Chapter III: Part 3

Even that pestilential animal the pole-cat, or skunk, falls a prey to the voracity of hungry men. When care is taken not to soil the carcase with any of the strong smelling fluid exuded by the animal, the meat is considered by the natives of North America to be excellent food. They eat foxes in Italy, where they are sold dear, and thought fit for the table of a cardinal. Mr. Kennedy, a recent voyager to the arctic regions, speaks of the delicacy of a fox pie, which was pronounced by competent authorities in his mess to be equal to rabbit; but then he honestly admits, that there were others to whom it suggested uncomfortable reminiscences of dead cats, and who generally preferred the opposite side of the table, when the dish made its appearance. This repugnance is even shared by the brute creation, for although Esquimaux dogs may kill a fox, they will not eat him. This is the more extraordinary, as they are the most voracious and dirty-feeding animals known; nothing they can possibly get at being safe. Buffalo robes, seal skins, their own harness, even boots, shoes, clothes, and dish cloths are sure to be destroyed.

The prairie wolf is eaten by the Indians of North America. The flesh of the sloth is devoured with great avidity by the natives of Demerara; and that of the lion by the Hottentots, while a tribe of Arabs between Tunis and Algeria, according to Blumenbach, live almost entirely upon its flesh.

The natives of the Malay Peninsula eat the flesh of the tiger, believing it to be a sovereign specific for all diseases, besides imparting to him who partakes of it the courage and sagacity of the animal.

Some people have ventured to eat the _cujuacura_ or American panther, and say it is very delicate food; and the flesh of the wild cat of Louisiana is said to be good to eat.

The flesh of the cougar or puma (_Felis concolor_), a fierce carnivorous animal, is eaten in Central America, and is said to be agreeable food. The injunction of St. Paul, ‘to eat what is set before us, and ask no questions for conscience sake,’ would hardly be a safe maxim in Central America, at an entertainment given ‘under the greenwood tree’ by the ‘Ancient Foresters’ of Honduras. The sylvan dainties would not be composed of precisely the same materials as a _petit diné_ at the _Trois Frères_, or the _Café de Paris_.

Mr. Darwin, in his _Journal of a Naturalist_, tells us that ‘once at supper, from something which was said, I was suddenly struck with horror at thinking I was eating one of the favourite dishes of the country, namely, a half formed calf, long before its proper time of birth. It turned out to be puma; the meat is very white, and remarkably like veal in taste. Dr. Shaw was laughed at for stating that the flesh of the lion is in great esteem, having no small affinity with veal, both in colour, taste, and flavour. Such certainly is the case with the puma. The Gauchos differ in their opinion, whether the jaguar is good eating, but are unanimous in saying that cat is excellent.’

Mr. Wallace, when travelling up the Amazon, writes--‘Several jaguars were killed, as Mr. C-- pays about 8s. each for their skins. One day we had some steaks at the table, and found the meat very white and without any bad taste. It appears evident to me that the common idea of the food of an animal determining the quality of its meat, is quite erroneous. Domestic poultry and pigs are the most unclean animals in their food, yet their flesh is most highly esteemed, while rats and squirrels, which eat only vegetable food, are in general disrepute. Carnivorous fish are not less delicate eating than herbivorous ones, and there appears no reason why some carnivorous animals should not furnish wholesome and palatable food.’

Bears’ paws were long reckoned a great delicacy in Germany, for some authors tell us, that after being salted and smoked, they were reserved for the tables of princes. In North America, bears’ flesh was formerly considered equal to pork, the meat having a flavour between beef and pork; and the young cubs were accounted the finest eating in the world. Dr. Brooke, in his _Natural History_, adds--‘Most of the planters prefer bears’ flesh to beef, veal, pork, and mutton. The fat is as white as snow, and extremely sweet and wholesome, for if a man drinks a quart of it at a time, when melted, it will never rise on his stomach! It is of very great use for the frying of fish and other things, and is greatly preferred to butter.’

Tastes have naturally altered since this was written, nearly a century ago, and it would be somewhat difficult to carry on the sport of bear hunting on the extensive scale then practised, when we are told 500 bears were killed in two of the counties in Virginia in one winter.

The Indians seem to have shared largely in the sport and spoils of the chase, for at their subsequent feast, the largest bear was served up as the first course, and they ‘roasted him whole, entrails, skin and all, in the same manner as they would barbecue a hog.’

As the paws of the bear were held to be the most delicious morsels about him, so the head was thought to be the worst, and always thrown away; but the tongue and hams are still in repute.

The white bear is eaten by the Esquimaux and the Danes of Greenland; and when young, and cooked after the manner of beef steaks, is by no means to be despised, although rather insipid; the fat, however, ought to be avoided, as unpleasant to the palate.

The flesh of the badger (_Taxus vulgaris_, Desm.) is said to be good eating, and to taste like that of a boar. The omnivorous and thrifty Chinese eat it, as indeed they do that of the flesh of most animals, and consider its hams a very great dainty.

Many nations consider the flesh of the dog excellent. The Greeks ate it; and Hippocrates was convinced that it was a light and wholesome food. The common people of Rome also ate it. The Turks and some of the Asiatic citizens would thank any one who would rid the thoroughfares of the tribes of dogs which infest the streets and courts; and there is a reward given for their slaughter. Fine feasts might be made of them by those who liked them, while the skins would come in for dog-skin gloves. Many of the South Sea islanders fatten dogs for eating, but these live wholly on vegetable food.

