She recognized them at once, and I saw that they were familiar to her.

I then spoke of eating them, but at this proposal she recoiled in horror.

She could not give any reason for her repugnance, but merely said that among her people they were regarded as something equivalent to vermin, and I found that she would no more think of eating one than I would think of eating a rat.

Upon this I had to throw them away, and we once more resumed our search.
At last we came to a place where numbers of dead fish lay on the sand.
Nearer the water they were more fresh, and not at all objectionable.
I picked up a few which looked like our common smelt, and found that Almah had no objection to these.

But now the question arose how to cook them; neither of us could eat them raw.