The Democrat. (Scotland Neck, Halifax Co., N.C.) 1884-1896, 1885-04-16
DOLPHIN FOR DINNER.
Royal Dish OF the Oldcn Time Re.
vfved-HOw HOlphfns are Caught.

one Oh Tic COTucTS VI Guc udIlOudl uluScuu
building. crowded with skulls. bones,
stuffed skins, and various memorials Of
the animal creation, Washington Sta,
reporter came upon Mr.. F. w. True, the
curator of the department of mammals,
just as he was reading telegram from a
life-saving station keeper on the New
Jersey coast announcing that a porpoise
had stranded there ''The men in the
life saving service are instructed" said
Mr.. True, "to notify us of any strange
creature that may be stranded. Ii we
want it we telegraph them to sew it up
in canvas bag and ship it to the
museum bv express, or send it any other
way that may be convenient.
''Speaking of porpo ses," continued
the curator, ''here is something that will
interest you" AS he spoke he took from
a shelf behind his desk black looking
object, tied at the ends like large bo-
logna sausage.
ut is sausage of porpoise.: he went
on. "That one is one-tliird beef and
two-thirds porpoise. 1 have another
specimen here of smoked porpoisc, which
you can try"
The curator soon found the specimen
he wanted The meat was dark and the
tibers very coarse. 1t was very dry and
very hard-so hard that the curator had
to use Ratchet to chip off pieces of it.
'The oil has not been taken out" he
said, as he handed morsel to the re-
porter to try, 'and that gives it strong
taste, which might be disagreeable to a
person with a sensitive palate
The reporter ate his piece of porpolsc
with as much facial composure as posi-
BILE. 1t had flavor something like a
smoked herring multiplied by a hundred.
After RECALLING himself in this manner,
the reporter inquired for further particu
lars concerning porpoise meat.
''There is a company IN Philadelphia,
said Mr.. True, engaged in the business
of preparing the flesh OF the porpolse TOR
market The experiment is interesting
in connection with the question of food
supply. There are great numbers of
porpoiscs ON our coasts; the supply
seems to be inexhaustible. Porpoise
used to be considered one of the delica
cies of the kings table. 1t is mentioned
in L'Estranges household book"
HAS porpoise been sold in the Phila-
delphia market as porpoise?n
Il think. the flesh was introduced
Under the name of buffalo. 1t is dark
like buffalo meat, and has gamy look
and flavor, but continued Mr.. Irue
with smile, during Lent it was intro
duced as porpoise. l received letter
from a gentleman interested in the trade
asking if it could not be introduced us a
food which might be eaten in Lent.
Among scientific men the porpoise, is not,
of course, known as "a fish, but the scien-
tifc and the ecclesiastical definitions
of a fish NAV not, of course, be based |
upon the same distinctions. There was |
once, during the middle ages, great
as to whether the otter could |
be eaten in Lent. 1t was held that |
creatures that swan in the water were
fish, and it was decided, l believe, that |
the otter could be eaten without viola
ton of the rules of Lent"
"What do you think of the quality of
the fesh.''
THE quality is as good as any in the
market. 1t is not tender. of course, like |
the meat Of animals bred especially for
the market. The porpoises have to
fight for existence, and that makes them
tough. There is no reason why this
meat should not be cheap"
''Porpoise is not new dish?" sug-
gested the reporter.
"No. 1t has always been considered |
fit for food. The porpoise lives on fish,
and eats only live fish. In the Arctic
regions, you know, the natives live on
white whales, eating fat and all. The
Indians on the east coast of Maine have
a fishery for porpoises, and cat their
flesh. In fact the Indians both on our
east and on our west coast hunt the por-
poise for food. 1t is a matter of fashion
entirely. Three centuries ago when the
porpoise was in fashion in England and
graced the kings table, it commanded a
very high price. There is no reason why
it should not come into fashion again. /
think 1 am safe in prophesying that por-
poise will again be generally eaten. l
drank some of the milk of the porpoise
at Cape May. 1t is very thick. like
cream, and tasted very much Ike cocoa
nut milk. 1t is not unpleasant, but
tribe sickish-a little of it at time is
''Where are the porpoises capturcd?"
asked the reporter.
uCIC las DtcH COf)Hy tlOUS INC
Hatteras reef, in North Carolina, from
the beginning of the century, one of
whose employments has been to catch
said Mr.. True. "Thcy cut
them up and get the oil from them in
rude way, and took the oil to Elizabeth
town, or some other town where they
could find a market. About year ago
a company was formed at Cape May,
New Jersey, for the purpose of obtain
ing porpoise oil and leather This COM
pany, | believe, has not succeeded we'll.
One of the men Interested in the com
pany went to Hatteras and leased the
fishery there for five ycars-leasing the
grounds, the fishermen and everything
paying at a certain rate for every Dor
poise caught. He has his tanners and
his apparatus for taking ont the oil. He
saw that the flesh might be of some use,
and has been successful in Introducing it
in the Philadelphia market"
'The porpoises are caught in nets.
Two high poles are erected on the beach
about four miles apart. Men are sta
toned at these poles on the look out, and
when the porpoises pass into the fishing
ground, between these poles the look
OUT SHOWS signal flag. There
are two boats some distance
out, which separate, giving out
nets as they proceed obliauely toward
other boats further inshore These boats
in turn move toward the shore, paving
out their nets, and the result is the por-
poises are soon surrounded, imprisoned
in huge pound of strong netting with
coarse meshes. These nets are not
drawn to the shore. Sometimes there
will be 800 or 400 porpoises in the en-
closure. If they were stampcdcd, as