The domestic dog of China is uniformly one variety, about the size of a moderate spaniel, of a pale yellow, and occasionally a black colour, with coarse bristly hair on the back, sharp upright ears, and peaked head, not unlike a fox’s, with a tail curled over the rump.

In China, the dog is fattened for the table, and the flesh of dogs is as much liked by them as mutton is by us; being exposed for sale by their butchers, and in their cook-shops.

At Canton, the hind quarters of dogs are seen hanging up in the most prominent parts of the shops exposed for sale. They are considered by the Chinese as a most dainty food, and are consumed by both rich and poor.

The breeds common in that country are apparently peculiar to itself, and they are objects of more attention to their owners than elsewhere in Asia. The Celestials, perhaps, having an eye to their tender haunches, which bad treatment would toughen and spoil.[5]

The Africans of Zanzibar hold a stew of puppies, as amongst us in the days of Charles the Second, as a dish fit for a monarch.

The Australian native dog or dingo, in aspect and colour resembling a fox, is hunted down by the colonists owing to its depredations among the flocks. The flesh even of this animal is eaten by the blacks. The aborigines are often driven for subsistence to the most wretched food, as snakes and other reptiles, grubs, lizards, and the larvæ of the white ant. When they do obtain better food, they prepare it with more care than might be expected. In cooking fish, they wrap it in soft bark and place it in hot ashes. By this process an acid from the bark is communicated to the fish, which gives it a most agreeable flavour.

A traveller in the Sandwich Islands, relating his experience, says,--‘Near every place at table was a fine young dog, the flesh of which was declared to be excellent by all who partook of it. To my palate its taste was what I can imagine would result from mingling the flavour of pig and lamb; and I did not hesitate to make my dinner of it, in spite of some qualms at the first mouthful. I must confess, when I reflected that the puppy now trussed up before us, might have been the affectionate and frolicsome companion of some Hawaiian fair--they all have pet pigs or puppies--I felt as if dog-eating were only a low grade of cannibalism. What eat poor Ponto?--

‘The poor dog, in life the firmest friend,
The first to welcome, foremost to defend;
Whose honest heart is still his master’s own;
Who labours, fights, lives, breathes for him alone.
Unhonoured falls, unnoticed all his worth--
Denied in heaven the soul he held on earth.’

‘However, the edible dog is not one of your common curs, but a dainty animal, fed exclusively on vegetables, chiefly taro (a root), in the form of poë (dough), and at the age of two years is considered a dish wherewith to regale royalty. Indeed, the Sandwich Island monarch, I suspect, would be always well satisfied to see it before him, in spite of the assertion of Dr. Kidd, that ‘it is worthy of consideration that the flesh of those animals, of whose living services we stand hourly in need, as the _horse_ and the _dog_, are so unpalatable, that we are not tempted to eat them unless in cases of dreadful necessity.’ The doctor probably never assisted at a native luaü or feast, or associated with the trappers upon the prairies of the Far West.’[6]

Mr. John Dunn, in his _History of the Oregon Territory_, tells a story of a Canadian cook, who, wishing to do honour to a dear and respected friend, whom he had been dining with on board his ship, studied long what he could get good enough to set before him, and at last bethought him of dog, which is, or was, a favourite dish among Canadian voyageurs or boatmen.

At the banquet the old boatswain ate heartily of it, as did the cook. After he had done, the cook enquired how he had enjoyed his dinner. He said it was beautiful. He then asked him whether he knew what he had been dining on? He said he supposed from a goat.

‘Yes,’ says the cook, ‘you have been eating from a goat with von long tail, that don’t like grass or heather.’

‘How is that?’ inquired the boatswain.

‘Vy you see,’ replied the cook, ‘it was my best dog you have dined from.’

The old boatswain stormed and swore; and then ran as fast as possible to the vessel to get a little rum for his stomach. He vowed that he never again wished to dine with a Canadian cook, or eat pet dogs.

Brooke, in his _Natural History of Quadrupeds_, tells us, that ‘in the southern coast of Africa, there are dogs that neither bark nor bite like ours, and they are of all kinds of colours. Their flesh is eaten by the negroes, who are very fond of all sorts of dogs’ flesh, and will give one of their country cows for a large mastiff. I do not know what part of Africa this refers to.

In old medical works we are told, that the flesh of a fox, either boiled or roasted, was said to be good for consumption; but I do not think it is often prescribed or used for that purpose now.

MARSUPIALIA, OR POUCHED ANIMALS.

The kangaroo is _par excellence_ the wild game of Australia, and coursing it gives active employment to its pursuers. The flesh of all the several species is good. The fore-quarters, indeed, of the forester, the largest of the family, an animal which frequently weighs 200 lbs., are somewhat inferior, and are usually given to the dogs; but from the hind-quarters some fine steaks may be cut. When cooked in the same manner, they are very little inferior to venison collops.

The brush kangaroo (_Macropus cœruleus_) is a very fleet active animal, sometimes of about 20 lbs. weight, having fur of a silver grey colour, with a white stripe on each side of its face.

The flesh of the larger kangaroo, as well as that of the wallaby, a smaller animal, averaging about 12 or 14 lbs., is often hashed, and with a little seasoning and skill in preparation, it is excellent. The wallaby is commonly stewed for soup.

