FLESH FOOD FROM MAMMALS. 89 



and the other boiled, without the two modes being con- 

 founded. The' second way was the Trojan, because it 

 represented the wooden horse fraudulently introduced 

 into Troy. The pig was gutted and cleaned, deli- 

 cately cooked and stuffed with thrushes, beccaficoes, 

 oysters, and a great quantity of birds or of rare and 

 costly fish, soaked with exquisite wines. 



Among the Gauls, pork was the principal article of 

 food, and that most esteemed ; of this many proofs may 

 be cited. 



The Salic law treated more at length of this than of 

 any other animal, for there is an entire chapter devoted 

 to laws against stealing pigs. The principal revenue of 

 the Church consisted of the tithe of pigs. The dishes 

 on which their flesh was served had a particular name, 

 they were called baccon or bacconique, derived from 

 baco, which signifies fat pork. 



It was only permitted to eat pork in Egypt once a 

 year, on the feast of the new moon, and the Egyptians 

 vied with each other in sacrificing a great number to 

 this planet. 



The pig is not less honoured among modern nations ; 

 the taste of the Germans for fat pork has almost passed 

 into a proverb. In Spain the sausage (chorigo) is a 

 national meat. In France and in England it forms the 

 base of public feasts. In Ireland the pig deserves even 

 more public notice, for it is there the friend and the 

 sustenance of the poor peasant ; it shares with him his 

 hut, and his potatoes, and its flesh affords the sole agree- 

 able and strengthening animal food he can obtain. 



The net weight of available flesh food in the pig is 

 much higher than in the ruminants. The quantity 

 will of course vary somewhat according to the breed. In 

 well fed animals there will only be a total loss of 10 or 

 15 per cent, of offal not available for food, but then as 

 the blood, intestines, liver and heart are eaten, this waste 

 is reduced to about 6 or 7 per cent. 



North America has more swine than any other country ; 

 nearly 44|^ millions of pigs are officially recorded in the 



