OPOSSUM HUNTING. 265 



oiliness, which makes it to a cultivated taste coarse and 

 unpalatable. 



The negroes, on the contrary — and, by the way, they 

 are all aniatours in the cooking art — when cooking for 

 themselves, do much better. They bury the body up with 

 sweet potatoes, and as the meat roasts, thus confined, the 

 succulent vegetables draw out all objectionable tastes, 

 and render the opossum '' one of the greatest delica- 

 cies in the world." At least, so say a crowd of respect- 

 able witnesses. We profess to have no experience in 

 the matter, not yet having learned to sing with enthusiasm 

 the common negro melody of 



" 'Possum fat and ' later.' " 



12 



