The Trepang Fishery. 



Ill 



The Balati Blanco and Matan need very little boiling, say 

 three or four minutes if the pot is nearly full. They should 

 be taken out as soon as they shrink and are thoroughly 

 heated through. The Hangenan should be boiled about 

 20 minutes. This sort must be very carefully handled 

 when raw, as it will break in pieces if held any time in the 

 hand. It appears to me that there are two ways of boiling 

 beche-de-mer equally good. The first is to take them out 

 when boiled about a minute, or as soon as they shrink and 

 feel hard ; the other method is to boil them as before 

 stated ; but in boiling either way, the slugs ought, if pro- 

 perly cooked, to dry like a boiled egg immediately on 

 being taken out of the pot. Beche-de-mer dried in the sun 

 fetches a higher price than that dried over a wood fire. 

 But this method would not answer in curing a ship's cargo, 

 as they take fully 20 days to dry ; whereas by smoking 

 them they are well cured in four days. 



" Much skill is required in drying beche-de-mer, as well 

 as in boiling it, as too much heat will cause it to blister, 

 and get porous, like sponge ; whereas, too little heat again 

 will make it spoil, and get putrid within 24 hours after 

 being boiled. There is, likewise, great care and method 

 requisite in conducting the gutting ; for if this be not 

 properly attended to, by keeping the fish in warm water, 

 and from exposure to the sun, it will, when raw, soon 

 subside into a blubbery mass, and become putrid in a few 

 hours after being caught." 



The first thing to be done on arrival at an island where 

 the slug is plentiful, is to erect a large curing-house on shore, 

 about 90 feet in length, 30 feet in breadth, and the sides 

 about 10 feet in height. These houses are generally built 

 of island materials, and thatched with mats, made by the 

 natives, of cocoa-nut leaves ; the thatch must be well put 



