Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1882-01-12
NUMBER 20.


what marvellous variety C1 bdsbess ~
likes and dislikes with regard to
special forms Of food, from cannibalism
to curraut-cake, we find among people
physically constituted alike IN every
respect. This person eats his meat
burned to a cinder that viii touch
only what is Tawly undone. George
III. preferred fish when it was semi
putrid his successors weakness Was
hot plum bread crumpled up in O quart
Of cream. Lord Bacon is said 70 have
lived whole weeks at intervals on nothing
but oranges; while the elder Pitt could
not endure the sight Of fruit, and never
suffered any to be brought into The
room where he was.
It seems an extraordinary thing to
speak Of eating a skunk, and that, too,
in q part of the world where beef and
mutton are infinitely more plentiful than
bread yet it is fact that the Guachos
of the Banda Oriental are in the habit
Of hunting this creature for the sake OF
its hesh-nor is this incomprehensible
TO any one who is acquainted with the
true nature of the skunk. The dis
gushing liquid which it elects is
contained in a gland on the back, and
constitutes its weapon Of defense.
Certainly, the efHuvium is the most
horrible and enduring that may be
conceived, and man and beast will fly
from it; but if it be surprised and
killed before it has time to use this,
and the gland be afterward extirpated
with care, the rest Of the body y
destitute of all offense. Skunk-skins
are largely used by fdrriers, and
beautiful skins they are, and the animal
is capable Of being domesticated, as II
never emits the secretion except when
in danger or alarmed. Inever ate
skunk, but have handled tame one
without any olfactory disturbance.
I see that thinned pepper pct j. now
to be obtained in London, but cannot
fancy that it would be much like the
real article. Pepper-pot is favorite
relish for breakfast out West, and is
eaten with rice like curry; IN some Of
the old families in Demerara it il md
to perfection. An iron crock Il fiIled
up daily with scraps of meat, fish.
almost anything, and various spices,
peppers, chillies and other condiments
added, the essential one being casaripe,
a thick, black, treacly fluid extracted
from the cassava root. The crock
itself is brought to the breakfast table.
and the contents served with wooden
spoon the mixture is black and fbrous
in appearance, and intensely hot to the
palate ; but the sine quad non Of excel
lence in pepper-pot is that it shall
never be allowed to become empty.
The quantity it holds is immensely
disproportionate to that required for
daily consumption nevertheless, it is
filed up every morning, and kept
perpetually simmerin@ Rats, for
instance, firmly believe, wonld be not
only wholesome, but very niceif properly
prepared-not common sewer rats, but
such as / ate, barn-fed animals shared
in hop garden. The flesh. though
perfectly white, was dry and tasteless
but then they were only skinned,
cleaned and submit ed to the fire without
any Of the etceteras which make other
meats savory. DR.. Kane. Rear-Admiral
Beaufort, Captain Inglefeld, and other
Arctic explorers speak highly of rats as
welcome addition to their supply of
food in those dreary latitudes. Cham
bers' Journal