| Piculs. | Cost of outfit. Dolls. | Sales. Dolls. | ||
| 1st | voyage | 617 | 1,101 | 8,021 |
| 2nd | ” | 700 | 1,200 | 17,500 |
| 3rd | ” | 1,080 | 3,396 | 15,120 |
| 4th | ” | 840 | 1,200 | 12,600 |
| 5th | ” | 1,200 | 3,500 | 27,000 |
‘A further profit also arises from the investment of the proceeds in Canton. Capt. Eagleston also obtained 4,488 pounds of tortoise shell, at a cost of 5,700 dollars, which sold in the United States for 29,050 dollars net.
In Mr. Crawfurd’s Indian Archipelago, vol. iii., there are also the following details:—
‘The tripang is an unseemly-looking substance, of a dirty brown colour, hard, rigid, scarcely possessing any power of locomotion, nor appearance of animation. Some of the fish are occasionally as much as two feet in length, and from seven to eight inches in circumference: the length of a span, and the girth of from two to three inches, however, is the ordinary size. The quality or value of the fish, however, does by no means depend upon its size, but upon properties in them neither obvious to, nor discernible by, those who have not had a long and intimate experience of the trade. The Chinese merchants are almost the only persons who possess this skill, even the native fishermen themselves being often ignorant on the subject, and always leaving the cargo to be assorted by the Chinese on their return to port. The commercial classification made by the Chinese is curious and particular. In the market of Macassar, the greatest staple of this fishery, not less than thirty varieties are distinguished, varying in price from five Spanish dollars per picul to fourteen times that price, each being particularized by well-known names. To satisfy curiosity, I shall give a few of them, with their ordinary price:—
| Tacheritaug (grey sort) | 68 | Spanish dollars. | |
| Batu-basar (great stone) | 54 | ” | |
| Batu-taugah (middling stone) | 22 | ” | |
| Batu-kachil (small stone) | 14 | ” | |
| Itaur-basar (great black) | 30 | ” | |
| Itaur-taugah (middling black) | 15 | ” | |
| Itaur-kachil (small black) | 8 | ” | |
| Tundaug | 24 | ” | |
| Kunyit | 9 | ” | |
| Douga | 7 | ” | |
| Japou | 12 | ” | |
| Mosi | 9 | ” | |
| Kauasa | 5 | ” | |
| Pachaug-goreug | 5 | ” | |
| Gama | 12 | ½ | ” |
| Taikougkoug | 13 | ½ | ” |
| Mareje (New Holland) | 19 | ” | |
| Kayu-jawa | 26 | ” | |
| Baukuli | 20 | ” |
‘It is evident from this account that the tripang trade is one in which no stranger can embark with any safety, and it is consequently almost entirely in the hands of the Chinese. The actual fishery is managed, however, exclusively by the natives. The fish are caught by them on ledges of coral rock, usually at the depth of from three to five fathoms. The larger kinds, when in shallow water, are occasionally speared; but the most common mode of taking them is by diving for them in the manner practised for pearl oysters, and taking them up with the hands.’
*****
I have now gone through the list of ordinary and extraordinary foreign delicacies, and no doubt many of these have been read with surprise.
But there are many unexplained things in the food we Englishmen consume even at the present time; for instance, although in the knackers’ yards we can account for every other portion of the carcase of the dead horse, no one knows what becomes of the heart and the tongue. Dr. Playfair, when lecturing at the South Kensington Museum recently, ‘on the application of Waste Substances,’ was staggered on this point, and therefore he had to inscribe it on his board ‘a mystery.’ It is questionable to my mind whether many of the smoked ostensible ox-tongues, imported from Russia, are not veritable horse-tongues.
The numerous herds of wild horses in Russia would easily furnish the 500 cwt. of tongues we import.