The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-10-15

ly dark and forbidding there is not sign
of life in the water. Suddenly IL is alive,
alive with an order of life which to civiiiz-
ed thought Is a repulsive reminder of death
and corruption, alive with worms whose
crawling and wrigglng motion many peo-
pie cannot endure to look upon. But there
is no time to think over the mystery of
their origin or to feel that they are re-
pulsive order of life. There Is the sound
of many voices shouting joyfully, and
many arms are sweeping small nets over
the water and gathering the dainty food
which Is to be had only one day in the
year and is all the more relished for its
rarity.
For just about quarter of an hour the
worms rise to the surface. If feft untouch-
ed by the fisher people they remain for
about an hour on the surface and then
disappear as suddenly as they came. Thus
1t is quite correct to say that the whole
fishery is comprised within two hours once
a year AS soon as the first gray of dawn
begins to pale i'm the east the last paloio
vanishes into the mystery from which ii
has emerged for so brief a space and in
such a marvellous fashion.
Now it it quite safe to predicate of the
Samoan that he does not get up in the
middle Of the night and go fishing for
these worms solely because they are an
obscure freak of natural history. There
must be some reason. more solid than that
to cause the ieisure-loving Islander to put
himself to so much trouble. The reason is
a very valid one Palolo smacks most
pleasantly on his palate. One day In the
year he eats all the palolo he can get, and
the remaining days when he cannot get
paiolo to eat he thinks of all the pasolo
he has eaten In annual gorges and looks
ahead to the eating of more palolo To
the white mans palate IL has not the same
oh In fact "a great maQK people
would on general principles rather be eX-
eused when il comes to eating worms or
any sort. Sull, If one schools the nina
by a more or less severe course of reason
ing to recognize that any article of food
which Is highly regarded by whole races
Of men must be at least fair eating, il may
be possible 10 lay aside the mass of pre-
tudices and eat the worms. They are a
disappointment as an article of food for
white people; they are neither particular
ly good nor picturesquely bad. PROBABLY
the disappointment comes from seeing how
highly the savage epicures regard the rare
food The best way of eating palolo is
raw. The islanders prefer ii that way best
and cook only that which they are unable
to find room for when II is freshly caught.
1t must be put on to cook Immediately or
I it Will spoil before sunrise. Eaten by
handfuls Just fresh from the sea the paloto
has no very distinct flavor beyond that OF
| the SAT- water; it leaves an after taste IN
the mouth family reminiscent Of scalops
! When there is any Of the palolo left over
| to be cooked il IS steamed in leaves in the
| common pit oven and eaten cod Thus
prepared it has somewhat the appearance
! of spinach and tastes so strongly of sea
| salr that any other flavor which may APP
pertain to It is completely disguised. Tne
| samoans themselves say thai il is not sc
good when cooked and that they would
| not eat ii thus prepared except for the