The Use of Squid 1 33 



with such force as to hurl the creature backward with 

 great speed, its ten arms trailing along in a compact 

 pointed bundle. Also that jet is stained with sepia, 

 so that the enemies following hard after may not be 

 able to see whither the chased has gone. Of course this 

 method of progression varies in its speed according 

 to the size of the creature, the smallest Squid being 

 able to leap out of water on to a ship's deck, where 

 every sailor has found them at some time or another 

 in low latitudes. The largest ones, that is, those 

 upon whom the sperm whale browses, cannot, I should 

 say, move very fast ; but then all their movements are 

 shrouded in the deepest mystery. 



The range of the Decapods is enormous. They 

 are found in some of their varieties in all the seas of 

 all His world, and there is no doubt that they form 

 the greater part of the food of all the higher vertebrate 

 fish. In certain seas it is hardly too much to say the 

 water is thick with the smaller kinds, and this is of 

 course the case where there are shoals of fish, such as 

 cod, to be fed. For this is the use of the Squid. There 

 are few civilised people who care to eat Squid, although 

 they are really not bad-tasting, but there are no fish 

 that do not love this sapid mollusc, who has no pro- 

 tection whatever against their sharp teeth, no speed 

 to speak of, and no bones to hinder digestion. 



In dealing with the numbers of the sea-folk, one 

 does not dare to compute, one can only deal in vague 

 generalities, but I well remember once catching a fish 

 we sailors know as a skip-jack, a kind of mackerel 

 smaller than a bonito, and averaging four pounds in 

 weight. There were many thousands around the 

 ship, all busily leaping after Squid. I baited my hook 

 with a piece of white rag and flicked it about from the 

 jib-boom until I hooked my fish. Taking him in, I 



