602 



F A II M E R S ' REGISTER. 



[No. 10 



or fishes and birds, there appears to be scarcely 

 any species excluded; and Mr. Donovan observes 

 that, "although particular animai.s have been re- 

 ported by travellers to constitute the Ibod of na- 

 tions whose history they write, we micrht perhaps 

 extend the catalogue to all living creatures, with 

 the exception of a tevv that are known to be ac- 

 tually poisonous." 



The object of Mr. Donovan was merely to de- 

 tail those articles which were the ordinary ibod of 

 large classes of men. But there are many, of a 

 disgusting kind, which he has not thought it ne- 

 cessary to notice, which are the ordinary aliment, 

 or delicacies, amongst nations. The Cochin- 

 Chinese are fond of hatched ecgs, the Chinese 

 and other eastern people, of putrid eggs. There 

 are nations of dirt-eaters — the Ottoniacs, for in- 

 stance, who diet upon clay. Worms, crubs, and 

 maggots are the food of others. The Dyaks and 

 Battaks of Sumatra a.id Borneo drink human 

 blood. Raw blubber is prized by the Esquimaux, 

 and game in a state of putrefaction gratifies the 

 palate of the polished European gourmand. 



When vve select instances of peculiar and de- 

 praved appetite, they are disgusting indeed. We 

 have seen individuals in Europe who can devour 

 vast quantities of raw liver, tallow candles, and 

 tobacco-pipes; but what are they to tiie eaters of 

 carrion, putrid offal, and excrementitious substan- 

 ces amongst the religions ascetics of India ! 



Perhaps the most repulsive, as vveil as prodi- 

 gous, instances of outrageous voracity, is the 

 eheep-ealer of Oude, described by General Hard- 

 wicke, in the ^Transactions of the Royal Asiatic 

 Society.' This man, or rather monster, in the pre- 

 sence of several gentlemen and ladies, ate, at one 

 meal, two sheep, one weighinsr from twelve to 

 thirteen pounds per quarter. His mode of tle- 

 vourins: the anitnals was this. He seized the live 

 sheep by the fleece with his teeth, and lilied it from 

 the ground; then by a swing ol' his head fiung it 

 on its back upon the ground. Ii\ this position he 

 held the animal down, pulling the leg? apart with 

 each hand. He then tore the abilomcn with his 

 teeth, by stripping off the skin li'om the flank to 

 the breast, removed the intestmes, and buried his 

 head in the body to drink the warm blood, which 

 clotted round his hair and beard. He next strip- 

 ped off the rest of the hide, separated the joints, 

 and, rubbing them in the dust, tore the meat from 

 the bones, swallowing one niouthlul after another 

 with all the dust and dirt adhering to it, laying 

 aside the ill-picked bones for his supf)er ! 



The cruelty which this indiscriminate voracity of 

 man inflicts upon the inferior animals, is friirhtfid. 

 The horrors of the Roman kitchen are detailed in 

 Mr. Donovan's book. V^itellius and Heliogaba- 

 lus regaled on a dish composed of the tonii-ues 

 and brains of peacocks, the bodies being thrown to 

 the hogs. The combs torn ti'om live cocks were 

 a dish of exquisite relish to the latter, because 

 seasoned with cruelty. The heads of parrots 

 were served up at his leasts. Vitellius had a large 

 silver dish, the filling of which, lor one of his en- 

 tertainments, occasioned wholesale slaughter, be- 

 ing composed of insignificant pails of various 

 small and rare birds and fishes. Vedius Pollio, 

 a gentleman ot' Rome, and a favorite of Augustus 

 Csesar, contrived a method of givnig a flavor to 

 lampreys, which all his friends, and Augustus 

 himseli; highly relished, whilst a secret; it was 



by feeding them on human flesh! One Claudius 

 ^sopus, a tragedian, was renowned for serving 

 up, on a large platter, worth £4,800, all kinds of 

 singing and speaking birds. At a feast given to 

 Vitellius, by his brother Lucius, there were 2,000 

 diflerent kinds of fish, and 7,000 of birds. The 

 celebrated Apicius expended nearly a million 

 sterling on his kitchen, and findinff his properly 

 reduced to only £80,000, fearful that he should 

 starve, he took poison. A small dish of his, call- 

 ed rninvtal apicianum, or 'Apicius's Mince,' is 

 made up of the excerpts of three or four dozen 

 animals. But cruelty in the kitchen did not cease 

 when Apicius administered to himself the saluta- 

 ry draught. His successors have caughl his spirit. 

 Dr. Kitchiner quotes from Wecker's ^Secrets of 

 Nature'' " How to roast and and eat a goose 

 alive." The goose, after bemg plucked, is to be sur- 

 rounded by burning fuel, and cups of water are to 

 be placed within the circle: "she is to be larded and 

 basted; but she is to be roasted slowly. By walk- 

 ing about, and flynig here and there, being cooped 

 in by the fii'e that stops her way out, she will fail 

 to drink the water, and cool her heart: and when 

 she roasteih and consumes inwardly, always vvei 

 her head and heart with a wet sponge; and when 

 you see her giddy with running, and begin to 

 stumble, she is roasted enough. Take her up, 

 set her before her guests, and she will cry as you 

 cut off any part from her, and be almost eaten up 

 before she is dead: it is mighty pleasant to behold!''' 

 After reading this, what a satirist does Shak- 

 speare seem, in the passage fi-on; which we quo- 

 led at the beijcintjing! 



ARTHUR VOUNG S OPINION OF THE USUAL 

 PROCEDURE OF AGRICULTURAL SOCIETIES. 



Extracts from ^Travels in France.'' 



Went to the Royal Society of Agriculture, 

 which meets at the Hotel de Ville, and of which 

 being an assccif', I voteil, and received a jetton, 

 which is a small medal given to the members, 

 every time they attend, in order to induce them 

 to mind the busines of their institution; it is the 

 same at all Royal Academies, &c., and amounts, 

 in a year, to a considerable and ill-judged expense; 

 for what good is good is to be expected from men 

 who would go only to receive \he'ir jetton? What- 

 ever the moiive may be, it seems well attended: 

 near thirty were present; among them Parmen- 

 iier, vice-president, Cadet de Vaux, Fourcroy, 

 Tillet, Desmarets, Broussonets, secretary, and 

 Crete de Paliuel, at whose farm I was, two years 

 ago, and who is the only practical farmer in the 

 society. The seci-etary reads the titles of the pa- 

 pers presented, and gives some liitle account of 

 them; butlhey are not read unless particularly in- 

 teresting; then memoirs are read by the members, 

 or reports or references ; and when they discuss 

 or debate, there is no order, but all speak together, 

 as in a warm private conversation. The Abbe 

 Raynal has given them 1200 liv. (521. 10s.) for a 

 premium on some important subject ; and ni}' opi- 

 nion was asked what it should be given for. Give 

 it. I replied, in some way ibr the introduction of 

 turnips. But that they conceive to be an object ot 

 impossible attainment ; they have done so much, 

 and the government so much more, and all in 



