SKATE. 461 



ray exists in all seas of the same latitude, I hope that our navi- 

 gators, avaiUng themselyes of this information, will henceforth 

 procure these skins direct, and save us in future the expense of a 

 tribute we have hitherto been obliged to pay to foreign industry.* 

 All skate is eatable, but not aU equally good : the flesh of 

 most kinds is perhaps a little too firm to be very digestible; 

 in some species it has a strong rank smell. To get rid 

 of this, and of the over-rigidity of the flesh, it is usual 

 to keep it for some days, and to bestow sundry wash- 

 ings upon it, to make it available for culinary purposes. 

 Though one species at least is entered by Galen in his 

 treatise on aliments, and particularly recommended as 

 agreeable in flavour and light of digestion, and though 

 probably many more were known and served in the 

 cuisine bourgeoise of respectable Roman families, it was 

 too common for epicures to write about j and Apicius 

 accordingly does not vouchsafe a single receipt ; so true 

 is it that fashionable palates in all ages could never 

 reUsh inexpensive luxuries within every plebeian's reach. 



* An ingenious French writer differs entirely from M. Lacd- 

 pede here, maintaining that the value of shagreen depends not on 

 the superiority of some species of skins over others, but solely on 

 the degree of skill employed in preparing them. He informs us 

 that galuchat (the French word for shagreen) was the name of a 

 Parisian case-maker, hving in the Eue Harlay, an excellent work- 

 man, who never left his shop to seek Eaie Sephin skins, nor had 

 any connection whatever with the Red Sea ; but taking aU. that 

 were brought him without asking whence they came, set to work 

 cleaning, blanching, smoothing, dyeing, and finally polishing 

 them ; labours which he performed so successfully, as at last to 

 beat the Arabians in their own art of 'chagrining,' and to give 

 his own name to a process which he had brought to such perfection. 

 The ancients knew nothing of this art, but employed the skias of 

 dog-fish and rays for the purpose of polishing wood and ivory. 

 Phny, as we have seen, mentions it, and the Greeks turned them 

 to the same account : — 



PiVij Tfjv ipiKiOva-i TTepurcrSis tcktoV€s av&pes 



TprjX^V aXK' ayaBi]. — Matron, parod. 



