THE SOUTHERN PLANTER 



327 



From Sir Francis Head's Faggot of French 

 Sticks. 



SLAUGHTERHOUSE OF MONTMARTRE. 



About half a century ago there lived in a 

 country village in England, as maid-servant, a 

 pleasing-looking young woman, of such delicate 

 sensibilities that, to use her own expression, 

 "She couldn't abear to see a mouse killed." 

 She married the butcher. At about the same 

 period. Napoleon, who cared no more for the ef- 

 fusion of human bl0od than the stormy petrel 

 cares for the salt spray of the waves of the 

 Atlantic Ocean, ft-om similar sensibilities, de- 

 termined to cleanse Paris from the blood of 

 bullocks, sheep, pigs, and quadrupeds _ of all 

 sorts, by suppressing every description of 

 slaughterhouse withiifthe city, and by construct- 

 ing in lieu thereof, beyond the walls, five great 

 public abattoirs, besides smaller places of exe- 

 cution for pigs, and also for horses. 



The largest of these is that of Popincourt ; 

 but as the greatest quantity of cattle are 

 slaughtered at Montmartre, I drove to the 

 avenue Trudame, where, on descending from 

 my cabriolet, I saw before me a rectangular 

 establishment, resembling cavalry barracks, 

 f surrounded by walls 389 yards lengthways by 

 150 yards breadthways. 



On entering the iron gates, I found on my 

 left a small bureau, which looked like a guard- 

 room, and from which, on expressing my wish 

 to go over the establishment, I was very civilly 

 furnished with a conductor. 



In front of the entrance-gate was a space 

 shaded by trees and bounded by a barrack-look- 

 ^ ing building of fifteen windows in front, the 

 residence of the principal officers. On the right 

 and left, in three parallel rows, were six sets of 

 buildings (twelve in all) separated from each 

 other by broad roads which isolated each. Af- 

 . fixed to the walls of this enclosure were other 

 ' buildings, the purposes of which will be conse- 

 cutively described, as also two " abreuvoirs,'' 

 or watering-places for cattle, and one fountain. 



The officers of the establishment consist of 



An inspector of police, whose duty it is to 

 see that the whole interior of the abattoir is 

 clean .and in a state of " salubrity that there 

 are no disputes among the people employed ; 

 and that the animals are not beaten ("qu'on ne 

 frappe pas les animaux"), 



A principal inspector of the *' Boucheries." 



A sub-inspector of ditto. 



Four guardians (surveillans) of the oxen, 

 sheep, calves, &c., to be slaughtered. 



Two superintendents for skinning, "triperie,'' 

 &c. 



Four men for cleaning the paved streets, &c., 

 of the interior. 

 • One porter. 



One gate-keeper (concierge). 



Tli(\ slaughtering department is composed of 

 64 slaughterers, each of whom has his slaugh- 

 terhouse, his " bouvcric/' or stable for cattle, 



his loft and granary for hay and corn, and his 

 chamber for ^dressing and undressing. 



On walking to the space in front of the 

 entrance gate, and between it and the garden 

 belonging to the barrack-looking residence of 

 the officers above named, I found within it, in 

 two separate divisions called "parks,'' lying 

 under the shade of lilac and laburnum trees in 

 blossom, several sheep and bullocks just ar- 

 rived. 



Lnmediately adjoining to these enclosures, 

 common to all the 64 boucheries, I entered a 

 lofty " bouverie" 150 feet long, admirably venti- 

 lated by windows above on all four sides. Down 

 the middle there ran before me a broad passage, 

 on each side of which were a series of square 

 compartments, 25 feet long by 15 broad, sepa- 

 rated from each other by wooden railings. In 

 those on my right I saw, lying on straw as clean 

 as that in the show-stables of a London horse- 

 dealer, a quantity of bullocks, two, three, or 

 four in each cell. In corresponding cells on 

 my left were standing or lying, separated from 

 each other by a low partition, a number of 

 sheep and calves. 



In the first of these cells, on the back of one 

 of a small flock of sheep, I saw, lying fast 

 asleep, a shepherd's d©g. The bullocks and 

 sheep were eating hay; the calves, my con- 

 ductor told me, had " soupe." 



"What is it made of?" I asked. 



" Meal, eggs, and warm water," was the re- 

 ply ; and he added that throughout the " bou- 

 veries" there was warm water for the calves. 

 Every cart-load of calves, the heads of which 

 are never allowed to hang outside, is obliged to 

 leave half of its straw for their use in the abat- 

 toir. There are eight bouveries such as the one 

 above described. 



Above each line of cells for bullocks and 

 calves is a loft to supply them with hay, and ad- 

 joining, are, open to the air and protected by iron 

 wire, a series of large rooms, containing each 

 a table and a chair, in which are to be seen, 

 neatly arranged, the clothes and boots of the 

 butchers, who, even if they had the inclination, 

 are not allowed to offend the citizens of Paris 

 by appearing in the streets in their professional 

 garb. 



Passing the four working yards, containing 

 the 64 slaughtering-houses, I was next led to a 

 large building, in which the blood of the ani- 

 mals slaughtered is subjected toa scientific chemi- 

 cal process, under M'^hich, after lying for some time 

 in clean, round, shallow tin pans, it is poured 

 into barrels : first, for the purpose of refining 

 sugar ; and secondly, for manuring the earth. 

 The entrails, after being carefully emptied into 

 a pit constructed for the purpose, and emptied 

 every day, are well washed by an abundant 

 supply of water. 



On entering the "triperie" department, I 

 found a number of women employed in boiling, 

 in a series of coppers supplied by three large 

 vats of water, sheep's heads and calves' feet. 



