293 HlSTOIli OF 



Oil. They are caiiglit in traps for the sake of their skins, which, 

 on the spot, are sold for less than seven shillings a hundred. 

 Their fur is well known to form a considerable article in the hat 

 manufacture ; and we accordingly import vast quantities of it 

 fiom those countries where the hare abounds in such plenty. 

 They are found also entirely black, but these in much lest 

 -'luaiitities tlian tlie former ;' and even some liave been seen with 

 horns, though these but rarely.'^ 



The hares of the hot countries, particularly in Italy, Sj)ain, 

 and Barbary, are smaller tlian ours : those bred in the I\Iila- 

 iiese country are said to be the best in Europe.' There is 

 scarcely a country where this animal is not to be found, from the 

 torrid zone to the neighbourhood of the polar circle. The 

 natives of Guinea knock them on the head as they come down 

 to the sides of the livers to drink. They also surround the 

 place where they are seen in numbers, and clattering a short 

 stick, which every man carries, against that which the person 

 next him carries, they diminish their circle gradually, till the 

 hares are cooped up in the midst. They then altogether throw 

 their sticks in among them, and with such deadly force, that 

 they seldom fail of killing great numbers at a time.* 



The flesh of this animal has been esteemed a delicacy among 

 some nations, and it is held in detestation by others. The 

 Jews, the ancient Britons, and the Mahometans, all considered 

 it as an unclean animal, and religiously abstained from it. On 

 the contrary, there are scarce any other people, however barbar- 

 ous at present, that do not consider it as the most agreeable 

 food. Fashion seems to preside and govern all the senses ; 

 what mankind at one time consider as beautiful, fragrant, or 

 savoury, may at another time, or among other nations, be regard- 

 ed as deformed, disgustful, or ill-tasted. That flesh which the 

 ancient Romans so much admired as to call it the food of the 

 wise, was, among the Jews and the Druids, thought unfit to be 

 eaten ; and even the moderns, who, like the Romans, consider 

 the flesh of this animal as a delicacy, have very different ideas 

 as to dressing it. With us it is simply served up without much 

 seasoning ; but Apicius shows us the manner of dressing a hare 



1 Kleiu. Disp, Quadrup. p. b'l. 2 Johnston de Quadrnp. 1. ii. c. i. 



3 Dictionnairc Raisonnee Lievre. 



■1 Hist Cien. di-s \oyagC3, torn. iv. p. 171. 