The best part of the kangaroo is its tail. Talk of ox-tail soup, ye metropolitan gourmands! Commend us to the superb kangaroo-tail soup of Australia, made from the tail weighing some 10 or 12 lbs., if a full-grown forester.

The pademelon, a smaller species of kangaroo, weighs about 9 or 10 lbs., and when cooked like a hare, affords a dish with which the most fastidious gourmand might be satisfied.

The following is the native mode of cooking a kangaroo steak:--It is placed in a scooped out stone, which is readily found in the streams, and pressed down by heavy stones on the top of it; the heat is applied beneath and round the first top stone; at the critical moment the stones are quickly removed, and the steak appears in its most savoury state.

The aborigines of Australia always roast their food; they have no means of boiling, except when they procure the service of an old European saucepan or tin pot. ‘It is a very remarkable fact’ (remarks Mr. Moore) ‘in the history of mankind, that a people should be found now to exist, without any means of heating water, or cooking liquid food; or, in short, without any culinary utensil or device of any sort. The only mode of cooking was to put the food into the fire, or roast it in the embers or hot ashes; small fish or frogs being sometimes first wrapped in a piece of paper-tree bark. Such was their state when Europeans first came among them. They are now extremely fond of soup and tea.’

A native will not eat tainted meat, although he cannot be said to be very nice in his food, according to our ideas. Their meat is cooked almost as soon as killed, and eaten immediately.

The parts of the kangaroo most esteemed for eating are the loins and the tail, which abound in gelatine, and furnish an excellent and nourishing soup; the hind legs are coarse, and usually fall to the share of the dogs. The natives (if they can be said to have a choice) give a preference to the head. The flesh of the full-grown animal may be compared to lean beef, and that of the young to veal; they are destitute of fat, if we except a little being occasionally seen between the muscles and integuments of the tail. The colonial dish, called a _steamer_, consists of the flesh of the animal dressed, with slices of ham. The liver when cooked is crisp and dry, and is considered a substitute for bread; but I cannot coincide in this opinion.

The goto, or long bag of kangaroo skin, about two feet deep, and a foot and a half broad, carried by the native females in Australia, is the common receptacle for every small article which the wife or husband may require or take a fancy to, whatever its nature or condition may be. Fish just caught, or dry bread, frogs, roots, and clay, are all mingled together.

Mr. George Bennett (_Wanderings in New South Wales_) thus speaks of Australian native cookery:--

‘After wet weather they track game with much facility; and from the late rains the hunting expeditions had been very successful; game was, therefore, very abundant at the camp, which consisted of opossums, flying squirrels, bandicoots, snakes, &c.

‘One of the opossums among the game was a female, which had two large-sized young ones in her pouch; these delicate morsels were at this time broiling, unskinned and undrawn, upon the fire, whilst the old mother was lying yet unflayed in the basket.

‘It was amusing to see with what rapidity and expertness the animals were skinned and embowelled by the blacks. The offal was thrown to the dogs; but, as such a waste on the part of the natives does not often take place, we can only presume it is when game, as it was at present, is very abundant. The dogs are usually in poor condition, from getting a very precarious supply of provender. The liver being extracted, and gall-bladder removed, a stick was thrust through the animal, which was either thrown upon the ashes to broil, or placed upon a wooden spit before the fire to roast. Whether the food was removed from the fire cooked, or only half dressed, depended entirely on the state of their appetites. The flesh of the animals at this time preparing for dinner, by our tawny friends, appeared delicate, and was no doubt excellent eating, as the diet of the animals was in most instances vegetable.’

Another traveller in the Bush thus describes the aboriginal practices and food:--‘We had scarcely finished the snake, when Tomboor-rowa and little Sydney returned again. They had been more successful this time, having shot two wallabies or brush kangaroos and another carpet-snake of six feet in length. A bundle of rotten branches was instantly gathered and thrown upon the expiring embers of our former fire, and both the wallabies and the snake were thrown into the flame. One of the wallabies had been a female, and as it lay dead on the grass, a young one, four or five inches long, crept out of its pouch. I took up the little creature, and, presenting it to the pouch, it crept in again. Having turned round, however, for a minute or two, Gnunnumbah had taken it up and thrown it alive into the fire; for, when I happened to look towards the fire, I saw it in the flames in the agony of death. In a minute or two the young wallaby being sufficiently done, Gnunnumbah drew it out of the fire with a stick, and eat its hind-quarters without further preparation, throwing the rest of it away.

‘It is the etiquette among the black natives for the person who takes the game to conduct the cooking of it. As soon, therefore, as the skins of the wallabies had become stiff and distended from the expansion of the gases in the cavity of their bodies, Tomboor-rowa and Sydney each pulled one of them from the fire, and scraping off the singed hair roughly with the hand, cut up the belly and pulled out the entrails. They then cleaned out the entrails, not very carefully by any means, rubbing them roughly on the grass or on the bushes, and then threw them again upon the fire. When they considered them sufficiently done, the two eat them, a considerable quantity of their original contents remaining to serve as a sort of condiment or sauce. The tails and lower limbs of the two wallabies, when the latter were supposed to be done enough, were twisted off and eaten by the other two natives (from one of whom I got one of the vertebræ of the tail and found it delicious); the rest of the carcases, with the large snake, being packed up in a number of the _Sydney Herald_, to serve as a mess for the whole camp at Brisbane. The black fellows were evidently quite delighted with the excursion; and, on our return to the Settlement, they asked Mr. Wade if he was not going again to-morrow.’

