Ma
Bonne.
355
day from the Place du Fort : the variety seems to be infinite. I have learned, however, one curious fact which is worth noting : that, as a general rule, the more beautifully colored fish are the least palatable, and are sought after only by the poor. The perroquet, black, with bright bands of red and yellow; the cirurgien, blue and black ; the patate, yellow and black ; the moringue, which looks like polished granite ; the souri, pink and yellow ; the vermilion Goubs-zie ; the rosy sade ; the red Bon-Di'emanii-moin
(" the-Good-God-handled-me " ) — i t
has two
queer marks as of great fingers ; and the various kinds of all-blue fish, balaou, conliou, etc., varying from steelcolor to violet,—these are seldom seen at the tables of the rich. There are exceptions, of course, to this and all general rules : notably the couronné, pink spotted beautifully with black,—a sort of Redfish, which never sells less than fourteen cents a pound ; and the zorphi, which has exquisite changing lights of nacreous green and purple. It is said, however, that the zorphi is sometimes poisonous, like the bêcunne ; and there are many fish which, although not venomous by nature, have always been considered dangerous. In the time of Père Dutertre it was believed these fish ate the apples of the manchineel-tree, washed into the sea by rains ;—to-day it is popularly supposed that they are rendered occasionally poisonous b y eating the barnacles attached to copper-plating of ships. T h e tazard, the tune, the capitaine, the dorade, the perroquet, the couliou, the congre, various crabs, and even the tonne, — all are dangerous unless perfectly fresh : the least decomposition seems to develop a mysterious poison. A singular phenomenon regarding the poisoning occasionally produced by the bécunne and dorade is that the skin peels from the hands and feet of those lucky enough to survive the terrible colics, burnings, itchings, and delirium, which are early symptoms. Happily these accidents are very rare,