132 ANIMAL FOOD RESOURCES OF DIFFERENT NATIONS. 



provisionally named by Professor Owen, Manatus Vogelii, 

 is a royal perquisite, li^e the sturgeon in Britain, and is 

 generally taken to the chiefs table. Dr. Vogel speaks of 

 it as very good, its flesh and fat being like pork and very 

 well flavoured. There is no reason why it should not be 

 so. It reaches ten feet in length, and becomes very fat. 



DolpJiins and Porpoises. — At the Faroe Islands, the 

 inhabitants of which principally live on fish, about 2,000 

 dolphins or bottle-noses (JDelphinus glohiceps) are taken 

 annually ; the flesh is eaten either fresh or salted, and 

 tastes like coarse beef. 



The fat is removed, some being used for domestic pur- 

 poses. The flesh is cut into long bands as thick as the 

 arm, salted, and hung around the houses in the air to 

 dry. It has a black exterior coating and soon exhales a 

 disagreeable odour, which passes away when it becomes 

 thoroughly dried, and it may then be kept a long time. 



In former years a dolphin was thought a fit and 

 worthy present to be made to a Duke of Norfolk, who 

 again divided its flesh among his friends; it was roasted 

 and eaten with porpoise sauce. 



The flesh and blubber of the dolphin (Platanista gange- 

 tica) are eaten by some low caste Indians. That of Del- 

 pMnus tursis and D. Belphis is eaten along the coasts of 

 the Adriatic. 



Brand states that porpoises were sold for food in the 

 Newcastle market in the year 1575. In the time of 

 Edward I. the price for the best sea-hog was 6s. 8d. 



At the dinners of the Goldsmiths' Company in olden 

 times we find, besides ordinary fish, the seal and porpoise 

 mentioned. The porpoise then constituted one of the 

 standard dishes of a public feast. It was eaten with a 

 sauce composed of sugar, vinegar, and crumbs of fine 

 bread. Sailors will, however, scarcely eat it. M. de 

 Bouganville, in his "Voyage to the Falkland Isles," 

 ■writes: "We had some of the porpoise served up at 

 dinner the day it was taken, which several others at the 

 table besides myself thought by no means so ill-tasted 

 as it is generally said to be." 



