BRAZILIAN JERKED BEEF.

Waikato Times, Volume XXXIX, Issue 3178, 5 November 1892, Page 2 (Supplement)

BRAZILIAN JERKED BEEF.

The British Consul at Rio Grande do Sul mentions that the principal export trudn of thin .Stiito is n.iltlo, and the majority of the population depend in ram way or another »n this trade for their livelihood. Tho g-oat/-r p;irt of the hind i.s pasture, and tho principal pluoe for killing oatlle is Pelotiis, although there aro xarquenrin", or killing establishments, in other Darts of the country. Tho number of xarquoadas at Pelotas is 13, and in tho season, which lasts from about December to June, some 400,000 cattle arc slaughtered in that city alnne. The two principal xarqueada3 are at Parcdao awl at Quaraliin at the junctinn of the river of that name and the river Uruguay. These two establishments together kill about 100,000 cattle annually, atel the former is tho property of an

Knirlish limited company. The process of killinsr is interesting-, and from personal obnervition the Consul is convinced that the boast is not, only totally unaware of whit in eoinif to happen, but also that death is painless. The cattle are confined in kraals, being driven from one to tho othsr in the desired numbers until the killing kraal is reached. Tho boast to be killed lias a lasso thrown over his horns, by which a steam engine draws him tight against a stout dooi. The floor beneath him is a trolley on rails, which just fills the space on which ho stands. Tho killer stabs the animai with a short sharp knife, severing tho spinal cord, and death is instantaneous. The door is drawn up, and the beast on the trolley is ran down the line which divides the long building into two parts. It is at once skinned and cut up, and each part carried to its proper department. In three minates from the fatal stab the process is complete, the hide is in the salt brine, tho ribs aro hung up to dry, the horns are severed from the skull, the fat and bones are being boiled, &c. The only thing lost is the blood, which flows away t» the river. The ribs are dried in the sun or salted and sacked, and become " xarque," or jerked beef, which is the staple food of the inhabitants in the north of Brazil.