Echeneis naucrates, Linn., occurs at Malacca. The Malays consider this fish to be powerful manure for fruit trees.
Engraulis Brownii, Gmelin, inhabits the sea and estuaries of the Malayan Peninsula and islands, China Sea, New Zealand, /Madura, Java, Sumatra, Bombay, Coromandel, Bay of Bengal, Gangetic estuaries, Isle of France,' Australia, New York, Ilavana, Jamaica, Vera Cruz, :Martinique, Bar badoes, St. Christopher, Rio Janeiro. Total length, 6 inches. In Java, Sumatra, and the Straits of Malacca, larg,o quantities are preserved both for local consumptton and exportation to China and India. The delicious red fish condiment (I kan merah of the :Malays), or Malacca fish, used as a relish, is prepared at Bencoolen as follows :—After the heads have been removed, the fishes (those of middling size are preferred) are cleansed, salted (in the proportion of one to eight parts of fish), and deposited in flat glazed earthen vessels. In the latter they are for three days submitted to pressure by means of stones placed on thin boards or dried plantain leaves. The fishes are next freed from salt, and saturated with vinegar of COCOA palm toddy, after which are added powdered ginger and black pepper (the latter mostly entire), and some brandy and powdered red rice. After having beet' kept for three days, a little more vinegar is added before placing the fishes in well-closed jars or bottles. They should bo kept four or five months before being used The expense of a quart bottle of tho condiment in about 30 cents, the wiling price one Spanish dollar. Tho Chinese settlers in the Straits prerere a similar red con diment with slices of Polynemus Indicus and P. tetradactylus, and also prawns.
Red rice is the variety of Oryza sativa called glutinosa (Pulut or l3ras sepulut of the Malays), steeped in an infusion of cochineal. in the Straka Settlements red rice is imported trout China, and sells at the rate of 10 centa of a dollar per pound.
Erwin insidiatris, Bloch, and Einula longimana, Cantor, also Gazza equulaformis, Ruppell, are very abundant in the Straits of Malacca at all seasons, and quantities, both fresh and dried, are consumed by the natives.
Guorami, a fish of the Mauritius, is esteemed of more delicate flavour than the salmon or turbot.
- Harpodon nehereus, the bummalo or Bombay duck, and Saurus nehereus of B. H., has the upper part of its head, back, and sides light grey or dust-coloured, semi-transparent like gelatine, with minute star-like black and brownish dots ; the anterior part of the abdomen is pale silvery bluish, rest whitish ; cheeks and opereles pale silvery bluish, dotted like the body ; fins trans parent, coloured like the body, but more closely dotted, so as to appear pale blackish. It inhabits the sea of the Malayan Peninsula and islands, Chusan, Woosung, Canton, Madura, Java, Su matra, Tenasserim, mouths of the Ganges, Viza gapatam, Bay of Bengal, Bombay, Malabar. The total length is 11 inches. The fish is of most voracious habits, gorging itself with its own species, and other fishes of nearly its own size, and with crustacea (shrimps). It is frequently taken with the stomach and the jaws expanded with prey. It is very short-lived, more so than either S. trachinus or S. myops, and the whole body becomes at certain seasons brilliantly phos phorescent. In the Straits af Malacca it is at all times very numerous, although less so than it is at the Sandheads or in the mouths of the Ganges. Although very rich, it is a great delicacy immedi ately after it is taken. Salted and dried, it is also highly valued, and in this state it occurs in commerce under the denomination of Bombay ducks, the Bummalo of Bengal, and the Bamiah of Bombay, large quantities of which are annually exported front Bombay and the Malabar coast to all parts of India and to I,ondon.
Henziramphus Russelli, Cuv. and Val., is the Toda pendek of the Malays (pendek, short). The Malays thus denominate all the species of Hemi ramphus, to distinguish them from those of Belone (toda) of the Malays. At Penang, H. Russelli is numerous at all seasons, and larger individuals occur at irregular intervals. They appear at European tables under the appellation of guard fish.