Page:Twenty years before the mast - Charles Erskine, 1896.djvu/177

 Captain Hudson captured the celebrated chief, Vendovi, who in 1834 massacred eleven of the crew of the American brig Charles Dagget of Salem, Captain Batcheller  commander. The Dagget's boat went ashore early one morning, and the crew had proceeded half-way up to  the beche de mer house when they were suddenly surprised by a party of these cannibals who had been lying  in ambush. They were seized and firmly held, while the chief, Vendovi, knocked them on the head with his  handy billy, a small war-club made of iron-wood. This horrible crime was committed in order to get possession  of the trading or Jew box, containing cheap trinkets, and  some hatchets, plane-irons, etc. The Dagget was a  South Sea trader, for sandal-wood, tortoise-shell, and  beche de mer, which were taken to China and traded for  teas and silks. Nearly all the Pacific and Chinese trade carried on in this country eighty years ago was confined  to Salem. The sandal-wood referred to is a deliciously fragrant, scented wood. The Chinese burn it in their temples as incense to their gods. The beche de mer, or sea-slug, is a sort of round jelly-fish, from six to twelve  inches long, and two in diameter, and of a reddish- brown color. They are found in great abundance on the coral reefs. The natives fish for them at night by the light of the moon, and with torches. These fish hide themselves during the day in the crevices of the coral  reefs. They sally forth at night and creep out upon the reefs like caterpillars. After they are gathered they are thoroughly dried, or cured, and then resemble a well-fried sausage. The Chinese make an excellent soup of them; the natives eat them raw.