DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.49708#0110
, THE
MALDIVES.
Productions and
Manufactures.
Notes.
94
SESSIONAL PAPERS, 1881.
Mo weigh’)—not counted—in selling. This is the practice in Mulaku, Felidu, Ari, Male, and, it is
said, all Atols further north.
But in I-Iuvadu and Fua Mulaku Island, and sometimes in Adda Atol, these fish are cut up, as
in Fig III., and called by the name of the respective Atol or Island ;
Fig. III.
a a a a = M. gadu,
b — M. bird or uguru,
and in Addu Atol as shown in Fig IV.
Fig. IV.
b — M. bird.
The march of civilization has introduced modern weights (cwts. qrs. and lbs.) into the
Maldives, but until recently the different pieces of Maidive fish had a relative value to one another.
Thus ;—4 pieces medu mas = 2 gadu mas (of the same fish); 8 gadu mas — 7 pieces Himiti-mas,
—bird mas, as above said, being valued against their weight of gadu mas, &c.
When the fish have been divided into the desired number of pieces, these are washed with salt
water, then thrown into a caldron (or chatty) of boiling saltwater and allowed to remain for a few
minutes only, to prevent the flesh becoming too soft. It is said to be important that the water
should be boiling from the first. On being taken out they are placed on the wattle loft or shelf
(M. mehi, S. mess ad) above the fire. There they are left three or four days till well blackened and
dried, after which, if necessary, they are exposed to the sun to be finished.
Thus dried they are, as is well known, of the appearance and consistency of blocks of wood.
Fish-curing is carried on at the Maldives all the year round, but chiefly in the dry season
from January to July. The same process obtains throughout the group, and it is worthy of note
that it has remained unchanged since Pyrard’s day (a.d. 1602—1607.) “The fish,” says he,
“which is caught in this manner, is called in their language by the general term ‘cobolly masse’
because they are all black. They cook them in salt water, and then dry them by the fire on clayes
so thoroughly that when dry they keep for a very long time. It is in this commodity they carry
on so extensive a traffic, not only among themselves, but they even supply the rest of India, where
this article is in great request.” (p. 138). And again (p. 141): “ The fish which are found on the
banks or lagoons of the Atols are called in the Maidive language ‘phare masse’ [M. faru mas,~\
that is to say, ‘rock fish’; because ‘phare’* is a ‘bank’ or ‘shelf of rock,’ ‘masse’ is ‘fish.’ The
other kind which is caught in the high (open) sea is called, as I have already said, ‘ combolly masse,’
that is to say ‘ black fish.’ It is in this that they have so large a trade, and with which they
supply all the coasts of the Continent. It is cooked in salt water and dried, for it is not otherwise
salted ; although sometimes they salt some of it, yet it remains always in the brinef until wanted.
B-ut it is not this that they export or send away. As there is no salt made at the Maldives, that
of which they make use comes from the coast of Malabar, and it would not suffice for so large a
quantity of fish as is daily caught for the supply of the inhabitants as well as for trade. For, in
truth, I believe there is no place throughout India, nor elsewhere, where the fishery is richer and
more plentiful.”
Two and-a-half centuries earlier Ibn Batuta (A. D. 1344) also wrote of this fishery:—“ The
food of the natives consists of a fish like the lyroun, which they call houlb al mas. Its flesh is
red ; it has no grease, but its smell resembles that of mutton. When caught at the fishery, each
* S. 2)ara. in gatpara ‘reef.’
f I.e., “the fish blood” and “ salt fish” occasionally imported into Ceylon, called by the Maldivians rhi-hahuru
(lit. ‘ fish sugar’.) This consists of the broth in which the bonito has been boiled, to which old scraps are added from
time to time, the whole after two or three days being again boiled down to a gelatinous syrup containing more solid
lumps.
MALDIVES.
Productions and
Manufactures.
Notes.
94
SESSIONAL PAPERS, 1881.
Mo weigh’)—not counted—in selling. This is the practice in Mulaku, Felidu, Ari, Male, and, it is
said, all Atols further north.
But in I-Iuvadu and Fua Mulaku Island, and sometimes in Adda Atol, these fish are cut up, as
in Fig III., and called by the name of the respective Atol or Island ;
Fig. III.
a a a a = M. gadu,
b — M. bird or uguru,
and in Addu Atol as shown in Fig IV.
Fig. IV.
b — M. bird.
The march of civilization has introduced modern weights (cwts. qrs. and lbs.) into the
Maldives, but until recently the different pieces of Maidive fish had a relative value to one another.
Thus ;—4 pieces medu mas = 2 gadu mas (of the same fish); 8 gadu mas — 7 pieces Himiti-mas,
—bird mas, as above said, being valued against their weight of gadu mas, &c.
When the fish have been divided into the desired number of pieces, these are washed with salt
water, then thrown into a caldron (or chatty) of boiling saltwater and allowed to remain for a few
minutes only, to prevent the flesh becoming too soft. It is said to be important that the water
should be boiling from the first. On being taken out they are placed on the wattle loft or shelf
(M. mehi, S. mess ad) above the fire. There they are left three or four days till well blackened and
dried, after which, if necessary, they are exposed to the sun to be finished.
Thus dried they are, as is well known, of the appearance and consistency of blocks of wood.
Fish-curing is carried on at the Maldives all the year round, but chiefly in the dry season
from January to July. The same process obtains throughout the group, and it is worthy of note
that it has remained unchanged since Pyrard’s day (a.d. 1602—1607.) “The fish,” says he,
“which is caught in this manner, is called in their language by the general term ‘cobolly masse’
because they are all black. They cook them in salt water, and then dry them by the fire on clayes
so thoroughly that when dry they keep for a very long time. It is in this commodity they carry
on so extensive a traffic, not only among themselves, but they even supply the rest of India, where
this article is in great request.” (p. 138). And again (p. 141): “ The fish which are found on the
banks or lagoons of the Atols are called in the Maidive language ‘phare masse’ [M. faru mas,~\
that is to say, ‘rock fish’; because ‘phare’* is a ‘bank’ or ‘shelf of rock,’ ‘masse’ is ‘fish.’ The
other kind which is caught in the high (open) sea is called, as I have already said, ‘ combolly masse,’
that is to say ‘ black fish.’ It is in this that they have so large a trade, and with which they
supply all the coasts of the Continent. It is cooked in salt water and dried, for it is not otherwise
salted ; although sometimes they salt some of it, yet it remains always in the brinef until wanted.
B-ut it is not this that they export or send away. As there is no salt made at the Maldives, that
of which they make use comes from the coast of Malabar, and it would not suffice for so large a
quantity of fish as is daily caught for the supply of the inhabitants as well as for trade. For, in
truth, I believe there is no place throughout India, nor elsewhere, where the fishery is richer and
more plentiful.”
Two and-a-half centuries earlier Ibn Batuta (A. D. 1344) also wrote of this fishery:—“ The
food of the natives consists of a fish like the lyroun, which they call houlb al mas. Its flesh is
red ; it has no grease, but its smell resembles that of mutton. When caught at the fishery, each
* S. 2)ara. in gatpara ‘reef.’
f I.e., “the fish blood” and “ salt fish” occasionally imported into Ceylon, called by the Maldivians rhi-hahuru
(lit. ‘ fish sugar’.) This consists of the broth in which the bonito has been boiled, to which old scraps are added from
time to time, the whole after two or three days being again boiled down to a gelatinous syrup containing more solid
lumps.