AMERICAN MARKETS. 259 



" Not a trout. I took a bat on the wing. Did you 

 ever eat bat?" 



" Never. I suppose it would be about the same thing 

 as mice. Mice are not good ; the flavor is musky. Rats 

 are much better, and very decent eating, if they are prop- 

 erly fed. I don't know why bats might not be made eat- 

 able. They are carnivorous ; but dogs are good food, if 

 well cooked. However, we don't need to try experiments 

 in this land, where the markets are better than in any 

 other country on earth." 



" I'm glad to hear you say that, Major. I have said 

 it often, and it's pleasant to be backed by a man of your 

 gastronomic -taste." 



"Who disputes it? Surely no one who knows any 

 thing about eating. There are articles, of course, which 

 are to be found in other countries superior to the same 

 article here ; but America is the only land for general 

 good eating. One gets fearfully tired of a European 

 kitchen, even with all the resources of Paris in the palmi- 

 est days of The Brothers. But here the varieties of fish 

 and flesh are inexhaustible ; and fruit nowhere in the 

 world is there a fruit market comparable with that of 

 New York. An English sole is not equal in flavor to a 

 flounder taken in clear water at Stonington, and a turbot 

 is no better than a tautog. Shad, sheepshead, Spanish 

 mackerel, red snappers, bass, blue-fish a fresh blue-fish 

 is glorious where will you stop in the list of fish that 

 abound on our coast, every one of which is better than 

 any salt-water fish known on the other side of the At- 

 lantic ?" 



" Excepting sardines." 



"Well, I may perhaps except sardines." 



"May? None of your prejudices, old fellow. There's 



