FLESH FOOD FROM MAMMALS. 129 



come, everyone praises its flavour, tenderness, digesti- 

 bility, juiciness, and its decidedly warming after-effects. 

 Its colour is almost black, from the large amount of 

 venous blood it contains, except in young seals, and is 

 therefore very singular looking and not inviting, vsrhile 

 its flavour is unlike anything else, and cannot be de- 

 scribed except by saying " delicious." To suit European 

 palates there are certain precautions to be taken before 

 it is cooked. It has to be cut in thin slices, carefully re- 

 moving any fat or blubber, and is then soaked in salt 

 vrater for from 12 to 24 hours, to remove the blood, 

 which gives it a slightly fishy flavour. The daintiest 

 morsel is the liver, which requires no soaking, but may 

 be eaten as soon as the animal is killed. 



The heart is good eating, while the sweetbread and 

 kidneys are not to be despised. The usual mode of 

 cooking seal's flesh is to stew it with a few pieces of fat 

 bacon, when an excellent rich gravy is formed, or it may 

 be fried with a few pieces of pork. 



The flesh of the hair-seals is said to be more juicy 

 and sweet for food than that of the fur-seals, which are 

 chiefly composed of blubber./ The flesh of a young fur- 

 seal, placed in running water overnight and then broiled, 

 is, however, far from disagreeable, in fact it is said to taste 

 exactly like mutton chop. The young sea-lion (Otaria), 

 of which there are several species, is said to be even 

 better eating. Anson, in his " Voyage Round the 

 World," speaking of Juan Fernandez, writes : — 



" There is another amphibious creature to be met with 

 here called a sea-lion, which bears some resemblance to 

 a seal, though it is much larger. This, too, we eat, under 

 the denomination of beef. They are extremely fat, so 

 that after having cut through the skin, which is about an 

 inch in thickness, there is at least a foot of fat before 

 you can either come at lean or bones ; and we experi- 

 enced more than once that the fat of some of the largest 

 afforded us a butt of oil. We killed many of them for 

 food, particularly for their hearts and tongues, which we 

 esteemed exceeding good eating, and preferable even to 



