Morning journal and courier., 1882-09-23
Queer Eating.

The worm I refer to is marine species, and is looked upon es great luxury By all the natives of the South Sea Islands. It lives in the coral reefs, and from the middle of October to the end of November comes to the surface at sunrise in immense numbers and great is the commotion and excitement among the people on it's first appearance. It's arrival is always heralded by feasts and during the Balolo or worm months, all the natives wax fat and lusty on their favorite article of food. The worm is curiously punc- tual in it's appearance, almost to day, and the months in which 1t appears respec- lively called the little and big Balolo months. From early dawn on the expected day scouts are placed on the hills and rocks command ing view of the reefs, and no sooner does the long expected shoal appear than all the wooden drums in all the neighboring villages are sounded and the entire population, big and ittle young and old, sound and lame, rush to the beach, and while the able bodied ones help to launch canoes the remainder dig and heat ovens, and discuss the probabili~ ties of good or bad worm season.
 Fleets of canoes swarming with people, all armed with nets, at once put off and scoop up the worms in large quantities. They are then taken ashore and handed over to the cooks, who, after adding certain quantity of cocoanut milk specially prepared for the purpose, tie them up in young banana leaves, which have been previously passed over the fire to toughen them, and then bake them for some time in m oven, when they are ready for consumption, and arc often sent around as presents to friends, just as game is among ourselves
 Dr. Stradling mentions white ants but does not appear to have tasted them. Allow me to tell him they are dear little things when they are fried in their own fat-plum, sweet and satisfying, but curiously unlike ants in appearance. They are generally much esteemed as food by the natives of most of the countries in which they are found. Porpoise and whale are also edible, I have tried both and found porpoise liver cellent and not to be distinguished from that of pig. Of the flesh, however, I can hardly speak so highly, as. it requires both good cooking and a long abstinence from fresh meat to make it at all palatable Our ances
 tors, however, were of a different opinion, as in olden times it was highly esteemed, and
 we generally find the ''porpoise" figuring as distinguished dish in most of the great banquets of the middle ages But if the flesh | of the porpoise is coarse and indifferent, that
 of his big cousin, the whale, is still more so i; and the only time I tasted it I found the meat exceedingly coarse and tough, as wei l
 as permeated with nauseous taste and smell 1 of train oil. The tongue is, however, said to l be much better; but it never came under my obser sation. Whales milk is by no means to | be despised.
 Shark, the full grown fish, is detestable | tough and of @ terribly rank smell. It is rarely eaten py Whlte mens except under pressure of extreme necessity but the ma | tives of the South seas view it in different | light and look upon the monster as a special luxury. Moreover, a New Zealand Maori I knows no greater treat than shark that has been kept until high enough to be unap. proachable within twenty yards of anyone but native. But with young shark of 8 | brown variety the case is different and I | well remember, during five months resi- dence at Opara, having many good meal of fried outlets from young sharks about four feet long, and at last we came to look upon it as the best fish there. In taste and ap- pearance it reminded one more of sturgeon than any thing else. It likewise resembled the latter in having gristle instead of bones,
 and was much superior both in tirmness and
 flavor to the British dogfsh, which after l ward tried