A Wonderful Fish.

Hastings Standard, Issue 463, 29 October 1897, Page 4

A Wonderful Fish.

In British Columbia and Alaska, where the usual comforts of life are scarce, bountiful nature has taken a means to provide, in the shape of immense quantities of fish, a source of light, heat, food, and even medicine. The men who are engaged in the profitable business of seal fishing in the Behring Sea and Pacific Ocean havefound that a species of fish of the smelt family inhabit these waters. These fish, in much the same way as the herring, by the irresistible force of instinct are annually led to approach the shores for the purpose of depositing their spawn in the shallow waters. They arrive in vast shoals, keeping closely together, and are caught by the fishermen with nets. After the fish are caught they are dried and stored away until the long winter months arrive, when it gets dark early and the Alaskan is snowed up. Here co.mes an opportunity for using them. Not a bit at a loss for light, the Alaskin takes one of these dried fish, inserts its tail into a crack in his wooden table, and lights its nose. The fish burns with a bright and steady flame of about three candle power, giving a clear, white light and a very considerable amount of heat. A fairly large fish will burn for a period of three hours. The scientific explanation is extremely simple. The vertebrae which form the backbone of the fish are found to bff largely formed of phosphorous, which not only ciuses it to ignite easily, but also accounts for the strength of the flame and the heat developed. The substance of the fish, which consists so largely of fat, acts as a retarder to the rapid burning of the vertebra 1 , in precisely the same way as the tallow acts in an ordinary candle. Valuable as is the " candle fish" for its light-giving properties, it also has its value as a food. If necessary, it can be eaten after having been used as a caudle, it then being simply smoked, or it can be boiled or cooked in the ordinary manner. In whichever way it is treated, to a hungry man it serves as a very wholesome and appetising dish. In flavor it is much like the smelt, having the same sweet taste, but is much fatter. Still another use to which it can be put is as a substitute for cod liver oil, which, if taken in sufficient quantity, by aiding the natural heat of the body, proves an excellent protective against the severe cold. The oil is obtained from the fish by immersing them in cold water and squeezing, the product obtained being almost equal in quality to the genuine cod liver oil.