416 
BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 
large rvoodeu pedestals, or trod upon by the Chinese in wooden shoes, for the purpose of loosening 
the meats from the outer chitinous covering, after which the entire mixture is put through a fanning 
mill for the actual separation of the meats and shells. The fanning mill, a somewhat crude affair, is 
constructed of wood hy the Chinese on precisely the same principle as the one used for winnowing 
grain. It measures about Sfeet long by 5 feet high, and consists of a square box, divided on the inside 
for the iiassage of the separated shells and meats, with a hopper above, and a large fan wheel worked 
by a crank at one end. The meats are partly used at home or at the various inland Chinese settle- 
ments, luit are mostly shipped to China. The shells are also utilized as manure to some extent about 
San Francisco; but, like the meats, are mostly sent to China, where they serve as a fertilizer for rice, 
tea plant, etc. In San Francisco they sell at about 25 cents per hundredweight. Both the meats and 
shells are shipped to China in sacks. The trade is entirely in the hands of Chinese merchants, who 
ship by way of Hongkong. The meats are eaten bj^ all classes in China, but are cheaper and less 
esteemed than the native shrimp, which are comparatively scarce. 
Dried shrimp form a very popular article of food among Asiatic races and are 
worthy of more extemled use in this country. They are very nice rolled in butter and 
fried, good I'or making curry, and for “ jumbalayer ” they are excellent. In China many 
of the broken shrimp are made into paste by grinding between stones. 
In 1885, ill connection with their shrimp drying, the Chinese on the Louisiana 
coast dried a (juantity of oysters for market, but the venture was unsuccessful on 
account of the high price at which it was necessary to sell the product in order to 
reimbni'se them for their outlay, 50 cents per pound for the dried oysters being 
scarcely sufficient to meet expenses. 
The tails of the rock lobsters or salt-water crayfish [Panulirus interruptus) arefre- 
(]ueiitly dried in the sun without previous boiling or salting by the Chinese on the 
Pacific coast, but the aggregate of the business is not large. 
Since 1885 the Chinese located at Barataria Bay, Louisiana, have dried a quantity, 
of fish each summer. In doing this they make temporary quarters on Timbalier 
Island, in Terrebonne Parish, Louisiana, using old material from the permanent camps 
in Jefferson Parish. Tarpaulin or palmetto supplies sheltering for the workmen, and 
small slat-work frames, about 8 feet long by 4 feet wide, are used for holding the fish, 
which are turned every few hours by placing a second frame on the one holding the fish, 
turning both together and then removing the first frame. The season extends usually 
from May 1 to June 30, and from one to three w-eeks is necessary for the drying. 
All varieties of salt-water fish are theve dried except the small bony ones and 
those excessively fat. Few of the fish are dressed before drying, the head, scales, fins, 
and viscera i-emaining, except that the large redfish or channel bass are eviscerated 
and have the heads and fins removed. The fish are purchased from the seiners at a 
cost of f 1.40 per basket, containing about 98 iiounds. A basket of green fish yields 
about 47 pounds of dried, which sells for 4 or 5 cents per pound wholesale. In 1897 
the two companies operating on Timbalier Island received about 1,300 baskets of fish, 
which yielded 61,100 pounds of dried fish, valued at |2,93G. 
Oil the Pacific coast the Chinese usually remove the heads and viscera from the 
large fish, and in some localities they salt the fish in brine and then dry them, much 
like the present method of curing cod. Some of the larger sharks and skates are 
split through the back and hung on poles. The barracuda, albacore, and bouito are 
split lengthwise along the back, soaked for 2 days in brine, and then dried in the sun, 
losing about 50 per cent of their weight in drying. The flesh of the dried barracuda 
resembles codfish somewhat, being white and firm. They usually sell in San Francisco 
at 3 or 4 cents per pound wholesale. 