The kangaroo rat, an animal nearly as large as a wild rabbit, is tolerably abundant, and very good eating, when cooked in the same manner. The natives take them by driving a spear into the nest, sometimes transfixing two at once, or by jumping upon the nest, which is formed of leaves and grass upon the ground.

It is less sought for than its larger relatives, except by thorough bushmen, owing to the prejudice excited by the unfortunate name which has been bestowed upon it. Those who have once tried it usually become fond of it; and to the sawyers and splitters these animals yield many a fresh meal, during their sojourn amidst the heavily timbered flats and ranges of Victoria and New South Wales. The animal is not of the rat species, but a perfect kangaroo in miniature.

The flesh of the phalangers is of delicate flavor. The large grey opossum (_Phalangista vulpina_) forms a great resource for food to the natives of Australia, who climb the tallest trees in search of them, and take them from the hollow branches. The flesh is very good, though not much used by the settlers, the carcase being thrown to the dogs, while the sportsman contents himself with the skin.

The common opossum (_Didelphys Virginiana_) is eaten in some of the states and territories of America; it is very much like a large rat, and is classed among the ‘vermin’ by the Americans. Their flesh is, however, white and well-tasted; but their ugly tail puts one out of conceit with the fare.

The wombat, a bear-like marsupial quadruped of Australia, (the _Phascolomys wombat_,) is eaten in New South Wales and other parts of the Australian Continent. In size it often equals a sheep, some of the largest weighing 140 lbs.; and the flesh is said by some to be not unlike venison, and by others to resemble lean mutton. As it is of such considerable size, attaining the length of three feet, it has been suggested that it might be worth naturalizing here.

RODENTIA.

Passing now to the rodents or gnawing animals, we find that the large grey squirrel (_Sciurus cinereus_, Desm.) is very good eating. The flesh of the squirrel is much valued by the Dyaks, and it will, doubtless, hereafter be prized for the table of Europeans.

The marmot (_Arctomys Marmotta_), in its fat state, when it first retires to its winter quarters, is in very good condition, and is then killed and eaten in great numbers, although we may affect to despise it.

The mouse, to the Esquimaux epicures, is a real _bonne bouche_, and if they can catch half-a-dozen at a time, they run a piece of horn or twig through them, in the same manner as the London poulterers prepare larks for the table; and without stopping to skin them, or divest them of their entrails, broil them over the fire; and although some of the mice may have belonged to the aborigines of the race, yet so strong is the mastication of the natives, that the bones of the animal yield to its power as easily as the bones of a rabbit would to a shark.

There is a very large species of rat spoken of as found in the island of Martinique, nearly four times the size of the ordinary rat. It is black on the back, with a white belly, and is called, locally, the piloris or musk rat, as it perfumes the air around. The inhabitants eat them; but then they are obliged, after they are skinned, to expose them a whole night to the air; and they likewise throw away the first water they are boiled in, because it smells so strongly of musk.

The flesh of the musk rat is not bad, except in rutting time, for then it is impossible to deprive it of the musky smell and flavour.

So fat and sleek do the rats become in the West Indies, from feeding on the sugar cane in the cane fields, that some of the negroes find them an object of value, and, with the addition of peppers and similar spiceries, prepare from them a delicate fricassée not to be surpassed by a dish of French frogs.

There is a professional rat-catcher employed on each sugar plantation, and he is paid so much a dozen for the tails he brings in to the overseer. Father Labat tells us that he made his hunters bring the whole rat to him, for if the heads or tails only came, the bodies were eaten by the negroes, which he wished to prevent, as he thought that this food brought on consumption! The health of the negroes was then a matter of moment, considering the money value at which they were estimated and sold. A rat hunt in a cane field affords glorious sport. In cutting down the canes, one small patch is reserved standing, into which all the rats congregate, and the negroes, surrounding the preserve, with their clubs and bill-hooks speedily despatch the rats, and many are soon skinned and cooked.

The negroes in Brazil, too, eat every rat which they can catch; and I do not see why they should not be well-tasted and wholesome meat, seeing that their food is entirely vegetable, and that they are clean, sleek, and plump. The Australian aborigines eat mice and rats whenever they can catch them.

Scinde is so infested with rats, that the price of grain has risen 25 per cent. from the destruction caused to the standing crops by them. The government commissioner has recently issued a proclamation granting head-money on all rats and mice killed in the province. The rate is to be 3_d._ a dozen, the slayer having the privilege of keeping the body and presenting the tail.

In China, rat soup is considered equal to ox-tail soup, and a dozen fine rats will realize two dollars, or eight or nine shillings.

Besides the attractions of the gold-fields for the Chinese, California is so abundantly supplied with rats, that they can live like Celestial emperors, and pay very little for their board. The rats of California exceed the rats of the older American States, just as nature on that side of the continent exceeds in bountifulness of mineral wealth. The California rats are incredibly large, highly flavoured, and very abundant. The most refined Chinese in California have no hesitation in publicly expressing their opinion of ‘them rats.’ Their professed cooks, we are told, serve up rats’ brains in a much superior style to the Roman dish of nightingales’ and peacocks’ tongues. The sauce used is garlic, aromatic seeds, and camphor.

Chinese dishes and Chinese cooking have lately been popularly described by the fluent pen of Mr. Wingrove Cooke, the _Times’_ correspondent in China, but he has by no means exhausted the subject. Chinese eating saloons have been opened in California and Australia, for the accommodation of the Celestials who now throng the gold-diggings, despite the heavy poll-tax to which they have been subjected.

