THE TWO SIEGES 
289 
fountains in the Gardens, were rubbing their purple 
noses against the sides of a baby’s bath, set upon the 
counter, and a young bear, freshly killed, its broad 
paws clenched in death, was hanging like a sheep 
from the hooks above, destined for auction by hungry 
Parisians on the following day. On the last night 
of the old year, in the shop of the butcher Roos, in 
the Boulevard Haussmann, far less appetizing viands 
were the subject of a sale, which for the moment was 
invested with an interest equal to that attending an 
auction of masterpieces of art at Christy’s. The last 
batch of animals from the Jardin d’Acclimatation was 
on offer, to supply the materials for a New Year’s 
dinner. The trunk of “ Pollux,” a young elephant, 
was the central attraction, and among a number of 
unfamiliar heads and horns, a shopman was pointing 
to a pile of camel steaks. 
The butcher was concluding his speech, in the 
centre of a circle of women— 
“ It is forty francs a pound, for the filet or the ribs. 
Yes — forty francs. Dear, you say ? Not at all ; I do 
not see my way to making a penny on it. I counted 
on 3000 lbs., and he (the elephant) has only cut up 
into 2300 lbs. The feet — you ask the price of the 
feet? — are twenty francs; the other portions eight 
francs to fourteen francs a pound. Allow me to 
recommend the elephant sausage ; there is onion in 
my sausage, ladies and gentlemen ! ” 
De Goncourt was able to purchase two larks for 
his breakfast — like the toasted mice of the hero of 
u 
