Page:History of the Indian Archipelago Vol 3.djvu/456

 440 COMMERCIAL DESCRIPTION OF bolder and the seas deeper, the fish are scarcer and less abundant. The edible fish are numerous, among which the pomfret, the calcap, and the sole, are the most delicate. A great variety of fish are dried in the sun, and form a considerable article of commerce, fish being in this state, — for little or none is consumed fresh, — an article of as universal con- sumption among the Indian islanders as flesh is in cold countries. The preparation which fish undergo consists simply in drying them in the sun, for pick- ling is hardly ever had recourse to. Of one species, a kind of shad, which frequents the great river of Siak in Sumatra, the dried roe, of enormous size, constitutes an article of commerce. The common price of ordinary salt or dried fish may be stated at two Spanish dollars per picul, or 7s. 6|d per cwt. Ordinary dried fish forms no portion of the fo- reign exports of the Indian islands, but three sin- gular modifications of it do, fish-ma'wSj shark*s JinSy and tripang^ or sea slug, all of which are sent to China in large quantity. The first is a favour- ite article of the strange luxury of the inhabitants of that country, often bringing as high as 7^ Spa- nish dollars per picul, or L. 14, 3s. 6d. per cwt. in the market of Canton. Shark* sjins are exported to China from every maritime country of India, from the Arabian Gulf to the Indian islands. They are articles of luxury rather than of neces-