The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1897-10-01

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 inhab-
itants of the Celestial Empire do not
know men sufficiently we'll hat they
still regard h dog as an edible ami
NAL, and as n of the most savory of
morsels. But it is to be hoped that in
the progress Of civilization a day will
come when these brave animais-"can-
didates for humanity according to
Michelet's picturesque expression-win
no longer figure on the menus of state
dinners 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
will sacrifice their children in order
that the mothers may be able to nour-
ish this useful servant of man. The
Chinese, however, tend n fatten
their dogs carefully-to eat. They also
consider the cat a choice dish. The
Able LIE Noir, in his Travels in the
Far East" relates that in the markets
of many cities are to 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
hen-cOOps. They remain thus from two
to three weeks, condemned to almost
complete immobility, and are fed on
nothing but a mixture of rice and ia
rina. We do not know the edible dog
or the edible cat in France, and proba-
bly, since h siege they nave been but
little served-openly at least-on the
tables Of Paris restaurants At Picking
n throughout China, however, there
is no dainty repast without its fillet or
leg Of dog; the cat is rather a dish Of
the Oorer classes.
These same customs that are so re-
pulsive to us as to seem like q kind of
semi-cannibalism existed, nevertheless,
among the peoples Of classic antiquity.
History tells us that in early times
the the dog was always regarded as
an edible animal. The inhabitants of
certainhomes Of Egypt piously-embalm-
ed their dead dogs, but others consid-
cred that it was more in conformity
to the doctrines of a wise economy to
kill and eat them. Plutarch tells US
that the dwellers in Cynopolis, where
dogs were honored as divine, made war
on the Oxyrinchis, who had committed
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 food
that 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
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 ma
tive dogs so freely as food hat the spe-
cies has now completely disappeared.
According to Capt. Cook, the natives
Of New Zealand ate their dogs and
clothed themselves in the skins. Fors-
ter adds: They owe the flesh pass
ionately, and prefer it to hat of the
pig" The G~reenlanders and the KAN
chatkans aaso sometimes eat their dogs,
but only when reduced to this cruel ex-
tremity by famine. In Africa dogs
form the food of certain negro tribes;
in the Ashantee country the flesh is
eaten boil fresh and dried. And it ap-
pears that in the lower Congo region,
among the Batekes, there is a custom
that must make every friend of dumb
beasts rage with Observation-Disclosures
killing a dog for fod it is ma1treated
and tortured, to make the flesh more
tender.-La Nature.