Mr. Albert Smith, writing home from China, August 22, 1858, his first impressions, says:--

‘The filth they eat in the eating houses far surpasses that cooked at that old _trattoria_ at Genoa. It consists for the most part of rats, bats, snails, bad eggs, and hideous fish, dried in the most frightful attitudes. Some of the _restaurateurs_ carry their cook-shops about with them on long poles, with the kitchen at one end, and the _salle-à-manger_ at the other. These are celebrated for a soup made, I should think, from large caterpillars boiled in a thin gravy, with onions.’

The following is an extract from the bill of fare of one of the San Francisco eating houses--

Grimalkin steaks 25 cents.
Bow-wow soup 12 ”
Roasted bow-wow 18 ”
Bow-wow pie 6 ”
Stews ratified 6 ”

The latter dish is rather dubious. What is meant by stews _rat_-ified? Can it be another name for rat pie? Give us light, but no pie.

The San Francisco _Whig_ furnishes the following description of a Chinese feast in that city:--‘We were yesterday invited, with three other gentlemen, to partake of a dinner _à la_ Chinese. At three o’clock we were waited upon by our hosts, Keychong, and his partner in Sacramento-street, Peter Anderson, now a naturalized citizen of the United States, and Acou, and escorted to the crack Chinese restaurant in Dupont-street, called Hong-fo-la, where a circular table was set out in fine style:--

‘Course No. 1.--Tea, hung-yos (burnt almonds), ton-kens (dry ginger), sung-wos (preserved orange).

‘Course No 2.--Won-fo (a dish oblivious to us, and not mentioned in the cookery-book).

‘No. 3.--Ton-song (ditto likewise).

‘No. 4.--Tap-fau (another _quien sabe_).

‘No. 5.--Ko-yo (a conglomerate of fish, flesh, and fowl).

‘No. 6.--Suei-chon (a species of fish ball).

‘Here a kind of liquor was introduced, served up in small cups, holding about a thimbleful, which politeness required we should empty between every course, first touching cups and salaaming.

‘No. 7.--Beche-le-mer (a dried sea-slug, resembling India rubber, worth one dollar per pound).

‘No. 8--Moisum. (Have some?)

‘No. 9.--Su-Yum (small balls, as bills of lading remark, ‘contents unknown’).

‘No. 10.--Hoisuigo (a kind of dried oyster).

‘No. 11.--Songhai (China lobster).

‘No. 12.--Chung-so (small ducks in oil).

‘No. 13.--Tong-chou (mushrooms, worth three dollars per pound).

‘No. 14.--Sum-yoi (birds’ nests, worth 60 dollars per pound).

‘And some ten or twelve more courses, consisting of stewed acorns, chestnuts, sausages, dried ducks, stuffed oysters, shrimps, periwinkles, and ending with tea--each course being served up with small china bowls and plates, in the handiest and neatest manner; and we have dined in many a crack restaurant, where it would be a decided improvement to copy from our Chinese friends. The most difficult feat for us was the handling of the chop sticks, which mode of carrying to the mouth is a practical illustration of the old proverb, ‘many a slip ’twixt the cup and lip.’ We came away, after a three hours’ sitting, fully convinced that a China dinner is a very costly and elaborate affair, worthy the attention of epicures. From this time, henceforth, we are in the field for China, against any insinuations on the question of diet _à la_ rat, which we pronounce a tale of untruth. We beg leave to return thanks to our host, Keychong, for his elegant entertainment, which one conversant with the Chinese bill of fare informs us, must have cost over 100 dollars. _Vive la China!_’

Mr. Cooke, in his graphic letters from China, speaks of the fatness and fertility of the rats of our colony of Hong Kong. He adds: ‘When Minutius, the dictator, was swearing Flaminius in as his Master of the Horse, we are told by Plutarch that a rat chanced to squeak, and the superstitious people compelled both officers to resign their posts. Office would be held with great uncertainty in Hong Kong if a similar superstition prevailed. Sir John Bowring has just been swearing in General Ashburnham as member of the Colonial Council, and if the rats were silent, they showed unusual modesty. They have forced themselves, however, into a state paper. Two hundred rats are destroyed every night in the gaol. Each morning the Chinese prisoners see, with tearful eyes and watering mouths, a pile of these delicacies cast out in waste. It is as if Christian prisoners were to see scores of white sucking pigs tossed forth to the dogs by Mahommedan gaolers. At last they could refrain no longer. Daring the punishment of tail-cutting, which follows any infraction of prison discipline, they first attempted to abstract the delicacies. Foiled in this, they took the more manly course. They indited a petition in good Chinese, proving from Confucius that it is sinful to cast away the food of man, and praying that the meat might be handed over to them to cook and eat. This is a fact, and if General Thompson doubts it, I recommend him to move for a copy of the correspondence.’

A new article of traffic is about to be introduced into the China market from India, namely, _salted rats_! The genius with whom the idea originated, it would appear, is sanguine; so much so, that he considers himself ‘on the fair road to fortune.’ The speculation deserves success, if for nothing else than its originality. I have not, as yet however, observed the price that rules in Whampoa and Hong Kong nor the commodity quoted in any of the merchants’ circulars, though it will, doubtless, soon find its place in them as a regular article of import.

