The Book of Cats. 225 



and big, boiled down every week; so that the 

 quantity of cats' and dogs' meat used throughout 

 London is about 200,000 lbs. per week, and this, 

 sold at the rate o( 2hd. per lb., gives ;f 2,000 a-week 

 for the money spent in cats' and dogs' meat, or 

 upwards of ^100,000 a-year, which is at the rate of 

 _^ioo worth sold annually by each carrier. The 

 profits of the carriers may be estimated at about 

 ^50 each per annum. The capital required to start 

 in this business varies from ^i to £2. The stock- 

 money needed is between ^s. and lOs. The barrow 

 and basket, weights and scales, knife and steel, or 

 blackstone, cost about £2 when new, and from 15J. 

 to 4s. second hand. 



Mr. Mayhew also states the London dogs' and 

 cats' meat carriers to number at least one thousand. 

 " The slaughtermen," he says, *' are said to reap 

 large fortunes very rapidly. Many of them retire 

 after a few years and take large farms. One after 

 twelv^e years' business retired with several thousand 

 pounds, and has now three large farms. The 

 carriers are men, women, and boys. Very few 

 women do as well at it as the men. The carriers 

 are generally sad drunkards. Out of five hundred 

 it is said three hundred at least spend £1 a head 

 a-week in drink. One party in the trade told me 



Q 



