New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1870-08-25

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and they sometimes go back in their
untutored simplicity OIL vermicelil and
maccaroni. We never heard one accused
of having an Unborn taste for tallow can
dies, as Suwarrow had; nor for seal tat,
as the Laplander has. But we do eat the
flesh of the beast that splits the hoof, and
we do not cook that of the ass or the
horse, whose hoof is though to be solid
lump. 1t is true, however, that IN Gull
nary matters as in everything else, the
American is highly susceptible OF being
refined and educated up to any standard /;
and if one was pitted against Lucullus,
if that Roman warrior and glutton could
be revived, as matter Of hospitality it is
probable he would eat more birds nests
and blind fish than both Pompey and
Cicero together. All Of which brings us
back to the consideration of the matter of
horse flesh as a substitute for beef and
mutton; and whether We, as Americans,
can be induced to accept of it as q ma
tional dish after it has been tasted and APP
proved by the polite and fastidious Paris
ians who instruct US in these matters as
gently as they prompt US how to build our
hats or cut the tails of our coats.
An affirmative answer is confidently
predicted, for what we have done once
we can do again, and Americans have al
ready had their little experience in this
matter, and some of them live to testify
on this point.
When Walker was beset and driven into
the town of Rivas, in Central America,
where he ives subsequently besieged by
the forces of the Central American States,
he had with him drove of beeyes and a
cavallado of horses and mules with which
to subsist his army upon. After time
the cattle were well nigh consumed, and
it became an interesting question if the
garrison would eat horse flesh. In order
to solve the problem by an actual test,
the usual number of beeves were driven
into the slaughter pen by the public en-
trance, while an equal number of horses
were smuggled in by private gate. The
oxen were hid and the horses slaughtered,
cut up into rations and issued to the
troops. The meat was badly butchered
for the purpose of concealing the trick
No complaint was heard from the camp
on the day when the experiment was
tried, and it was repeated the next morn
ing. For four days this deception was
successful, and then the wide awake
American garrison was quietly
allowed to find out that it had been eat
ing both horse and mule meat for four
days, and that it might expect similar
rations from that time forward. And
there was no disturbance, but the new
dish was consumed with as much relish
as if it had been beef Tie meat was a
shade darker, and the fibre was thread
stronger than that of beef; but it was
quite as palatable, and the doctor said it
was healthier and more sustaining. AS
Walker had in his army not only some of
the most cultivated gentlemen, but some
Of the toughest as well as greenest
specimens of the American race, and as
they all agreed that horse meat would
set on their stomachs and feed their love
Of fun and peril, it is a safe proposition
to set forth that the same meat is good to
be eaten in any place by any set ofhungry
men. And, in saying SO, We do not in
tend to detract in the least from our Florida
pompano, our Cape Cod vegetables, or
the mackerel brigade as change.
And this developes new idea which
science has, but recently, discovered with
her constant and curious microscopic
search after truth. The hoof Of the horse,
instead of being seni-circular and solid
pedestal, is split, the subdivision being
discoverable at the upper rim Of the hook
joint, where the hair quits and the car
tilage hardens. A prong is manifest on
either side Of the hoof, and this discovery
has not only routed our preconceived no.
tons about the foot itself. but it has con-
vulsed the Swans with big quarrel as to
what the real species of the horse is. And
here we draw out of the fight, content to
eat the meat while scientific guild nuncs
quarrel about the bone.