserved reputation in South 

 Africa as the sea-ear, HaUotis Midce, Linn., and a species of 

 Stomatia called by the Dutch Paarl-moer. In Cape Town 

 these oceanic productions, which, by the bye, require a 

 great deal of preparation, seasoning and ingredients, 

 before they reach the dinner table, are pronounced to be 

 the most exquisite dainty — the very pitch of delicacy. 

 The ordinary Mytilus edulis, Linn., and Bonax denticulata, 

 Linn., called " white mussels," are also eaten. The latter 

 are innocuous at some seasons, but venomous at others. 

 Several large species of limpets {Patella) and a kind of 

 Nerita are also made use of as a palatable and nutritious 

 dish. 



