RED FISH of the Pacific Ocean is the Holocentrus ruber. A red fish eaten by Cap tain Cook's crew proved poisonous to some who partook of it. Red fish is a condiment of the Malay Peninsula ; fish roes and sardines are made into condiments, and the species of fish used in their preparation are Alausa toli (Ikan truboh), Engraulis Brownii (Bunga ayer or badah), Dussumieria acuta (Tamban-bulat), and Clupeonia perforata (Tamban-nepes or batuh). Engraulis Brownii, Gmelin, inhabits the sea and the estuaries of all seas. Total length, 6 inches. In Java, Sumatra, and the Straits of Malacca, large quan tities are preserved both for home consumption and exportation to China and India. The delicious condiment is famed under the denomination of red fish (Ikan merah of the Malays) or Malacca fish, and is used as a relish. At Bencoolen and Malacca, 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 sub
mitted 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. vinegar with powdered ginger and black pepper (the latter mostly entire), and some spirits and powdered red rice. After having been kept for three days, a little more vinegar is added before placing the fishes in well-closed jars or bottles. They should be kept four or five months before being used. The expenses of a quart bottle of the condiment is about 30 cents, the selling price one Spanish dollar. Chinese settlers in the Straits prepare a similar red condhnent with slices of Polynemus Indicus and P. tetradactylus, and also with prawns.—W. T. Lewis, Esq., Penang ; G. Bennett, p. 21.