78 ANIMAL FOOD RESOURCES OF DIFFERENT NATIONS. 



are required. The tins are made by three or four men in 

 the same room, each man turning out 300 or 400 tins a 

 day. These tins — the chopped up rabbits having been 

 placed in them — are tied in a crate, and then lowered 

 into a tank, where being hermetically sealed, they are 

 boiled for eight hours by steam. At the end of this 

 period the tins are removed and the little hole at the 

 top is reopened in order to permit the steam, which has 

 accumulated during the process of cooking, to pass oif. 

 Before any air can enter, the hole is again soldered. 

 The tins are then left to cool, and subsequently painted, 

 branded, and boxed. In 1877, 764 cases of these tins 

 of preserved rabbits were received here from South 

 Australia. 



During 1881 8^ millions of rabbit skins were exported 

 from New Zealand, valued at £84,744, and in 1888 we 

 received from thence 12,361,224, valued at £119,461. 

 From Victoria there were shipped in the same year 

 5,570,341 skins, valued at £67,271, but we have no in- 

 formation as to what quantity of the rabbits were con- 

 sumed for food. A premium of 3d. per skin is given by 

 the Government. 



Although rabbits are plentiful in the southern parts 

 of Chili and on the islands of the coast, the Spaniards 

 and Indians have as great a prejudice to their flesh as 

 the Jews to pork; hence they are never eaten. The 

 negroes in the West Indies also dislike rabbits, while 

 they will eat almost any other kind of animal food. 

 The inhabitants of many islands in the Greek Archi- 

 pelago live almost entirely on rabbits' flesh. 



Beaver. — The flesh of the beaver is much prized by the 

 Indian and Canadian voyageurs, especially when it is 

 roasted in the skin, after the hair has been singed off. In 

 some districts it requires all the influence of the fur trader 

 to restrain the hunters from sacrificing a considerable 

 quantity of beaver furs every year, to secure the enjoy- 

 ment of this luxury ; Indians of note have generally one 

 or two feasts in a season, wherein a roasted beaver is the 

 prime dish. The meat resembles pork in flavour, but 



