2 1 8 The Commercial Products of the Sea. 



If Clupea leinuru, Bleeker, is the oil sardine, this fish 

 would appear to be found in the Malay Archipelago. 



At Rangoon the average quantity of fish oil obtainable 

 is over "jj tons per month ; but from November to May 

 much larger quantities are procurable, it being only made 

 at those times. It is used for lamps, and even for curries 

 and frying fish ; and is obtained by boiling the intestines of 

 some fish, the heads of others, and even whole fish, in an 

 iron vessel with water in it, and the fatty substance as 

 it floats is skimmed off into another pan, and boiled till 

 the oil floats. It is said to be chiefly extracted from the 

 Anabas scmidens, Barbus chola, Clupea palasah, and the 

 intestines of the Ophiocephalus striatus. 



Tunny oil is extracted at Tunis from the head, back- 

 bones, and refuse of the fish, which are placed in a large 

 cauldron capable of holding 800 heads and 400 skeletons, 

 and allowed to boil for 24 hours. The value of the tunny 

 oil exported from Tunis in 1871 was;^i6oo. 



Herring Oil. — For 1 5 years or more, herrings have been 

 chiefly converted into oil in Russia, as there exists a preju- 

 dice against eating them, under the belief that they are 

 rabid, from the habit they have of turning round and 

 round when they are spawning. About ioo,ooo,cxDO of these 

 fish are sacrificed annually for oil making. During the 

 three or four weeks that the influx of fish continues, 

 100,000 to 250,000 pouds (of 36 lbs.) of herring oil are 

 made on the Volga, according as the fishery is abundant 

 and the fish more or less fat. The manufacture is carried 

 on in this manner. The herrings are placed in open casks, 

 containing about looo, and boiling water poured over the 

 mass. Several days elapse before the fish enter into putrid 

 fermentation, under the action of the air, the heat, and 

 the hot water, and the oil separates. The whole is trans- 



