Eatable Quality of Animals 213 



zebra, wart-hog, koodoo, and bush-buck ; and, finally, 

 the heavy meats, such as eland, hippopotamus, 

 and buffalo. 



In these countries the flesh of a young eland will 

 be found by a European to be equal to the best 

 butcher's meat ; small antelopes, in addition to wild- 

 pigs and wart-hogs, come next in order as choice 

 food ; large antelopes are only just eatable ; and the 

 flesh of young hippopotami is fairly good cold. As 

 to buffalo, elephant, rhinoceros, and male giraffe, they 

 are the food of the famished negro ; and those fine 

 shots of ours do not improve the hunter's fare at 

 the most they result in a good pot-au-feu. 



Felines are excellent in every way, the lion, 

 leopard, serval, and wild-cat supplying a white, tender 

 flesh without unpleasant flavour, which resembles veal 

 or fresh pork. The populations of the basin of the 

 Zambesi do not eat them, but those of the great lakes 

 rightly consider them as a treat. 



Young crocodile is eatable if you know how to 

 skin the animal without tainting the flesh with the 

 musk, and when in Dahomey we made some succulent 

 stews with it. 



Finally, to complete this brief description of new 

 food-stuffs, I will add white ants/ grasshoppers, which 

 take the place of shrimps, land and water tortoises. 

 As game I will mention the iguana, python, monkey, 

 squirrel, agouti, and other animals which we 

 Europeans do not eat, because our forefathers have 

 not accustomed us to them. 



1 See Mes Grandes Chasses, pp. 139, 144. 



