THE HARVEST OF THE TROPIC SEAS. 
7. LET 
water. The first process in manufacture is to boil the fish in large 
iron kettles for twenty minutes. Each is cut lengthwise, the inside 
emptied out, and the husk placed in the sun to dry. Afterwards the 
flesh is smoked for twenty-four hours. Wien hard and dry it is ready 
to be exported to Hong Kong. As any moisture would now ruin it, 
much care is exercised to keep it free from damp. 
A taste for this dainty is being acquired in Australia, and in the 
hotels of North Queensland béche-de-mer soup is a frequent and much- 
appreciated dish. 
So far, little attention has been given by business men to Australian 
sponges. The sponges hitherto obtained in Queensland have been 
hard and low-grade, though useful. It is likely that exploration 
would discover valuable and high-class sponges in our waters. Good 
sponges would be likely to occur, not at the surface, but at some depth, 
thriving in clear and warm water. 
The sponge of commerce is a skeleton, from which the flesh has been 
stripped. When alive—for a sponge is an animal—it rather resembles 
a piece of cow’s liver. Usually it encrusts a piece of rock or shell, and 
derives its nourishment from water that percolates through its sub- 
stance. 
The off-shore waters of tropical Australia teem with several kinds 
of turtle, the best-known of which are the Green and the Hawks-bill 
turtle. ‘It is the Green turtle that provides the turtle soup of alder- 
manic banquets. It subsists on seaweed, and reaches a yard in length 
and 1 ewt. in bulk, The so-called “ tortoise-shell” of commerce is 
derived from the large, overlapping scales of the carapace of the Hawks- 
bill, which is smaller than the Green turtle, and of carnivorous habits. 
In the spring female turtles land on the beaches of unfrequented islands 
to lay their eggs in the sand. While thus engaged it is easy to catch 
and slaughter them. At present, difficulty of access to these remote 
and waterless islands invests the breeding places of turtles with a natu- 
ral protection; but when population increases and meat becomes more 
valuable, it is likely that these nurseries will be so methodically raided 
that the breed will be exterminated. 
Ny 
- PSI s 
3 
469 
