Gowge
04-11-2004, 07:10 AM
:)
The "Save The Manatee Club" can choke on this post for all I care....
This might sound a little silly at first glance, but I'll tell ya' why I got to thinking about this....and of course, we can't hunt Manatees these days, so that's why the speculation about 'Road Kill Manatees'... WE know from Genetic Testing that MANATEES are closely related to elephants. I'm an amateur Historian and enjoy reading the exploits & journals of Florida's first explorers. I've found NO mention of Native Floridians hunting & eating Manatees... yet. If you're not familiar with the early explorers, you might really enjoy reading their journals. Anyhow, hundreds of years AFTER the Spanish first explored Florida, a British Empire Period Explorer, Sir Samuel White Baker (1821-1893) wrote a series of books (Journals, really) about hunting and exploring the far corners of the World in the British Empire. He wrote that he used everything up to and including 4-bore half pound exploding shells to kill elephants. (See photo of MONSTER 4bore SHELL below). In one of his books described below, he explained about preparation & eating elephants. The choice 'cuts' were the feet and the trunk! To cook an elephant's foot, a deep fire-pit was dug and a big roaring fire built - and burned for several hours 'til the sides and bottom of the pit were very hot. Then, the elephant foot was lowered down into the hole and a 'roof' of green logs were laid over the top and then long green grass stems were put over that before earth was heaped over to seal and cook the beast's foot. After the required number of hours had passed, the hole was carefully exposed and the foot removed. He said a single foot prepared with this method would feed a crowd. So - anyone venture a guess how Florida Natives prepared manatee? You think they smoked it or cooked it in a fire-pit like the elephant foot? ;)
BTW, Sir Samuel White Baker said the rest of the elephant was ok, but the meat kinda' stringy - best if it was tenderized in the native method by pounding between a couple of rocks...
http://home.earthlink.net/~davepope/gowge/4_BoreBrassCart.jpg
Here's some of Baker's books you might really enjoy - and best of all, they're FREE! Just download and read - EASY PEASY!
http://www.gutenberg.net/
These books are by noted explorer Sir Samuel White Baker (1821-1893) during the British Empire Period... Just type his name into the search block on the Gutenberg link and it will return the list shown below. Click on the one you want to read and voila'!! Ready to go read 'til you can't keep your head up. ;) I read book #8 (Wild Beasts And Their Ways) first, and really enjoyed his stories about hunting the Rocky Mountains with the commercial hunters of the period before the Civil War...
The author discusses the guns of the period, right up to 1890 and the "Battery of Arms" a Gentleman might take for an expedition to Africa or India, etc. (Safari is a much later term). Also lots of political intrigue and discussion of ending the Slave Trade in Africa, during the period following the Civil War in America... IMHO, very historically significant.
Albert N'Yanza, Great Basin Of The Nile, The
by Baker, Samuel White, Sir
Released: Jan 2003
Cyprus, As I Saw It In 1879
by Baker, Samuel White, Sir
Released: Jan 2003
Eight Years' Wanderings In Ceylon
by Baker, Samuel White, Sir
Released: Jan 2000
In The Heart Of Africa
by Baker, Samuel White, Sir
Released: May 2002
Ismailia
by Baker, Samuel White, Sir
Released: Jan 2003
Nile tributaries of Abyssinia, and the sword hunters of the Hamran arabs, The
by Baker, Samuel White, Sir
Released: Mar 2000
Rifle And The Hound In Ceylon, The
by Baker, Samuel White, Sir
Released: May 2002
Wild Beasts And Their Ways, Reminiscences Of Europe, Asia, Africa And America -- Volume 1
by Baker, Samuel White, Sir
Released: Jan 2003
GOOD LUCK! :)
The "Save The Manatee Club" can choke on this post for all I care....
This might sound a little silly at first glance, but I'll tell ya' why I got to thinking about this....and of course, we can't hunt Manatees these days, so that's why the speculation about 'Road Kill Manatees'... WE know from Genetic Testing that MANATEES are closely related to elephants. I'm an amateur Historian and enjoy reading the exploits & journals of Florida's first explorers. I've found NO mention of Native Floridians hunting & eating Manatees... yet. If you're not familiar with the early explorers, you might really enjoy reading their journals. Anyhow, hundreds of years AFTER the Spanish first explored Florida, a British Empire Period Explorer, Sir Samuel White Baker (1821-1893) wrote a series of books (Journals, really) about hunting and exploring the far corners of the World in the British Empire. He wrote that he used everything up to and including 4-bore half pound exploding shells to kill elephants. (See photo of MONSTER 4bore SHELL below). In one of his books described below, he explained about preparation & eating elephants. The choice 'cuts' were the feet and the trunk! To cook an elephant's foot, a deep fire-pit was dug and a big roaring fire built - and burned for several hours 'til the sides and bottom of the pit were very hot. Then, the elephant foot was lowered down into the hole and a 'roof' of green logs were laid over the top and then long green grass stems were put over that before earth was heaped over to seal and cook the beast's foot. After the required number of hours had passed, the hole was carefully exposed and the foot removed. He said a single foot prepared with this method would feed a crowd. So - anyone venture a guess how Florida Natives prepared manatee? You think they smoked it or cooked it in a fire-pit like the elephant foot? ;)
BTW, Sir Samuel White Baker said the rest of the elephant was ok, but the meat kinda' stringy - best if it was tenderized in the native method by pounding between a couple of rocks...
http://home.earthlink.net/~davepope/gowge/4_BoreBrassCart.jpg
Here's some of Baker's books you might really enjoy - and best of all, they're FREE! Just download and read - EASY PEASY!
http://www.gutenberg.net/
These books are by noted explorer Sir Samuel White Baker (1821-1893) during the British Empire Period... Just type his name into the search block on the Gutenberg link and it will return the list shown below. Click on the one you want to read and voila'!! Ready to go read 'til you can't keep your head up. ;) I read book #8 (Wild Beasts And Their Ways) first, and really enjoyed his stories about hunting the Rocky Mountains with the commercial hunters of the period before the Civil War...
The author discusses the guns of the period, right up to 1890 and the "Battery of Arms" a Gentleman might take for an expedition to Africa or India, etc. (Safari is a much later term). Also lots of political intrigue and discussion of ending the Slave Trade in Africa, during the period following the Civil War in America... IMHO, very historically significant.
Albert N'Yanza, Great Basin Of The Nile, The
by Baker, Samuel White, Sir
Released: Jan 2003
Cyprus, As I Saw It In 1879
by Baker, Samuel White, Sir
Released: Jan 2003
Eight Years' Wanderings In Ceylon
by Baker, Samuel White, Sir
Released: Jan 2000
In The Heart Of Africa
by Baker, Samuel White, Sir
Released: May 2002
Ismailia
by Baker, Samuel White, Sir
Released: Jan 2003
Nile tributaries of Abyssinia, and the sword hunters of the Hamran arabs, The
by Baker, Samuel White, Sir
Released: Mar 2000
Rifle And The Hound In Ceylon, The
by Baker, Samuel White, Sir
Released: May 2002
Wild Beasts And Their Ways, Reminiscences Of Europe, Asia, Africa And America -- Volume 1
by Baker, Samuel White, Sir
Released: Jan 2003
GOOD LUCK! :)