Butte record., 1854-06-03
an A8YssTNEAr! FEAST.

" Hdt 4of 41ao!e aHalf, although not quite
50 disgusting as might be inferred from
Bruce's description. The impression
left by bis narrative is, that steaks cut
from the living animal are the fayorite
dish Of the country; and that the great
art Of the butcher Is no; to XII the AMI
mai, but to keep It alive until almost ev-
cry particle Of the fe-h has been devour.
ed After having satisfied what they
suppose to be the requirements Of the
Mosaic law, By shedding d few drops of
the blood, he says that "two or more OF
item fall to work: on tie bach Of the
. beast, and on each side Of ths spine, they
cut sk.n-leep, then putting their faEers
between the flesh and the skin, they be-
gin to strip the hide Of the animal halt
way down its ribs, and SO on 10 the but
t9ck, cutting the shin wherever If hinders
them conmodiously to strip the poor an
inal bare. All the flesh on the buttocks
Is then cut Of, and ii solid square pieces.
without bones or much etfusion Of blood
As long as they can cut of the flesh
FROM the bone, they DO not meddle with
the thighs or the parts where the great
arteries are. At last they fall upon the
thighs likewise, and soon alter the ami
maj bleeding to death, becomes so tough
that the cannibals who have the rest Of
it to eat, find it very hard work to sepa-
tate the flesh from the bones" Now,
although during lis whole residence in
the country, Mr.. Parkyns saw nothing
Of the kind, he does not doubt that Bruce
did; although very probably he fill into
the common travellers error Of describ-
ing Z rare occurrence rs q common prac-
tice.
When an Abyssinian gentleman gives
dinner party, the room is prepared by
spreading fresh grass upon the floor
The tables aie then arranged. These
are Of various sorts and heights, but none
so high as to cause iaconvtnience to the
guests, Who all sit upon the noor-chairs
being an unknown article. The bread
is then brought In by the servants, and
arranged in piles, in such a manner that
the better SORT are at tie top. The rea-
son Of his Is that the guests Of higher
rank IS Helped first, and then the remain
ing pieces are passed down 10 those Of
inferior rank The guests are arranged
with great Punctiiliousness and with the
utmost regard t. the rights of prece.
dence.
First come the cooked dishes, brought
! in by walters, who dip q bit of bread in
/ tie sauce, and hand It to each guest
These IL the meantime are busy rolling
the bread and sauce, mixed into 4 sort
/ Of paste, into round masses, something
Ike small sausages II is mark Of po-
litcnos- and high breeding to poke these
Jumps mo tie mouth Of your neiahbor.
al you h ppen to be distinguished
character, or stranger to whom thcy
wish to pay attention, which was often
my case" says tie author, ''you are in
4 very disacreeabie position for your
! two neiElbors, one On each side, cram
into your mouth these large ard peDperv
proofs Of their esteem 50 quickly, one af-
ter the other, that long before you can
chew ana swallow the one, you are
obliged to make room for the next. They
cnarally succeed in half choking you
and # you feel you are losing the skin of
your mouth, lips AMI throat, from the
E Try effects Of the pepper yog dare not
ask for water, as that would be consid-
es-d rude, and the mead is seldom served
I til the dinner IS over.
Willie the first course is thus being
disposed OF. the animal IS being killed at
the door, for the main course. This is
TIE ~broundo" or raw meat, eaten while
yet warm and quivering. I'm this state
it Is considered, and justly" Mr. Par
kyns assures Us, ''to be very superior in
taste to what it IS when cold. Raw
meat, if kept little time, gets tough :;
whereas, if eaten fresh and warm, It Is
far teDderer than the most tender ioint
that has been hung a week IN England.
The taste is" he Acknowledges, "per-
haps from imagination, rather disagree
able at first; but far otherwise when one
gets accustomed to it and I can readily
believe that raw meat would be preferred
to cooked meat by man who from child
hood had been accustomed to it" We
can hardly reconcile ourselves to this
although. perhaps, in view Of our own
consumption Of raw oysters "on the half
SHE'LL" we have little right to be over
fastidious in the matter OF "broundo. >