They first get a knock on the head like the more noble
beasts already mentioned; they are then stuck, in order to be thoroughly
bled; after this they are plunged headlong into a long trough of boiling
water, in which they lie side by side in a quiescent state, very
different to the one they were in a few minutes before, when they were
quarrelling in a most unmannerly manner in the yard below. From this
trough the one first put in is, by a most ingenious machine, taken up
from underneath, and tossed over into an empty trough, where in less
than a minute he is entirely denuded of his bristles, and passed over to
be cleft and hung up. The trough holds about eight or ten thus lying
side by side, and the moment one is taken out at one end, another is put
in at the other, and they thus all float through the length of the
trough, and are taken out in order; but so rapid is the process, that no
one pig is long in; in fact, the whole business occupies only a very few
minutes per pig. Every part is turned to account, the mass of bristles
being converted into tooth brushes, &c. In the huge larder, in the story
next above the oxen, there were about 1500 unhappy pigs hung up to cool,
before being cut up, salted, packed, and sent off. There are several
establishments of this nature in Chicago, but only one of equal extent
to the one papa saw.
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