Democratic Sentinel, Volume 17, Number 2, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 27 January 1893 — A Delicious Fish in the East. [ARTICLE]

A Delicious Fish in the East.

One of the queerest fishes in the world is the gouramis, said an ichthyologist. It is native to the fresh waters of Cochin China, Farther India, Java, Sumatra and Borneo. Specimens have been known to attain a length of six feet and weight of one hundred and tec pounds. The flesh is so delicious that efforts have been made to acclimatize the creatures in many other countries, but thus far these attempts have been successful only on the island of Mauritius.

About thirty of them were imported into the island of Cuba and planted in ponds some years ago, but, although they grew and were healthy, they did not breed. Accordingly, after awhile the prospoct of propagating the species became so hopeless that the governor had them served up, one by one, upon hie table upon state occasions. The same difficulty has been met with elsewhere.