ROMEOSTIA. 151 



or be present. Accordingly we adjourned to the 

 place of slaughter, which was a sort of square, full 

 of wooden pens, almost like what the pens in Smith- 

 field used to be, but higher, say about five feet high, 

 and capable of containing from thirty to forty pigs. 

 Out of these larger pens was a smaller pen capable 

 of holding a dozen or so. 



The right number of pigs having been driven into 

 the smaller pen, a man, armed with a small kind of 

 skewer, or stiletto, about six or seven inches long, 

 got into the pen, went down on his knees, seized a 

 pig by the fore-leg, turned him over on his side in 

 a most dexterous manner, and ran the stiletto up to 

 the hilt, which w r as merely a kind of ring made by 

 a turn in the iron ; having given the weapon a turn 

 or two to be sure he had hit him in the right place, 

 he caught hold of another, and so on till he had 

 killed all in the pen, which he did in an incredibly 

 short space of time. Whilst the dead pigs were being 

 dragged out he went into another slaughter shop, 

 and by the time he had despatched his victims there 

 his first pen was full again, and going down on his 

 knees again, he performed the same kindly office that 

 he had done before, and so went on till he and 

 various others engaged in the same occupation had 



