OCEAN SEASONS
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251
fully protruded it breaks off and wriggles‘ to the surface,
while the head end of the Wormëshrinks back into its hole.
The worms are several inches in length, the males being
light brown and ochre in colour and the females greyish
indigo and green.
At the time of spawning the sea becomes
discoloured all. around by_. the countless oating eggs,
The natives are always ready for the spawning swarms
as they relish the worms as food.
They catch them by
dipping. them up in special baskets and so greatly do they
esteem them that the native chiefs send them as presents
to those living inland.
The worms are eaten either cooked
and wrapt up in bread-fruit leaves, or quite un-dressed.
When cooked they are said to resemble spinach, and taste
and smell not unlike fresh sh’s roe.
‘
From remote antiquity it has evidently been the custom
of the natives to watch,for them, for the natives of Fiji,
who call them
Mbalolo,” have incorporated-them in_their
calendars. They call the parts of the year corresponding
'
to the October and November»swarming periods“‘ Mbalolo
lailai ”
(little)and
“
Mbalolo levu ” (large), the November
swarms.being the greater of the two.
.
.
‘
,
The natives rst note the’approach of the season-by
—
appearance of the scarlet owers‘ of the
_
“ _Aloalo ”
(Ery—
_
'
tha/ina indica).
They Watch for the bwerig of other
plants until the “ Seasea ” (Eugem‘a) is in bloom. ,Then
they look for the moon being just,on the horizon at the dawn
ofday, and on the tenth morning the Palolo worms appear.
However, sometimes the extra lunar_ month throws out
their calculations.
.
'
In Savaii the approach. of the1Palolo is heralded three
days beforehand by the appearance ofæthe 5‘ Malio ”
or
'
land
crabs
(Gecarcin_us) =-—which ——march down from
the
mountains to the see. in swarms (Plate 89).—
.
'
.
The natives of the Gilbert Isles say that the Palolo is a