A correspondent of the _Calcutta Citizen_, writing from Kurrachee, the chief town of the before mentioned rat infested province of Scinde, declares that he is determined to export 120,000 salted rats to China. The Chinese eat rats, and he thinks they may sell. He says:--‘I have to pay one pice a dozen, and the gutting, salting, pressing, and packing in casks, raises the price to six pice a dozen (about three farthings), and if I succeed in obtaining anything like the price that rules in Whampoa and Canton for corn-grown rats, my fortune is made, or rather, I will be on the fair road to it, and will open a fine field of enterprise to Scinde.’

Rats may enter into consumption in other quarters, and among other people, than those named, when we find such an advertisement as the following in a recent daily paper at Sydney:--

‘RATS! RATS! RATS!--To-night at 8 o’clock, rattling sport; 200 rats to be entered at G. W. Parker’s Family Hotel.’

Query.--What ultimately becomes of these rats, and who are the persons who locate and take their meals at this ‘Family Hotel?’ Probably they are of the rough lot whose stomachs are remarkably strong.

Some classes of the Malabars are very fond of the bandicoot, or pig rat (_Perameles nasuta_, Geoff. Desm.), which measures about fourteen inches in length from head to tail, the tail being nearly as long as the body. They are much sought after by the coolies, on the coffee estates in Ceylon, who eat them roasted. They also eat the coffee rat (_Golunda Ellioti_ of Gray), roasted or fried in oil, which is much smaller, the head and body only measuring about four or five inches. These animals are migratory, and commit great damages on the coffee tree, as many as a thousand having been killed in a day on one estate. The planters offer a reward for the destruction of these rodents, which brings grist to the mill in two ways to the coolies who hunt or entrap them, namely, in money and food.

The fat dormouse (_Myoxus glis_, Desm.) is used for food in Italy, as it was by the ancient Romans, who fattened them for the table in receptacles called Gliraria.

Dr. Rae, in his last arctic exploring expedition, states, that the principal food of his party was geese, partridges, and lemmings (_Arvicola Hudsonia_). These little animals were migrating northward, and were so numerous that their dogs, as they trotted on, killed as many as supported them all, without any other food.

There is another singular little animal, termed by naturalists the vaulting rat, or jerboa. On an Australian species, the _Dipus Mitchelli_, the natives of the country between Lake Torrens and the Great Creek, in Australia seem chiefly to subsist. It is a little larger than a mouse, and the hind legs are similar to those of the kangaroo.

Captain Sturt and his exploring party once witnessed a curious scene. They came to a native who had been eating jerboas, and after they met him they saw him eat one hundred of them. His mode of cooking was quite unique. He placed a quantity, for a few seconds, under the ashes of the fire, and then, with the hair only partially burnt off, took them by the tail, put the body in his mouth, and bit the tail off with his teeth. After he had eaten a dozen bodies, he took the dozen tails, and stuffed them into his mouth.

The flesh of the beaver is looked upon as very delicate food by the North American hunters, but the tail is the choicest dainty, and in great request. It is much prized by the Indians and trappers, especially when it is roasted in the skin, after the hair has been singed off; and in some districts it requires all the influence of the fur-traders to restrain the hunters from sacrificing a considerable quantity of beaver fur every year to secure the enjoyment of this luxury. The Indians of note have generally one or two feasts in a season, wherein a roasted beaver is the prime dish. It resembles pork in its flavour, but it requires a strong stomach to sustain a full meal of it. The flesh is always in high estimation, except when they have fed upon the fleshy root of a large water lily, which imparts a rank taste to it.

The flesh of a young porcupine is said to be excellent eating, and very nutritious. The flavour is something between pork and fowl. To be cooked properly, it should be boiled first, and afterwards roasted. This is necessary to soften the thick, gristly skin, which is the best part of the animal. The flesh of the porcupine is said to be used by the Italians as a stimulant; but, never having tasted it myself, I cannot speak from experience as to the virtue of this kind of food.

The Dutch and the Hottentots are very fond of it; and when skinned and embowelled, the body will sometimes weigh 20 lbs. The flesh is said to eat better when it has been hung in the smoke of a chimney for a couple of days.

The flesh of the crested porcupine (_Hystrix cristata_) is good and very agreeable eating. Some of the Hudson Bay trappers used to depend upon the _Hystrix dorsata_ for food at some seasons of the year.

Rabbits, which form so large an article of consumption with us, are not much esteemed as an article of food by the negroes in the West Indies, resembling, in their idea, the cat. Thus, a black who is solicited to buy a rabbit by an itinerant vendor, would indignantly exclaim, ‘Rabbit? I should just like to no war you take me for, ma’am? You tink me go buy rabbit? No, ma’am, me no cum to dat yet; for me always did say, an me always will say, dat dem who eat rabbit eat pussy, an dem who eat pussy eat rabbit. Get out wid you, and your rabbit?’

And yet, with all this mighty indignation against rabbits, they do not object, as we have seen, to a less dainty animal in the shape of the rat.

