Pirarucú, the dried fish, which with farinha forms the chief subsistence of the native population of Brazil, and in the interior is the only thing to be obtained, resembles in appearance nothing eatable, looking as much like a dry cow-hide, grated up into fibres, and dressed into cakes, as anything I can compare it with. When eaten, it is boiled or slightly roasted, pulled to pieces and mixed with vinegar, oil, pepper, onions, and farinha, and altogether forms a very savoury mess for a person with a good appetite and a strong stomach.
If we pass to the Pacific coasts of South America, we find the most esteemed fish are the robalo, the corvino, the lisa, and the king-fish.
The robalo (Esox Chilensis, Hemiramphus Brazillensis of Cuvier,) is nearly of a cylindrical form, and from two to three feet long. It is coated with angular scales of a golden colour upon the back, and silver on the belly; the fins are soft and without spines, the tail is truncated, and the back marked longitudinally with a blue stripe, bordered with yellow. The flesh is very white, almost transparent, light, and of a delicious taste. Those taken upon the Araucanian coast are the most in repute, where they are sometimes caught of eight pounds weight. The Indians of Chiloe smoke them, after having cleaned and soaked them for 24 hours in sea water, and, when sufficiently dry, pack them up in casks of 100 each, which are generally sold for about three dollars. The robalo prepared in this manner is said to be superior to any other kind of dried fish.
The corvino (Sparus Chilensis) is nearly of the same size as the robalo; it is sometimes, however, found of five or six feet in length. This fish has a small head, and a large oval body, covered with broad, rhomboidal scales, of a mother-of-pearl colour, marked with white. The tail is forked, and the body encircled obliquely, from the shoulders to the belly, with a number of brownish lines. The fins are armed with spiny rays, and the flesh is white, firm, and of a good taste, particularly when fried. It would probably be better still if it were prepared like that of the tunny.
The lisa (Mugil Chilensis) in its form, scales, and back is much like the common mullet, but is distinguished by the dorsal fin, which in the lisa is entire. There are two species of this fish, the sea and the river lisa, neither of which exceeds a foot in length; the first is a very good fish, but the latter is so exquisite, that it is preferred by many to the best of trout.
Another esteemed fresh-water fish of Chile is the bagre, or luvur (Silenus Chilensis, probably the A. geneionis inermis), which has a smooth skin, without scales, and is brown upon the sides, and whitish under the belly. In appearance, it is not very prepossessing, for in form it resembles a tadpole; the head being of a size disproportionate to the length of the body, which does not exceed eleven inches at the most. It has a blunt mouth, furnished like that of the barbel with barbs. It has a sharp spine on the back fins, like the tropical bagre, but its puncture is not venomous, as that is said to be. The flesh is yellow, and the most delicious of any esculent fish that is known. There is said to be another species of this fish inhabiting the sea, which is black—the same, probably, that Anson’s sailors called, from its colour, the chimney-sweep.
While on the subject of fish common to this locality, I may mention that the Abbé Molina states, that ‘the river Talten, which waters the Araucanian provinces, produces a small fish called paye, which, as I have been assured by those who have seen them, is so diaphanous, that if several are placed upon each other, any object beneath them may be distinctly seen. If this property is not greatly exaggerated, this fish might serve to discover the secret process of digestion and the motion of the fluids.’
Mr. Ruschenberger thus describes a Hawaiian restaurant:—‘The earth floor of a straw hovel was covered by mats. Groups of men squatted in a circle, with gourd plates before them, supplied with raw fish and salt-water, and by their side was an enormous gourd, of the dimensions of a wash tub, filled with poë, a sort of paste made of taro. They ate of the raw fish, occasionally sopping the torn animal in the salt water as a sauce, then sucking it, with that peculiar smack which indicates the reception of a delicious morsel.’
The noble salmon, which honest Izaak Walton justly calls, ‘the king of fresh-water fish,’ is too well known as a choice article of food to need description. A jowl of fresh salmon was one of the requisites, in 1444, at the feast of the Goldsmiths’ Company; and in 1473, three quarters of Colnbrook salmon are charged 6s. 4d.; and at a fish dinner of the same company in 1498, among large quantities of fish mentioned, are a fresh salmon 11s.; a great salmon £1; and two salmon-trout 2s. 8d. In 1518, for ij. fresh samon xvijˢ jᵈ Item, a fresh samon xiijˢ iiijᵈ; and in the eighth year of King Henry VIII. iiij. fresh samons are charged xlˢ
In the great rush after gold, the fisheries of the Pacific coast, which have been famous for years past for their extent and value, have not received that attention which they merit. Now that the living tide has again set in strongly towards the North-West, the demand for food to feed the thousands will cause the fishery to be more largely developed. The whole coast is particularly rich in the more valuable species of the finny tribe.