t food and most innocent in their
habits, one would flee precipitately at sight of them.

Catching the _varo_ is a delicate and skilful art. They live in the
shallows near the beach, digging their holes in the sand under two
or three feet of water. When the wind ruffles the surface, it is
impossible to see the holes, but on calm days we waded knee-deep in
the clear water, stepping carefully and peering intently for the
homes of the sea-centipede. Finding one, we cautiously lowered into
the hole a spool fitted with a dozen hooks.

A pair of the creatures inhabits the same den. If the male was at
home, he seized the grapnel and was quickly lifted and captured, the
hooks being lowered again for the female. But if the female emerged
first, it was a sure sign that her mate was absent.

I pondered as to this habit of the _varo_, and would have liked to
persuade me that the male, being a courteous shrimp, combatted the
invading hooks first in an effort to protect his mate. But the
grapnel is baited with fish, and though masculine pride could wish
that chivalry urged the creature to defend his domestic shrine, it
appears regrettably certain that he is merely after the bait, to
which he clings with such selfish obstinacy that he sacrifices his
liberty and his life. However, the lady soon shows the same grasping
tendency, and their deserted tenement is filled by the shifting sands.

Catching _varo_ calls for much patience and dexterity. I never
succeeded in landing one, but Teata would often skip back to the
sands of the beach with a string of them. Six would make a good meal,
with bread and wine, and they are most enjoyable hot, though also
most dangerous.

"Begin their eating by sucking one cold," warned Exploding Eggs when
presiding over my first feast upon the twelve-inch centipedes.
"If he does not grip you inwardly, you may then eat them hot and in
great numbers."

Many white men can not eat the _varo_. Some lose appetite at its
appearance, its likeness to a gigantic thousand-leg, and others find
that it rests uneasy within them, as though each claw, or tooth of
the comb, viciously stabbed their interiors. I found them excellent
when wrapped in leaves of the _hotu_-tree and fried in brown butter,
and they were very good when broiled over a fire on the beach. One
takes the beastie in his fingers and sucks out the meat. Beginners
should keep their eyes closed during this operation.

CHAPTER XXXV

Court day in