Although the negroes in the West Indies do not care for rabbits, yet their brethren in the American States are by no means averse to them. A field slave one day found a plump rabbit in his trap. He took him out alive, held him under his arm, patted him, and began to speculate on his qualities. ‘Oh, how fat. Berry fat. The fattest I eber did see. Let me see how I’ll cook him. I’ll broil him. No, he is so fat he lose all de grease. I fry him. Ah yes. He so berry fat he fry hisself. Golly, how fat he be. No, I won’t fry him--I stew him.’ The thought of the savory stew made the negro forget himself, and in spreading out the feast in his imagination, his arms relaxed, when off hopped the rabbit, and squatting at a goodly distance, he eyed his late owner with cool composure. The negro knew there was an end of the stew, and summoning up all his philosophy, he thus addressed the rabbit, at the same time shaking his fist at him, ‘You long-eared, white-whiskered rascal, you not so berry fat arter all.’

I need not here touch upon hare soup, jugged hare, or roasted hare, from the flesh of our own rodent; but the Arctic hare (_Lepus glacialis_) differs considerably from the English in the colour and quality of its flesh, being less dry, whiter, and more delicately tasted; it may be dressed in any way. When in good condition it weighs upwards of 10 lbs.

The capybara, or water hog (_Hydrochœrus capybara_), an ugly-looking, tailless rodent, the largest of the family, is hunted for its flesh in South America, and is said to be remarkably good eating. It grows to the size of a hog two years old.

The flesh of the guinea pig (_Cavia cobaya_, Desm.) is eaten in South America, and is said to be not unlike pork. When he is dressed for the table his skin is not taken off as in other animals, but the hair is scalded and scraped off in the same manner as it is in a hog.

The white and tender flesh of the agouti (_Dasyprocta Acuti_, Desm.), when fat and well dressed, is by no means unpalatable food, but very delicate and digestible. It is met with in Brazil, Guiana, and in Trinidad. The manner of dressing them in the West Indies used to be to roast them with a pudding in their bellies. Their skin is white, as well as the flesh.

The flesh of the brown paca (_Cœlogenus subniger_, Desm.), a nearly allied animal, is generally very fat, and also accounted a great delicacy in Brazil.

Another South American rodent, the bizcacha, or viscascha (_Lagostomus trichodactylus_), is eaten for food. It somewhat resembles a rabbit, but has larger gnawing teeth, and a long tail. The flesh, when cooked, is very white and good.

EDENTATA, OR TOOTHLESS ANIMALS.

Wallace, in his travels on the Amazon, tells us that the Indians stewed a sloth for their dinner, and as they considered the meat a great delicacy, he tasted it, and found it tender and very palatable.

Among other extraordinary animals for which Australia is proverbial, is the _Echidna hystrix_, or native porcupine, which is eaten by the aborigines, who declare it to be ‘cobbong budgeree (very good), and, like pig, very fat.’ Europeans who have eaten of them confirm this opinion, and observe that they taste similar to a sucking pig. There appear to be two species of this animal, the spiny echidna and the bristly echidna; the first attains a large size, equalling the ordinary hedgehog. It has the external coating and general appearance of the porcupine, with the mouth and peculiar generic character of the ant-eater.

The flesh of the great ant-eater (_Myrmecophaga jubata_, Linn.) is esteemed a delicacy by the Indians and negro slaves in Brazil, and, though black and of a strong musky flavour, is sometimes even met with at the tables of Europeans.

The armadillo, remarkable for its laminated shell, when baked in its scaly coat is a good treat, the flesh being considered delicate eating, somewhat like a rabbit in taste and colour. The flesh of the large twelve-banded Brazilian one (_Dasypus Tatouay_) is said to be the best of all. In South America there are several species of armadillo, all of which are used for food when met with.

Mr. Gosse states, that this animal feeds upon soft ground fruits and roots, and also on carrion, whenever it can find it; and a large proportion of the sustenance of this, as well as of other species, is derived from the numberless wild cattle which are caught and slaughtered on the Pampas for the sake of their hides and tallow, the carcases being left as valueless to decay, or to become the prey of wild animals. Notwithstanding the filthy nature of their food, the armadillos, being very fat, are eagerly sought for by the inhabitants of European descent, as well as by the Indians. The animal is roasted in its shell, and is esteemed one of the greatest delicacies of the country; the flesh is said to resemble that of a sucking pig.

PACHYDERMATA, OR THICK-SKINNED ANIMALS.

What do our African brethren consider tit-bits? Ask Gordon Cumming. He will enumerate a list longer than you can remember. Study his ‘Adventures,’ and you will become learned in the mystery of African culinary operations. What are sheep’s-trotters and insipid boiled calves’ feet compared to baked elephants’ paws?

Listen to his description of the whole art and mystery of the process of preparing them:--

‘The four feet are amputated at the fetlock joint, and the trunk, which at the base is about two feet in thickness, is cut into convenient lengths. Trunk and feet are then baked, preparatory to their removal to headquarters. The manner in which this is done is as follows:--A party, provided with sharp-pointed sticks, dig a hole in the ground for each foot and a portion of the trunk. These holes are about two feet deep and a yard in width; the excavated earth is embanked around the margin of the holes. This work being completed, they next collect an immense quantity of dry branches and trunks of trees, of which there is always a profusion scattered around, having been broken by the elephants in former years. These they pile above the holes to the height of eight or nine feet, and then set fire to the heap. When these strong fires have burnt down, and the whole of the wood is reduced to ashes, the holes and the surrounding earth are heated to a high degree. Ten or twelve men then stand round the pit and take out the ashes with a pole about sixteen feet in length, having a hook at the end. They relieve one another in quick succession, each man running in and raking the ashes for a few seconds, and then pitching the pole to his comrade, and retreating, since the heat is so intense that it is scarcely to be endured. When all the ashes are thus raked out beyond the surrounding bank of earth, each elephant’s foot and portion of the trunk is lifted by two athletic men, standing side by side, who place it on their shoulders, and, approaching the pit together, they heave it into it. The long pole is now again resumed, and with it they shove in the heated bank of earth upon the foot, shoving and raking until it is completely buried in the earth. The hot embers, of which there is always a great supply, are then raked into a heap above the foot, and another bonfire is kindled over each, which is allowed to burn down and die a natural death; by which time the enormous foot or trunk will be found to be equally baked throughout its inmost parts. When the foot is supposed to be ready, it is taken out of the ground with pointed sticks, and is first well beaten, and then scraped with an assagai, whereby adhering particles of sand are got rid of. The outside is then pared off, and it is transfixed with a sharp stake for facility of carriage. The feet thus cooked are excellent, as is also the trunk, which very much resembles buffalo’s tongue.’

