Page:Leaves from my Chinese Scrapbook - Balfour, 1887.djvu/92

 who are accused of doing so are the very poorest of the poor in Peking itself; and it is not likely that they are able to procure any carcasses but those of worn-out animals who have died a natural death. Among the Tartars, however, horse-flesh is not only a favourite but a staple dish; so much so, indeed, that they are said to have acquired, by long practice, a wonderful power of discriminating, while the animals are yet alive, those whose flesh will prove toothsome and nutritious, and those whom it would be dangerous and bad to eat. They have a way of preparing horse-flesh by first boiling, and then drying it in the cold breezes of the plain; after which they grind it into a sort of powder or meal, which may be preserved for almost any length of time. The Tartar nomad is thus always provided with a nutritious article of food, which can be put into an insignificant compass; since a very small quantity dissolved in boiling water furnishes him with a comfortable bowl of soup, in precisely the same way as a teaspoonful of Liebig's Extract will make a basin of beef-tea. Indeed, there is a very curious resemblance between the preserved horse-flesh powder of the Tartars and the meat-paste recently invented by M. Moride, and introduced by him to the French Academy under the name of "Nutricine." It is prepared by working raw meat into a pulp, and then mixing it with bread or farinaceous substances, which absorb the natural moisture of the meat and so form a paste. This paste is then dried, and the material ground into a powder which is said to last an indefinite time, and may be used in much the same way as its analogue in Tartary. Of course it is necessary that the Tartar horse-flesh should be kept as dry as possible, and also that