65 



storms and last for only a few days. It is found on bold exposed 

 rock constantly dashed by waves, so it is difficult and dangerous to 

 collect it, especially as it is extremely slippery and has to be scraped 

 forcibly from the rocks in small bunches while the collector clings to 

 his support and avoids the heavy waves. He must be sure-footed, 

 quick, and a strong swimmer, if he collect limu luau. Limu eleele 

 must always be floated or dipped out of the water into pails, because 

 it always grows at the mouth of streams in the quiet brackish water, 

 so is full of silt or sand. This is partly washed out as the limu is 

 scraped or floated out with the hands into the pails. This limu is very 

 fine and slippery, like hair, so it must be handled in a different manner 

 from other algse, and requires much more care to remove the sand, 

 the small, clinging mollusks, and crustaceans. 



Occasionally you will see a limu gatherer out on the reef, in water 

 almost to her waist, looking very intently through a square glass- 

 bottomed box, and now and then probing the depths with a sharpened 

 iron rod. The iron rod is used to loosen certain mollusks, limu uaua- 

 loli, limu lipoa, limu maneoneo, and also to kill eels and octopi, all 

 of which are highly prized for food. The boxes or square frames with 

 a glass bottom have been recently introduced by the Italian fishermen, 

 and are not in general use even near Honolulu. In Plate IV, figure 1, 

 will be seen a limu gatherer looking through the glass box, probing 

 with the iron bar, with a large bag suspended from her neck, into 

 which she thrusts her limu, mollusks, or squid.'' 



At low tides, when the water recedes, wherever there are flats or 

 shallow coral reefs and quiet water, one can see many natives with 

 bags and old knives wading far out gathering limu and other sea edi- 

 bles, as mollusks, squid, sea urchins, and sea cucumbers or beche de 

 mer. 



NATIVE METHODS OF PBEPAKING ANB SERVING LIMUS FOB 



FOOD. 



Immediately after gathering the limu it is very carefully washed, 

 either in salt or fresh water, to remove all sand, mud, or clinging mol- 

 lusks and crustaceans. The Hawaiian women are most particular 

 about this cleaning process, so wash the seaweed through many waters, 

 and look it over very carefully to remove every particle of grit or 

 inedible limu that often becomes entangled with the edible varieties. 

 (See limu cleaning in Plate IV, figure 2.) 



A few varieties of limu can not be washed in fresh water without 

 injuring the flavor and causing a very rapid decay, so that in a few 

 hours it is entirely unfit for food. The following are the very perish- 

 able varieties that must be cleaned in salt water and eaten soon after 



«The term "squid" is universally applied to the common octopus, Odopvs 

 octopodia. 



ICOQ fl'? _ 



