The Beaufort tribune and Port Royal commercial. [volume] (Beaufort, S.C.) 1877-1879, 1877-12-06
BUFFALO PEMMICAN.
How the Indians Manufacture this Article
of Food.

of Food.
A correspondent of the Chicago Times,
writing from Winnipeg, thus describes
the manufacture of pemmican by the
half breed hunters of Manitoba
Buffalo pemmican is essentially a
British American provision; for, not
withstanding the vast annual slaughter
of the herds in the United States terri
tories, no pemmican is made. The ar
ticle furnished the English Arctic e1-
peditions under the name of pemmican,
differs from the true provision in being
made of beef, and preserved by means OF
spices and salt. Buffalo pemmican con-
tains no salt, and is made from the dried
flesh of the animal. It is the product
of the summer hunt, though consider
able amount is also made in the early
part of the fall hunt, before the cold is
sufficient to keep the green meat from
tainting.
To manufacture it, the meat is first
cut into thin slices, then dried either by
fire or in the sun, after which it is
pounded or beaten out into thick, faky
substance by means of wooden fails and
poles. In this state it is placed in bag
made from the raw hide of the animal,
about the size and shape of half-bar-
rel -four sack. A quantity OF Buffalo
fat or tallow having been boiled in a
cddron, is now poured while hot over
the dry pulp in the bag, and the whole
stirred together until thoroughly mixed.
The quantity of fat going into the bag
about equals in weight that of the pulp,
generally fifty pounds, the bags averag-
ing one hundred pounds each. When a
particularly nice article is desired about
ten pounds of sugar and June or service
berries are added. AS soon as the con-
tents of the bag cools it becomes very
hard, the whole composition forming the
most solid description of food that man
can make. The bag is then sewed up
and laid in store, or ready for immediate
use. tits calculated that, on an average,
the carcass of one buffalo in fair condi-
ton will yield enough fat and dried meat
to fill one bag with pemm;can. AS a
travelling provision it is simply in
valuable. There is no risk of spelling
it, if ordinary care be taken to keep it
free from mould; there is no assignable
limit to the time pemmican will keep.
As to its taste, I never met any two men
who entertained exactly the same opin-
ion. shodld feel inclined to say, if
asked the question, that it tasted like
pemmican, there being nothing else in
the world that bears to it the slightest
resemblance. There have been people
who were candid enough to say they
found resemblance in sawdust mixed
with melted tallow candles, others,
again, who suggested the chose approx
nation of chips and boarding house but
ter, with plenty of hair thrown in to
hold the compound firm. l am willing
to acknowledge that much of the penn
m:can made would be the better OF a
comb, but after years OF experience III the
use of it, I am not able to pronounce
upon it's flavor. Nevertheless, there is
no form of food that possesses anything
like it's suficing quality. A dog that
will eat from four to six pounds OF fish
per day, when at work in harness, will
eat but two pounds of pemmican if fed
only upon that food. Pemmican may
be prepared in many ways for the table,
but it is a matter of individual taste as
to which method is the least objection.
able. There is rubaboo and richot, and
pemmican plain and pemmican raw
this last being the form most in vogue
among the yoyageurs. The richot, how
ever, will be found the most palatable.
Mixed with little -four or potatoes and
onions, and fried in pan, pemmican in
this form eau be eaten that is. provided
the appetite is good and there is nothing
else to be had.