1894.) Abalone or Haliotis Shells of the Californian Coast. 855 
light. Their dingy exterior almost of the same color as the 
rocks on which they rest, make them scarcely noticeable save 
for the protuberances that are visible on the rocks from which 
they are very difficult to remove, a trowel or wedge, ete., being 
necessary to dislodge them. Fishermen and Chinamen are 
the principle collectors of abalones. To illustrate the strength 
of muscle developed in this shell an anecdote is sometimes 
told of a man who was collecting some shells, when one of the 
shell-fish drew his shell so closely to the rock the man’s hand 
was securely pinned to the rock and he was drowned. At 
one time the man is a Mexican, at another a Chinamen; the 
occurrence at one period is at Santa Barbara, at another San 
Pedro, but, the story always begins with “I have heard, etc.” 
Any one who has collected these muscular fellows would be 
wary about allowing even a finger to be in close proximity to 
the shell, nor is it necessary to do so, the trowel or tool used 
to dislodge the shell is all that is needed. That men have 
lost their lives while collecting these shells there is no doubt 
at all, as the tide sometimes comes with fearful force on the 
slippery rocks. Three or four years ago the local papers re- 
ported the drowning of a young fisherman while getting aba- 
lones at San Pedro, Last spring a San Francisco paper told 
how a coyote was entrapped in a Haliotis which the coyote 
found partly raised from a rock, and, on inserting his muzzle 
underneath to secure a breakfast, the abalone had “ closed 
down on him and kept him a prisoner.’ 
As an article of food it is the general impression that the 
Chinese are the only consumers, but this is a mistake, although, 
as an article of commerce only the Chinese seem to value it 
highly. Ata lonely “point” in one of the Palos Verdes Hills 
we once found a large number of abalone shells around a de- 
serted camp-fire, the fish had evidently been cooked on the 
fire, then eaten from the shell by the fishermen. A slice of 
abalone, before it is cooked, laid upon a platter might easily 
be mistaken for a slice of fish. They are pounded before 
cooking. As a soup this shell-fish is said to be very palatable 
and it has frequently been mistaken, by the uninitiated, for 
clam soup. Asan export the fish is dried after being removed 