Elephants’ petit(?) toes, pickled in strong toddy vinegar and cayenne pepper, are considered in Ceylon an Apician luxury. As soon as it is known that an elephant has been killed in Africa, every man in the neighbourhood sets off with his knife and basket for the place, and takes home as much of the carcase as he can manage to carry. The flesh is not only eaten when fresh, but is dried and kept for months, and is then highly esteemed.

The manner in which the elephant is cut up is thus described by the author and sportsman I have already quoted:--‘The rough outer skin is first removed, in large sheets, from the side which lies uppermost. Several coats of an under skin are then met with. The skin is of a tough and pliant nature, and is used by the natives for making water-bags, in which they convey supplies of water from the nearest _vey_, or fountain (which is often ten miles distant), to the elephant. They remove this inner skin with caution, taking care not to cut it with the assagai; and it is formed into water bags by gathering the corners and edges, and transfixing the whole on a pointed wand. The flesh is then removed in enormous sheets from the ribs, when the hatchets come into play, with which they chop through and remove individually each colossal rib. The bowels are thus laid bare; and in the removal of these the leading men take a lively interest and active part, for it is throughout and around the bowels that the fat of the elephant is mainly found. There are few things which a Bechuana prizes so highly as fat of any description; they will go an amazing distance for a small portion of it. They use it principally in cooking their sun-dried biltongue, and they also eat it with their corn. The fat of the elephant lies in extensive layers and sheets in his inside, and the quantity which is obtained from a full-grown bull, in high condition, is very great. Before it can be obtained, the greater part of the bowels must be removed. To accomplish this, several men eventually enter the immense cavity of his inside, where they continue mining away with their assagais, and handing the fat to their comrades outside till all is bare. While this is transpiring with the sides and bowels, other parties are equally active in removing the skin and flesh from the remaining parts of the carcase.

‘In Northern Cachar, India, the flesh of the elephant is generally eaten. The Kookies encamp in the neighbourhood of the carcase until they have entirely consumed it, or are driven away by the effluvia of decomposition. Portions of the flesh that they cannot immediately eat are dried and smoked to be kept for future consumption.

‘Fat of any kind is a complete godsend to the Bechuana and other tribes of Southern Africa; and the slaughter of an elephant affords them a rich harvest in disembowelling the carcase, and mining their way into the interior of the huge cavity to remove the immense layers furnished by such a large animal if in good condition.’

Galton, the African traveller, in his hints for bush cooking, tells us:--

‘The dish called _beatee_ is handy to make. It is a kind of haggis made with blood, a good quantity of fat shred small, some of the tenderest of the flesh, together with the heart and lungs of the animal, cut or torn into small shivers, all of which is put into the stomach and roasted, by being suspended before the fire with a string. Care must be taken that it does not get too much heat at first, or it will burst. It is a most delicious morsel, even without pepper, salt, or any seasoning.’

In all the large rivers of Southern Africa, and especially towards the mouths, the hippopotami abound. The colonists give them the name of sea-cows. The capture of one of these huge beasts, weighing, as they sometimes do, as much as four or five large oxen, is an immense prize to the hungry Bushman or Koranna, as the flesh is by no means unpalatable; and the fat, with which these animals are always covered, is considered delicious. When salted it is called zee-koe speck, is very much like excellent fat bacon, and is greatly prized by the Dutch colonists, not only for the table, but for the reputed medicinal qualities which are attributed to it. In Abyssinia, hippopotamus meat is commonly eaten.

The hog is one of those animals that are doomed to clear the earth of refuse and filth, and that convert the most nauseous offal into the nicest nutriment in its flesh. It has not altogether been unaptly compared to a miser, who is useless and rapacious in his life, but at his death becomes of public use by the very effects of his sordid manners. During his life he renders little service to mankind, except in removing that filth which other animals reject.

A delicate sucking pig, a Bath chap, or a good rasher of bacon are, however, tit-bits not to be despised.

Lord Brougham hoped to see the day when every man in the United Kingdom would read Bacon. ‘It would be much better to the purpose,’ said Cobbett, ‘if his lordship would use his influence that every man in the kingdom could eat bacon.’

In British India, only Europeans and the low Hindoos eat pork, but wild hogs are very abundant, and afford good sport to the hunter. The avoidance of pork arises as much from religious scruples as the deep-rooted aversion to the domestic swine all must imbibe who have only seen it in the East, where it is a tall, gaunt, half famished, and half ferocious-looking brute, which performs the office of scavenger.