INTEODUCTOEY AND GENERAL. 11 



insipid to me. The birds' nests seemed like glue or isin- 

 glass ; but the cocks'-combs were palatable. The dog 

 meat was like very delicate gizzard well stewed — a short 

 close fibre and very tender. The dish which I fancied 

 the most turned out to be rat; for upon taking a second 

 help after the first taste, I got the head, and I certainly 

 felt rather sick upon this discovery. But I consoled 

 myself by the remembrance that in California we used 

 often to eat ground-squirrels, which are first cousins to 

 the flat-tailed rats ; and travellers who would know the 

 world must go in boldly for manners and customs. We 

 had tortoise and frogs ; a curry of the latter was superior 

 to chicken. We had fowls' hearts, and brains of some 

 bird — snipe I think. And the soup which terminated 

 the repast was surely boiled tripe, or some interior ar- 

 rangement, and I wished I had halted a little time ago." 



Dr. Macgowan, of Shanghai, tells us that in China 

 little distinction is made between materia medica, and 

 materia alimentaria, therapeutic properties being as- 

 cribed to all articles that are used as food. Nearly all 

 portions of animals, the human frame included, are 

 supposed to be efficacious in the treatment of disease. 

 Some animal substances are macerated in fermented or 

 distilled liquors, and are termed wines — ^thus, there ar& 

 mutton wine, dog wine, deer wine, deer-horn wine, tiger- 

 bone wine, snake wine, and tortoise wine. 



In the shops of Hong Kong fat pork chops dried and 

 varnished to the colour of mahogany are seen suspended 

 with dry pickled ducks' gizzards, and strings of sausages, 

 cured by exposure to the sun. 



The diet of the Cochin Chinese is, to European ideas,, 

 often gross and disgusting in a high degree. Dogs' and 

 alligators' flesh, rats, mice, worms, frogs and other rep-; 

 tiles, maggots, entrails, and putrid meats are among 

 their favourite dishes. Ducks are boiled, and eggs are 

 not valtied iintil they are rotten or nearly hatched. 

 - Fish pickle is their favourite condiment, into which 

 nearly every morsel they eat is plunged : elephants* 

 flesh is eaten only by the sovereign and nobility. 



