276 SPOKT IN NORTH AMERICA. 



Whilst waiting for their feast, the Sioux enjoyed 

 a foretaste of the coming pleasure by devouring the 

 half-washed entrails of the newly killed buffaloes. 

 They devoured this disgusting food exactly as the 

 Neapolitans eat macaroni. Sometimes tw^o of them 

 will seize a piece and each will take an end in his 

 mouth. When that happens, it is equally curious 

 and disgusting to see the manner in which they fight, 

 lest one should have the bigger share of the morsel. 



At last the cooking was finished, and the Canadian, 

 Duquesne, our chief cook, served us up the bufi^alo's 

 hump done to a turn ; and very succulent and deli- 

 cious it was. After removing the carbonised enve- 

 lope which surrounded this morsel for a prince, our 

 knives and forks were plunged into delicate mixture 

 of fat and lean, resembling in shape an enormous 

 sweetbread of black meat, and in flavour the flesh 

 of the hare. This rich buffalo meat is truly deli- 

 cious, and so digestible that (whether it be the 

 digestion of the hunter on the prairies resembles 

 that of the ostrich, or because the pure air of 

 the desert requires a large amount of nourish- 

 ment) you may swallow with impunity large quan- 

 tities of food without experiencing any of the 

 uncomfortable consequences of too hearty an appe- 

 tite. As for the buffalo's hump, I am persuaded 

 that if Brillat de Savarin had ever tasted one, he 

 would have consecrated a special chapter to its 

 honour. 



