286 



NATURAL HISTORY. 



Singular custom of making an offering of bread to the fish Melanuros. 



May 2. — We weighed anchor in the port of Cephalonia ; as our 

 sailors rowed by Cape Capro, they made libations of bread, using 

 the following words ; Ftcctrov, YLu-no Kettyo, |«i rvjv, KaVo, K.o&7r(iem crov, 

 ncti pie tcc, Ka7ro Ku(3^o } ttovXccctov. Net Kccftgc, vec tconrgevot, va rd f TLoctto 

 aa,7T^07rovXa.' (pure to 7r«£^*«Jj, screTg, tyx&fu MsKavou^ia. " Health, Cape 



Capro to your wife, to your children ; to you Cape Capro, to your 

 wife, (making the first libation). To your children, (making a 

 second). You fish, Melanouros, eat the cake (making a third)." 

 This is probably the relic of some ancient custom*; the passage by 

 the rock was a dangerous navigation, and the fish Melanouros abounds 

 here, -f • 



The liver of the Scarus. 



" The liver of the Scarus was not forgotten in the entertainments 

 of the Zantiotes ; the flavour and delicacy of it are mentioned in the 

 following Romaic couplet. 



Lxupo fjte AtVBj v^y\ro pie Tpcove, 



<Pocye to ckcoto piou, va idrjg to (pocyyro piov. 



" They call me scarus ; they eat me roasted ; taste my liver that 

 you may see what my flavour is. X 



* This extract from Sibthorp's journal reminds us of a passage in Pliny, lib. xxxii. c. 2. 

 " In Stabiano Campanias ad Herculis petram, Melanuri in mari panem abjectum rapiunt." 



f Aldrovande croit, que e'est ce memepoisson qu'on appelle a Rome, ochiata, en Sicile, 

 ochiada, a Venice, ochia. — Memoires de l'lnstit. 1805. 



% The roasted Scarus was anciently esteemed, x«t vxctpov Iv TtxpaXcp K«p^rjSov» tov psyctv 

 owt« UXuvag. Archestrat. in Athen. lib. vii., and the liver of it was particularly commended. 

 LJnde in Vitellii patina, apud Tranquillum legimus, fuisse Scarorum jecinora. Imo Mar- 

 tialis, visceribus solum reservatis, carnem coquo reddi jubet. Vossi. de Idolo. lib. iv. 505. 

 The fish was one of those, according to Epicharmus, twv ooSe to <rxoop Sepurov ex(3a\eiv 6soij. 

 We give from Salmasius (Plin. Exer. p. 743.), the following explanation of o-xuto, or 

 gux.wtqv. Graecia infima (toxwtov pro jecore dixit, quum antiqua jecur anseris aut porculi 

 ficis pasti in deliciis haberet, et sic vocaret ; inde recentiores ctuxwtov, quodlibet jecur appel- 

 larunt, et eos imitati Latini Jicatum. 



