The silver messenger. (Challis, Idaho) 1890-1912, 1899-10-10
EAT THE DEVIL FISH
Ina the bahamas and Dermgdss tks
Ugly Sea Monster Ia Much
Sought for by
Ftshswm@m

Sou8nk foF @F
Ffshsrmem
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 its possessions wider
range of gastronomic attainment than
is boosted by any other nation in the
world. In Georgia there are clay eat
e-s. In the island OF Mindanao we have
man eaters. In Alaska they have been
eating dog with abandon and loud cries
of "Aore!" Some of our Indian wards
dote on dried and mashed grasshoppers-
Our Chinese suuatters eat sharks fins
and birds nests But. aside from the
diet CT roast and boiled man, which is
more an eccentricity than 4 studied ac-
QUESTION of taste, the quee-e5t appetite
is in our Hawaiian possessions, where
POI and devil fish are the delicacics that
can lure the dusky and FACILITATING per
SONS of those ATTITUDES from home and
mother.
Poi is well known now. 1t has been
described often, though vlryingIy
Some writer's of delicate sensibilities
I have not mentioned that which grosser
writer's have described most lovingly;
the process of chewing which the root
undergoes before it is considered fit for
poi.
Emphatically, poi is something that
is edible only if you do not know how
/ it 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. 1t is fat face
with beak in the middle andftxo
/ staring, fct fiend's goggles that make
4 the little waves break when he looks
/ at them. This pleasing countenance is
I made fast from behind to gray, ghost
/ " bag like the bioated body of spider.
Eight arms complete the engaging tout
I 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 gen.
tie and manifestations colored fishermen
lets his boat float slowly over the coral
reefs till he sees the waving tentacles
or the big eyes Of one of the creatures
| Then he gently sticks long POLE with
Il sharp hook at tho end CT il into the
water and lowers it till it Is in front of
the devil fish's submarine villa Then
the devil fish gets angry. being of a
choleric and infrm temper always, and
he gratis the stick. The hook grabs the
devil fish. and he is hauled into the boat,
where be usually tries to eat the darky.
Failing in this, he gives way to lively
grief, and presses his large. expressive
face 10 the bottom OF the boat. arrang-
ing his eight arms in graceful circle
all around his body till he looks like
tentacled Niche.
In Laval; they fish for the octopus
with hook which is made of q straight
piece of wood about five or six inches
long. On the upper side is spliced n
piece of mother of pearl, cnd below is
q piece Of lead. Two short nrongs of
brass IRE fastened TO the ether end of
the stick. Octopus. who is as i-nuplsive
as he is chronically belligerent and hum
cry, darts at this contri-ance Gs soon
as he sees it play in the water. and the
r - ,f,I
grave in the dark interior of Hawaiian
stomach.
The devil fish thst are caught in Ha-
waiian waters do not attain the enor-
nous size that is reached by the spe-
cies in other seas, but fairly large ones
are caught every little while. and the
fishermen don't like to tackle a big one
in the harbor of Honolulu any more
than they do in ether waters.
In China the plucky fishermen jump
overheard when they catch an octopus
in their nets. In Bermuda waters no
darby can be persuaded to take the col
lector out to hunt big devil fish. They
will 20 after the little fellows, but they
are in deadly fear of any that are above
the average in size.
The octopus and the squid, first cous-
ms to each other, both have pleasant
habit of eiccting an inky fiuid-sepia-
from their bag-bodies when they are
alarmed or attacked. This fluid is so
thick and strongly tinted that the
water becomes absolutely Opaque for
many yards around the spot, and. COW
cred by his homemade darkness, the
devil fish escapes his enemies.-N. Y.
Press.
Preserving Dead Bodies.