The Afro-American advance. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1899-19??, 1899-06-17
EAT THE DEVIL FISH
Hawaiians Consider 1t Toothsome
Article of Diet
In the bahamas and Bermvdaa the
Ugly Sea Monster IL Much
Sought for ~
Fishermen.

In few things does man show his
perennial curiosity more than in his
patient and often enthusiastic investi-
cations into the question of eating.
There hardly is anything in the animal,
vegetable and mineral kingdoms which
some human being has not tried to eat
at some time or another.
Now that we have taken up the white
mans burden, the United States prob
ably has within it's possessions wider
range OF gastronomic attainment than
| is boosted by any other nation in the
world In Georgia there are clay eat
ers. In the island of Mindanao wa have
man eaters. In Alaska they have been
eating dog with abandon and loud cries
Of "Morel" Some of our Indian wards
dote on dried and mashed grasshoppers.
Our Chinese squatters eat sharks fins
and birds nests. But, aside from the
diet of roast and boiled man, which is
more an eccentricity than a studied ac-
| QUESTION OF taste, the queerest appetite
is in our Hawaiian possessions, where
poi and devil fish are the delicacies that
can lure the dusky and palpitating per-
sons OF those ATTITUDES from home and
mother.
Poi is well known now. II has been
described often, though wryingly.
Some writers of delicate sensibili''cs
have not mentioned that which grc ser
writers have described most lovingly;
the process of chewing which the root
undergoes before II IL considered AT for
poi.
Emphatically, poi is something that
is edible only II you do not know how
il has been made.
However, poi is not as curious as devil
fish. To the unprecedented observer
there is nothing dangerously tempting
in a devil fish. The face OF the devil
fish is not his fortune. II is a fiat face
with a beak in the middle andstwo
staring, fiat fiend's goggles that make
the. little waves break when he looks
1t them. This pleasing countenance il
made fast from behind TO a gray, ghost
Eight arms complete the engaging Tout
ensemble.
Still. ugly as he is, even the devil fish
has friends. though they are only de-
signing friends. who like him better
when he Is inside OF them than other
wise. To get him into this likeable con-
dition there are various methods. In
the Bahamas and in Bermuda. the gem
tie and unindustrious colored fisherman
lets his boat float slowly over the coral
reefs till he sees the waving tentacles
OF the big eyes OF one Of the creatures.
Then he gently sticks long pole with
q sharp hook at the end OF IL into the
water and lowers IL till II is in front of
the devil fish's submarine villa. Then
| the devil fish gets angry. being of n
choleric and infirm temper always, and
he grabs the stick. The hook grabs the
devil fish, and he is hRa.ed into the boat,
where he usually tries TO eat the darby.
Failing in this, he gives way TO lively
grief, and presses his large. expressive
face TO the bottom Of the boat. arrang-
| ing his eight arms in graceful circle
all around his body till he looks like
tentacled Niobe.
In Hawaii they Ash for the octopus
with hook which In made Of a straight
piece of wood about FIVE or six inches
long. On the upper side IL spliced
piece of mother Of pearl, and below 10
piece Of lead. Two short prongs Of
brass are fastened TO the other end Of
the stick Octopus, who is as imuplsiye
as he IL chronicaIly belligerent and hun
cry. darts at this continuance as soon
as he sees IL play In the water, and the
end Is the fish market and poi-lined
grave in the dark interior Of o Hawaiian
stomach.
The devil fish that are caught In Ha-
wnilan waters DO not attain the enor-
nous sire that IL reached by the spe-
cies in other seas. but fairly large ones
are caught every little while, and the
Fishermen don't like 20 tackle big one
/ in the harbor of Honolulu any more
than they do in other waters.
In China the plucky fishermen jump
/ overheard when they catch an octopus
/ in their nets. In Bermuda waters no
darky can be persuaded to take the cob
lector out 10 hunt big devil fish. They
win 70 after the little fellows, but they
are In deadly fear OF any that are above
the average in sire.
The octopus and the squid. hrst eous-
ins TO each other. both have pleasant
habit Of ejecting an inky Auid-sepis-
from their bag-bodies whea they are
alarmed or attacked This fluid 10 -
thick and strongly tinted that the
water becomes absolutely Opaque for
many yards aroend the spot. and. COW
cred By his homemade darkness. the
devil hah ssesYea his enemies.-N. Y.
Pr43s.