168 



CHILI. 



ter removing the skin, the fat and tallow were 

 cut carefully off, and the muscles detached from 

 their several seats^ with the exact situation of 

 which the men seem perfectly acquainted. But 

 although their knives flashed about with great 

 celerity, no fibres were cut across, each of the 

 muscles being slipped out of their natural places, 

 with a sleight of hand, which nothing but long 

 and constant practice can teach. As fast as a 

 portion was detached, it was carried into the ad- 

 joining cell, where it was hung on a part of the 

 railing expressly appropriated to it, every separate 

 portion of the animal being arranged in a certain 

 order. The head, feet, and refuse, were carried 

 to the other side of the passage, and placed on a 

 thick layer of green boughs, along the margin of 

 the stream, by this time all discoloured and blood- 

 stained. So quickly was the carcase separated 

 into different parts, and with so little noise or vio- 

 lence or apparent effort, that an active fancy might 

 have supposed it had melted away. There was 

 nothing in the whole course of this process at all 

 calculated to disgust ; nor any hacking, — nor hew- 

 ing, — nor sawing, — each joint being dislocated as 



