Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1901-08-17


hours. They have now shrunken to the
length Of six inches and look like we'll
cooked Frankfurter sausages. They are
next bagged up and shipped to China. The
best of them will sell here for $500 a ton.
and the exports amount to many thousand
dollars a year.
Through the Queensland government 1
have been able to get photographs OF
these curious sea worms and also some
information as to their habits from the
government commissioner of fisheries, w.
Saville Kent. who has recently made a
special study of them. He says they live
on the foraminefera or microscopic shell
animals which are found in great quanti-
ties in the waters Of the coral rocks. Each
slug has hundreds of little feelers about
Its mouth with which 1t brushes the rocks
and draws the food from them into It's
throat. 1t might be better to say that each
sea worm has hundreds of trunks corre-
spending to those of an elephant, save that
they are Of infinitesimal size, and that
with each Of them 1t picks up its food and
puts 1t in it's mouth.
There are different varieties Of beehe de
mer, the red and black bringing the high
est price, There are some kinds which are
not worth the gathering, and of these one
Is known as the cotton fish because It
elects mass OF white cOttOny stuff upon
anything that seizes 1T, the stuff adherin5
with extreme tenacity to all it touches.
The matter elected is 50 strong that the
making of cement from it is talked of.
1t has also some of the properties OF rub
not be used for similar purposes.
Shark Fins mt $500 a Ton.
Another Chinese delicacy which Is found
in and about Torres strait Is sharks fins.
The waters of the Barrier reef and about
New Guinea are filled with sharks. and
they can be caught by the hundreds Their
fins are eagerly bought by the Chinese
who will pay as much as $500 ton for
| them. A recent shipment here sold at $500
ton and In the reports Of the Australian
government see 1t suggested that the in
dustry be encouraged. The fins are dried
| in the sun and then bagged up for ship
ment. In cooking them after the Chinese
| fashion they are first boiled with wood
ashes in several waters and then scraped
this there is another boiling in spring
water to take out the ash taste, and they
are then stewed in a soup and served with
crab meat and little ham.
The Prince of Wales Islands.
I am surprised at the number of islands
scattered over this part of the globe. The
South Pacific ocean is peppered with them.
and 1 shall be travelling In and out
| among islands for weeks on my way to
Java. From the steamer as 1t lies in the
Thursday Island harbor half dozen island
groups are in sight. To the right Is Horn
Island, where the Australians are now
mining for gold. Close by and below 1t
the Prince of Wales Island, which gives
the name to the Torres Strait group A
little further over Is BOBBY Island, and to
the northeast are Murray Island, Darnley
Island and others. Each Of these islands
has its own curious people, who In many
cases are not unlike the aborigines of Aus
tralia, save that they seem to be more
civilized. Some have huts of straw rhatch
which look for all the world like hay
stacks followed out for houses. Murray
Island has a court house, where the En-
glish judges hold forth. which the natives
consider a wonderful structure. 1t Is a
mud building of one story rooted with
straw thatch.
The Missions Of the South Seas.
The missionaries are at work in all the
islands and also In British and German New
Guinea. In Dutch New Guinea there are
Wilhelm's Land three Protestant and two
Catholic missionary societies are at work.
In British New Guinea the work has
gone on for twenty years. and there are
now a large number Of native evangelists.
Mr.. Dauncey, one of the missionaries, who
has spent ten years there, tells me the
people are being slowly but surely civilized,
One missionary society has 10000 native
Christians and 1.6OO church members. It
has more than 100 native preachers. and in
it's Sunday schools there are 900 scholars,
while in the common schools the scholars
number 1000 boys and 600 girls.
On one Of the islands OFF southern New
Guinea the Roman Catholics are doing
great deal Of work. They have eighteen
priests and a number Of lay brothers; they
have twenty-three chapels and a number
of schools, in which there are a thousand
scholars. So far the missions are entirely
English and French, the Americans not
having entered the field.
FRANK G. CARPENTER