WILD ANIMALS AS A SOURCE OF FOOD 213 



aliases, it is said to figure in the dietary of various European 

 nations. Simmonds (in Animal Products] thus speaks of the 

 culinary value of the Lion: "The flesh of the lion is eaten 

 by the Hottentots; and a tribe of Arabs between Tunis and 

 Algeria, according to Blumenbach, live almost entirely upon it 

 when they can get it. When a lion has been killed and the 

 skin removed, the flesh is divided, and the mothers take each 

 a small piece of the animal's heart and give it their male 

 children to eat in order to render them strong and courageous. 

 They take away as much as possible of the mane, in order to 

 make armlets of it, which are supposed to have the same effect. 

 It would seem from the journal of the Marquess of Hastings, 

 that this superstition as to eating lion's flesh is as strong in 

 India. On the death of a lion it is stated: 'Anxious interest 

 was made with our servants for a bit of the flesh, though it 

 should be the size of a hazel-nut. Every native in the camp, 

 male or female, who was fortunate enough to get a morsel, 

 dressed it and ate it. They have a thorough conviction that 

 the eating a piece of lion's flesh strengthens the constitution 

 incalculably, and is a preservative against many particular dis- 

 tempers. This superstition does not apply to tiger's flesh, 

 though the whiskers and claws of that animal are considered 

 as very potent for bewitching people/ But the flesh of lions 

 has also been eaten with gusto by Europeans, for Madame 

 Bedichon in her work on Algeria states, that at Oran a lion 

 was killed which three days before had eaten a man, and the 

 prefect gave a grand dinner, the principal dish being the lion, 

 which the French gentlemen assembled ate with the greatest 

 relish. More recently still ... a magnificent quarter of lion, 

 shot in the neighbourhood of Philippeville, Algeria, by M. Con- 

 stant Cheret, was sent to the Restaurant Magny, Paris, and 

 served up to a party of nineteen guests, who enjoyed with gusto 

 1 Estouffade de lion a la M^ridionale ' and ' Coeur de lion a la 

 Castellane '." Among aquatic Carnivores the Seals are valuable 

 as a source of food to Esquimaux and other tribes inhabiting 

 cold latitudes. 



Of other aquatic Mammals used as food may be mentioned the 

 Manatees (Manatus) and Dugongs (Halicore\ which constitute 

 the order of Sea-Cows (Sirenid)', while reference has already 

 been made (p. 209) to Whales (Cetacea) in this connection. 



