IN FEATHERS AND FUR. 355 
EATING ALL OVER THE WORLD, 
What would you think to see on a dinner table a whole pea- 
cock, with head, feathers, tail and all ? And not only peacocks, 
but ducks and geese, and even sober old hens, all dressed in their 
own feathers ? 
In old times, that was a great triumph in a cook's art. I'll tell 
you how it was done. The peacock — or other fowl — being killed, 
was handed over to the cook, who proceeded to skin it very care- 
fully, so as not to disturb the feathers. The head and tail were of 
course left on. The skin was then spread out and rubbed with 
spices, while the body was stuffed and roasted. When it was done, 
it was sewed up in its own skin and served. A table thus orna- 
mented must have been a funny sight. But I don't know that it 
was any more odd than a hog roasted whole, which they have in 
the South Sea Islands. Having no ovens large enough for such 
work, they dig a pit in the ground, wall it with stones, and build a 
fire in it. When the stones are hot, they rake out the fire and put 
in the hog, dressed and stuffed, and wrapped in plantain leaves. 
Then they cover him with a blanket of hot coals, and over that a 
thick quilt of earth. He simmers away for several hours, and 
comes out a great and delicious feast. 
In old times, in England, before the days of railroads, tele- 
graphs, and common schools, when few men could write their own 
names, and books were too rare to be owned by any but the very 
rich, people spent most of their time in eating and fighting. Eat- 
ing, or rather feasting, seemed to be thought the chief end of man. 
The number and variety of their dishes, is wonderful to us, who 
have so much else to do, and spend so little time in eating. His- 
tory tells of a wedding feast, at which there were thirty thousand 
different dishes served. And King Richard I. of England had 
three hundred persons employed in his kitchen. At one feast, the 
great attraction was four big roast pigs, harnessed with ropes of 
sausage, to a monstrous pudding. One man had ponds in his 
grounds, filled with expensive drinks ; and another built resting 
places on the public road, and supplied a large caldron in each, 
