Demoine courier., 1855-08-09

account Of the manner in which the DO.
dies of Partisan horses and rats are usu
ally disposed of. He says:
-Four hundred horses die or are killed
in Paris in one week. There is a com
mon pound, surrounded by a stone wall
covering some ten acres. According to
some municipal regulations (shcre is an
~"ordonnance' for everything in France,
all dead carcases, excep, human homes,
must be brought to this general receptacle.
The earcase of a horse is valuable for the
bone, tie hide, and the hair, to say moth
ing of the flesh, much priced, when fresh,
in certain sausage manufactures. But
should you wait until the horse has ac-
tually shufled eff his hairy coil you
might miss a bargain-anosher OF the
trade precedes and purchases. Hence it
is important to buy the horse. as a dead
horse, before he is dead. 1t is a regular
business in Paris. You can tell these
agents for the purchase of dead horses at
a glance; the dress is tina. of an English
groom. save the vigne.te on the visor of
the cap, representing . dead horses head
and c~rossbones; a memorandum book; a
pencil, q stamp, and a piece Of caustie
complies his accoutrements. With a
scru,inizing eye he travels the thorough
fares of Paris; should a horse go lame,
break p leg or neck, should he show any
symptoms Of distress-in a word, any.
where or in any way evince signs Of the
many ills TO which horse flesh Is heir,
Immediately is an offer made for the an
imal, deliverable when really dead.
"1'he bargain concluded, the "signale.
ment' of the horse and owner is careful.
ly recorded, and a private mark stamped
on the inside of the foreleg with ~caustic;
she horse goes, perhaps rejoicing, on
his way for weeks, perhaps months, on
~ TO he met with and identified after
death, ut the public graveyard for horses.
Now, excep, in cases of fresh specimens.
as mentioned above, the first operation
on a dead horse is 10 take off the skin;
then the flesh. to get at the bones. The
skinniug portion is easy, and performed
with a dex,erity and rapidly truly aston
ishing. ] have seen in the enclosure
spoken Of at the same time over one
hundred horses skinned or being put
through that process. The next point is
to divest the bones of adhesive and pu-
trid flesh bones ara valued in proportion
as they are clear, neat, and free from 9TH
er matter. To take the flesh off by hand
is a tedious and difficult operation. An
ingenious Frenchman solved the Difficult.
ty. He noticed that rats were very fond
of horse flesh; he advised the authorities
to colonize the dead horse pound with
these animals; the catacombs of Paris
furnished them by thousands. II was
done, and nowadays a dead horses
carcass putin over night, is literally ,aoth-
ing but a neat and beautiful skeleton in
the morning. The ~pecuriary saving to
bone dealers from the voracity and gnaw,
ing ~propensi,ies Of the rat family, is
was told. very considerable.
sour Yankee Frenchmanf did not
however, stop there. 1t was natural to
suppose tina, rats. SO well fed and provid
ed for, would rapidly increase and mul,
tiply; hence the necessity of regulating
the matter. Every three months a grand
'baltue' lie made upon the aforesaid colo.
ny of rats, and all caught above ground,
die the death of rats. The manner OF
doing this amused me. Horizontal and
c~ylindric holes are bored all around, in
and at the foot of the enclosing walls
the depth and diameter being respective.
ly the length and thickness Of a rats bo-
dy. Upon the morning at the 'battue'
men armed with tin pans, kettles, drums,
&c.. rush in q. the peep Of day and 'cha
rivari' the poor rats, who, frightened to
death. poke their heads into the first op-
ening. OF course, all those in the wall
holes have tails sticking out. The ra,
collector with a bag over his left should.
er, now makes a tour Of the premises,
and The scientific and rapid manner with
which the rats are seized by the tail and
safely TO both rat and opera.or) trans.
ferred to the bag, challenges admiration.
1t even surpasses the .ChiTonier's' rag
picking. Perhaps you wish to know
what becomes Of the rats. These also
are sold before they are eaugh. or killed
The privilege Of gathering rats on the
.bat.us' days, is farmed GU, by the au.
,hori,ies. and a profitable business it is
These rats. sleek and tat as they neces
sarily are, fetch a highly remunera,iv,
"