342 THE INHABITANTS OF THE SEA. 



The trepang is first thrown into a kettle filled with boiling sea- 

 water. After a few minutes, it is taken out of its hot-bath and 

 ripped open with a knife to cleanse it of its intestines. It is 

 then thrown into a second kettle, where a small quantity of 

 water and the torrefied rind of a mimosa produce dense vapours. 

 This is done to smoke the trepang for better preservation. Finally, 

 it is dried in the sun, or in case of bad weather under the above- 

 mentioned shed. I tasted the trepang, and found it had some 

 resemblance to lobster. In the China market the Malays 

 sell it to the dealers for about fifteen rupees the picul of 125 

 pounds. From the earliest times, the Malays have possessed 

 the monopoly of this trade in those parts, and Europeans will 

 never be able to deprive them of it, as the economy of their 

 outfit and the extreme moderation of their wants forbid all 

 competition. About four in the afternoon the Malays had 

 terminated their work. In less than half an hour the kettles 

 and utensils were brought on board, and before nightfall we saw 

 the praos vanish from our sight." 



The inhabitants of the island of Waigiou, to the north of New 

 Guinea, prepare the trepang in the Malay manner, and barter it 

 for cotton and woollen stuffs, which are brought to them by some 

 Chinese junks. " In every hut," says Lesson, " we found great 

 heaps of this dried leathery substance, which has no particular 

 taste to recommend it, and is so highly esteemed by the Chinese 

 for no other reason than because they ascribe to it, — as to some 

 other gelatinous substances, as agar-agar, shark-fins, and edible 

 bird's nests, — peculiar invigorating properties, by means of which 

 their enervated bodies are rendered fit for new excesses." 



The Feejee islanders have the reputation of being the greatest 

 cannibals and the most perfidious savages of the whole Pacific, 

 yet the treparjg fishery attracts many American and European 

 speculators to that dangerous archipelago. Captain Wilkes, of the 

 United States Exploring Expedition, found there a countryman, 

 Captain Eagleston, who had been successful in more than one of 

 these expeditions, and obligingly communicated to him all the 

 particulars of his adventurous trade. There are six valuable sorts 

 of biche de mer, or trepang; the most esteemed is found on 

 the reefs one or two fathoms deep, where it is caught by diving. 

 The inferior sorts occur on reefs which are dry, or nearly so, at 

 low water, where they are picked up by the natives, who atso 



