442 AXIMAL FOOD RESOURCES OF DIFFERENT NATIONS. 



engaged in capturing them, each boat being manned 

 by six men. The annual yield was over 14,520,000 

 pounds, valued at £75,000. Eighty thousand persons 

 were also engaged in preparing and packing the dried 

 flesh. 



In Japan squids are regularly collected as food. Near 

 Hakodadi there is a small fishing village exclusively 

 devoted to the catching and curing of the squid, and 

 many hundreds of thousands may be seen daily drying 

 in the open air,. all nicely cleaned, each kept flat by 

 means of little bamboo stretchers, and suspended in rows 

 on lines, which are raised on poles about six feet from 

 the ground. The open spaces and all the houses in the 

 village are filled with the.se squid-laden lines. 



Ika, Surami and Tako are Japanese names for species 

 of Sepia which are esteemed delicate eating in China and 

 Japan. They form a common soccano or side dish, and 

 are eaten either fresh, boiled or pickled. One mode of pre- 

 paring them is as follows : They are first macerated in a 

 solution of alum for three days, and then rubbed, washed 

 and cleaned till transparent, when they are pickled and 

 preserved for use. When pickled and brought to table, 

 they are in substance, colour and taste like the edible 

 birds' nests. 



Mrs. Brassey, in her " Voyage of the Sunbeam," tells 

 us the fish markets of Japan are well supplied with 

 octopi. A real octopus in a basket, with its hideous 

 body in the centre, and its eight arms, covered with 

 suckers, arranged in the form of a star, is worth from a 

 dollar to a dollar and a-half, according to its size. 



The pulps and the seches are much sought after on 

 some of the coasts of France, although their fiesh is 

 rather hard. They are eaten both raw and cooked. But 

 the most esteemed of the cephalopods is Loligo sagitta, 

 vulgarly known as the comet, or " encornet," the flavour 

 of which is stated to be exquisitely fine and delicate, 

 and far preferable to the common calmar and sfeche. 



At Banyuls-sur-Mer there is an enormous consumption 

 of an Ascidian {Cynthia mtcrocosmus) known under the 



