Page:Sacred Books of the East - Volume 27.djvu/497

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SECT. I.
THE NÊI 𝖅EH.
463

selected; peaches were made smooth; kâ, and pears had the insects drilled out of them[1].

31. When an ox lowed at night, its flesh was (considered) to be rank; that of a sheep, whose long hair showed a tendency to get matted, to be frouzy; that of a dog which was uneasy and with (the inside of) its thighs red, to be coarse; that of birds when moulting and with their voices hoarse, to be fetid; that of pigs, when they looked upwards and closed their eyes, to be measly; that of a horse, black along the spine and with piebald fore-legs, to smell unpleasantly.

A pullet, whose tail could not be grasped by the hand, was not eaten, nor the rump of a tame goose, nor the ribs of a swan or owl, nor the rump of a tame duck, nor the liver of a fowl, nor the kidneys of a wild goose, nor the gizzard of the wild goose without the hind-toe, nor the stomach of the deer.

32. Flesh cut small was made into mince; cut into slices it was made into hash. Some say that the flesh of elks, deer, and fish was pickled; that of muntjacs also, being cut in small pieces; that of fowls and wild pigs, in larger pieces; of hares, the stomach was pickled. Onions and scallions were

mixed with the brine to soften the meat[2].


  1. The explanation of these brief notes is also perplexing. Zottoli makes the kâ to have been a kind of medlar (azarolus). Medhurst calls it, after the Khang-hsî dictionary, "a kind of pear." Williams, explaining it under a synonym (of the same sound), "a sour red fruit of the size of a cherry, a kind of hawthorn."
  2. The manner of these preparations has not been definitely explained. The meaning is uncertain. So also is what is said of the cupboards in the next paragraph.