78 LIFE IN THE FAR WEST 



There was merry-making in the camp that night, and 

 the way they indulged their appetites or, in their 

 own language, "throw'd " the meat " cold " would have 

 made the heart of a dyspeptic leap for joy or burst with 

 envy, Far into the "still watches of the tranquil night," 

 the fat-clad " depouille " saw its fleshy mass grow small 

 by degrees and beautifully less, before the trenchant 

 blades of the hungry mountaineers ; appetising yards 

 of well-browned "boudin" slipped glibly down their 

 throats ; rib after rib of tender hump was picked and 

 flung to the wolves ; and when human nature, with 

 helpless gratitude, and confident that nothing of super- 

 excellent comestibility remained, was lazily wiping the 

 greasy knife that had done such good service, a skilful 

 hunter was seen to chuckle to himself as he raked the 

 deep ashes of the fire, and drew therefrom a pair of 

 tongues so admirably baked, so soft, so sweet, and of 

 such exquisite flavour, that a veil is considerately drawn 

 over the effects their discussion produced in the mind of 

 our greenhorn La Bonte, and the raptures they excited 

 in the bosom of that, as yet, most ignorant mountaineer. 

 Still, as he ate he wondered, and wondering admired, 

 that nature, in giving him such profound gastronomic 

 powers, and such transcendant capabilities of digestion, 

 had yet bountifully provided an edible so peculiarly 

 adapted to his ostrich-like appetite, that after consuming 

 nearly his own weight in rich and fat buffalo meat, he 

 felt as easy and as little incommoded as if he had lightly 

 supped on strawberries and cream. 



Sweet was the digestive pipe after such a feast ; soft 



