The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1889-10-10
THE sAMoAN's PALoLo.
A Queer Little Worm that Comes Once Year to
Delight Dusky Epicures,

The palolo is probably the most curious table
delicacy in the world. 1t ia worm about as
thick as strand of yarn and from five to eight
inches long. II is caught once year near the
Samoan Islands and is eaten by the native Sa-
means. Very early in the morning of the first
day of the last quarter of the November moon
hundreds of small boats full of Samoans put
out from the shore near Apa to the coral reefs.
Every boat is provided with fine nets stretched
between sticks and attached to short handle.
At the reefs u. little skirmshiDg for the best
places, many collisions, a good bit of Samoan
cursng and any amount OF singing and shout
ing precede the fishing. Then an occasional
shout of "Palolo! palolo ~ is heard as some
one scoops in a netful of worms. Suddenly the
water begins to crawl 1t seems to be boiling
with tiny water snakes. The natives throw
down their paddles and grasp their nets. Those
who have no nets snatch up baskets, sleeves,
anything that will hold worms and not water,
and begin to scoop in the palolos. They work
with tremendous energy, for they realize that
the minute the sun rises the pal0l0s will be oil
again for another year. Buckets, baskets bowls
and platters are filed with the tiny, squirming
WORDS, yet the natives work on with will
which white people have rarely ri ven them the
credit for possessing. The sun rises and all is
over The palolos are gone, no ono knows
where, and the Samoans put back to shore with
their catch.
for hours. Without water they die in q few
minutes. Roasted palolos are of dark brown
color. Boiled palolos and raw palolos arc blue,
brown, light yellow or green. Many natives
eat them raw; others roast or boil them. The
time of year at which the worms appear near
Samoa and are caught is probably their spawn
ing season, rs microscopic examination shows
most of them to DO full of the tiniest eggs.
Eggs and worms together taste something like
nj TnndupaG nf ar a
delicacy ia usually an acquired taste. This is
not particularly strange, ms several features OF
their appearance are apt to suggest very dis
agreeable ideas to the civilized imagination.
In the first place, the palolos body is fashioned
pretty much after the plan of the tapeworm.
IL consists Of an indefinite number of sections.
Each section has underneath two Crawlers. "
or feet, and on top black dot. On the head
are two little horns aud three feelers not UNI
ike tiny warts in appearance. The upper lip
Is comparatively rough and hard. Like tho
tapeworm, the paloio is not killed by being
taken apart. The removal OF several sections
of tho palolo is followed by shrinking to-
gether of the rest of the body till the worm
looks thin thread. When the paIolo breaks
itself in two. rs often happens by its quick,
snakelike movements through the water the
same result follows This phenomenon has
given color to the delusion that the paioio is a
kind of seli-dssoving creature, and that the
almost instantaneous disappearance Of them
from tho Samoan waters Mt sunrise on the day
of the annual catch is the result of the general
selfdissoIuton of the worms. In fact. only
those sections removed from tho head and the
section next 20 the head of tho palolo die.
After n short time other sections grow ont oil
the section next to the head, aud the palolo is
as good rs new. The female palolo does not
diHer from the male palolo in appearance, and
breaks herself up in the same way aud with
the same results.
The mystery of the palolo's sudden appear.
auce near Samoa for a few hours annually and
its magical disappearance at sunrise are unex-
planned. Why the patolos come TO be caught
by the dusky Samoans only at tho beginning
OF the last quarter of the November moon
where they come from. where they go to, how
they breed, aud where they live-all this il
something that nobody knows.