372 A DAINTY DISH. 



ness at once laughable and disgusting. It must be under- 

 stood that each acted towards his companion in exactly 

 the same manner, so that the chances were equal. Nor 

 did the duel terminate until the two companions found 

 themselves " nose to nose," with their teeth closing on 

 the last mouthful. Then a double fisticuff, followed by 

 an instantaneous shock, settled the difficulty, and com- 

 pleted this buffoonish interlude. 



The meat was cooked to a turn, and our master-cook, 

 the Canadian Duquesiie, served us up a bison's hump, 

 artistically prepared, and full of succulent juices. After 

 we had removed the carbonized envelope which covered 

 this " morsel for a king," our knives and forks plunged 

 into the beautifully streaked flesh, which in flavour re- 

 sembled a kid or a hare. The plump and juicy flesh of 

 the bison is easily digested ; but, whether the digestive 

 organs of the prairie-hunter resemble those of the ostrich, 

 or the pure and revivifying air of the wilderness assists 

 in the ready digestion of all kinds of food, I know not ; 

 but this I can state as an indubitable fact, that you can 

 swallow enormous pieces of meat without any dread of 

 the disagreeable consequences which generally attend 

 upon too keen an appetite. As for the bison's hump, 

 a dish unknown to Grimod de la Reyniere and Brillat- 

 Savarin, I declare and assert that if these distinguished 

 gastronomes had ever had at their disposal an entire 

 bison, full of fat, well-nourished, and in every respect 

 resembling the animal immolated upon Rahm-o-j-or's tenth 

 arrow, they would have added to their unparalleled re- 

 cipes another chapter, whose text would have eclipsed 

 everything which has secured their immortality as culinary 

 artistes. 



