The weekly intelligencer. [volume] (Lexington, Mo.) 1891-1901, 1897-10-30
THE DOG AS FOOD.
Eaten by Many Races Since Time Inn
memorial.

Eaten by Many Races Since Time Inn
memorial.
1.-THE more we know of men, the more
we like dogs" writes misanthropically,
that great friend of animals, NJ. Tous-
senel. Perhaps it is because the in
habitants Of the Celestial empire do
not know men sufficiently that they
still regard the dog as an edible ami
NAL, and as one of the most savory of
morsels. But it is to be hoped that i'm
the progress of civilization a day win
come when these brave animals-'can-
didates for humanity" according to
Michelet's picturesque expression
will no longer figure on the menus of
state dirners at the court of Picking.
Darwin relates somewhere that when
the inhabitants of Terra del Fuego are
pressed by famine they kill and eat
their OLD women rather than their dogs,
and that in Australia fathers win sac
rifce their children in order that the
mothers may be able to nourish his
useful servant of man. The Chinese,
however, tend and fatten their dogs
carefully-to eat. They also consider
the cat a choice dish. Abhe lie Noir, in
''Travels in the Far East" relates tha
III blG lid lACiS VI IlduN Nlllt6 dIG 10
be seen dogs and cats hanging side
by side by the head or tail, and that
on most farms these animals are kept
in little coops like hencoops. They
remain thus from two to three weeks,
condemned to almost complete immo-
bility, and are fed on nothing but a
mixture of rice and farina. We do not
know the edible dog or the edible cat
in France, but probably since the siege
they have been but little served-open-
ly at least-on the tables of Paris res
tauramts. At Picking and throughout
China, however, there is no dainty re-
past without it's fllet or leg of dog;
the cat is rather IL dish of the poorer
classes.
These same customs that are so re-
pulsive 10 us as TO seem like a kind of
semi-cannibalism existed, nevertheless,
among the people of classic antiquity.
History tells us hat in early times
the dog was always regarded as an
edible animal. The inhabitants of
certain ONE of Egypt piously en-
balmed their dead dogs, but others con-
sidered that it was more in conformity
TO the doctrines of n wise economy to
kin and eat them, Plutarch tells us
hat the jewellers in C~ynopolis, where
dogs were hcnored as divine, made war
on the OXyrinchis. who had committed
the sacriiege of eating dogs. In his
book on Diet, Hippocrates, speaking
of common articles of food, is of the
opinion that the flesh of the dog gives
heat and strength, but is difficult of
digestion. Our fathers" says Pliny,
regarded small dogs as so pure a foo
hat they used them for eXpiatory vic
Tins. Even to-day young dogs flesh is
served at feasts held in honor of the
gods" And further on; This meat
was used in the installation feasts of
the pontiffs." According to Apicius,
who has left US a curious treatise "On
Cookery" the Romans ate also adult
dogs.
The savages of North America, for
lack of provisions, often sacrifice their
companions of the chase. We are told
that before the introduction of cattle
the Spaniards in Mexico used the na-
tive dogs so freely as food that the spe-
eies has o completely disappeared.
According to Capt. Cook, the natives of
New Zealand ate their dogs and clothed
themselves in the skins. Forster adds:
"'They love the flesh p~assionately, and
prefer it to that of the pig" The
Greenlanders and the Kumchatkans
also sometimes eat their dogs, but only
when reduced to this cruel extremity
by famine In Africa dogs form the
food of certain negro tribes; in the
Ashantee country the flesh is eaten
both fresh and dried. And it appears
that in the lower Congo region, among
the Batekes, there is a custom hat must
make every friend of dumb beasts rage
with indignation-before killing IA dog
for food it is maItreated and tortured,
to make the flesh more teEder.-La Ma
ture, |