Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1859-05-26

VI A'O" AuIh, Nuore Iiiey coii tiio idrbo DUH
frog, weighing sometimes half pound, as vel
as tho tender little green frog, (rana esculenta
whose hind legs taste SO like delicate chicken
when served up with white sauce in the resaau
rants of Paris and the hotels of Vienna.
course, frogs do not escape in China, which de
YOURS everything with blood or fiber In it; an,
the horrid negroes of Surinam eat the still NOR
horrid and most loathsome Surinam toad
Snakes and frogs seem to go somehow with
monkeys and parrots; they are all Of the SAINT
eerie class together, though the naturalist woulc
SCOT at such notion, and no physical geogra
pher would countenance it. To us they suggest
asequiter. African epicures are never more
charmed than when they can dine off a highly
seasoned, tender, young monkey, baked, gipsey
fashion, in tho earth. The Rio Janero smon'
keys are sold in the Leaden-hall markets of the
place, together with parrots and the paca, moi
a very edible-looking rodent. The great REQ
monkey and the black-spider monkey, the howl
ing monkey, and the couxio or jacketcd monkey
are all eaten by the various people among whom
they are found. Monkey tastes like rabbit, and
is reported nutritious and pleasant.
Bats and foxmonkeys-the flying lemur-
are also eaten but neither are of very res
pectable holding in the gastronomic aristocracy;
they have rank odor and are unpleasant, but
are eaten, nevertheless, by the natives of the
islands of the Indian Archipelago, Malabar
&c. One species of bat is good eating; it is
called by naturalists the eatable bat, and is SAID
to be white, tender and delicate; it is much ia
vored by the inhabitants of Timor; for oil that
it is hideous beast, like a weasel, with ten
inch body, covered with close and shining black
hair. and four-feet wings, when stretched tc
their full extent.
If the rank fox-monkey may be eaten, why
not the fox? So he is. In Italy rcckoned the
crowning dclicacy, and, in the Arctic regions
where fresh meat is scarce, when judciously in
tered in pie, he is considered equal to any
rabbit, under the same conditions, even bred on
the Sussex downs. But, strange to say, the
Esqumaux dogs, which will eat anything else,
will not touch fox. The skunk, the prairie
wolf, and the sloth are eaten. Cats and dogs
find purchasers and consumers in China, where
they are hung up in the butchers shops, to-
gether with badgers-tasting like wild boar
and other, oddities of food.
In the South Seas, too, dog is favorite dish,
and a puppy stew is royal feast in Zanzibar ;
but it is only justice to say that where dog is
eaten he ESPECIALLY fattened for the table, and
fed only on milk and such like cleanly Diet
the Australian native dog or dingo is eaten by
the blacks, but by no one else; and South
african will give large cow for well sized
mastif. The tiger is thought by the Malays to
impart his own strength and courage to his
consumer.
The American panther and the wildcat of
Louisiana, are said to I've excellent eating so
is the puma which is so like veal in flavor that
you would not know the difference blindfold.-
Tho lion, too, is almost identical with veal in
color, taste, and texture. Bears paws were
long a German delicacy, and bears flesh is held
equal or superior to pork, by connoisseurs, hav-
ing mixed favor, which partakes Of the joint
excellences Of both beef and pork. The fat is
white as snow, and g if man were to drink q
quart of it,. says one amiahle enthusiast, " it
would never rise on his stomach " The tongue
and hams are cured, but the head is accounted
worthless, and thrown away. t.
The badger tastes like wild boar; the kan
garoo is not inferior to vcnison, and kangaroo.
tail soup is better than half the messes which
pass in London under the name of ox-tal soup.
flashed wallaby is dish no one need disian,
and small species of kangaroo, called pade
melon, is as good as any hare ever cooked. An
Australian native banquet is an odd mixture
Kangaroos and wallabes, opossums and flying
squirrels, kangaroo rats, wombats, and bandi
coots, all of them more or less of the veniton
type, represent the pieces de resistance while
rats, mice, snakes, snails, large white maggots
called cobberra, worms and grubs, are the little
dishes and most favored entrees. a nice fat
marmot is a treat-why not? They are pure
feeders. An Esquimaux strings mice together
as Londoner strings larks, and eats them witt
equal gusto.
The musk rat # Martinique is eaten, musk,
, as it is, and indescribaby loathsomc to Eu
ropean and the sleek rats of the sugar-can
| fields make one of the most delicious fricassc
imaginable--so tender, plump. cleanly and lus
} cous are they. Sugar plantations general.
: maintain professional rat-catcher. but SON
g people think that rat produces consumption, 6
discourage the sport. The Chinese arc in r,
paradise In California, where the rats are in
= credibly large, highly-favored, and very abun
Q dant; they make dish of rats brains equal t
5 the famous plat of nightlngales' tongues spoke
y of in certain Roman history, and rat-soup
= thought by all right minded Celestials to bca
y ox-tail or gravy soup hollow.
e Mr.. Albert Smith gave his impressions
n Chinese fare as consisting, for the most part,
o - rats, bats, snails, bad eggs, and hideons fs
d dried in the most frightful attitudes with a
It addition of soup of large caterpillars bolc
Il in thin gravy with onions" India is no
ID about to supply China with saltcd rats, whic
q 1t is hoped will open new field of commerc
enterprise and fortune quite unparalleled. I'll
l. bandicoot, dear to Australian palates, is ii
le pig rat, and the vaulting rat, or jerboa, is
Al the same order. The Indians eat the beave
h which is said to be like pork, and porcupne
is prime favorite with the Dutch, the Hottentot
s. the Hudson Bay trappers, and the Italians
p Poroupine s cross between fowl and suckln
of pig, and accounted exceedingly nutritious.
ly Elephants feet plckled in strong toddy win