The Superior times. [volume] (Superior, Wis.) 1870-1912, 1888-09-01
FOOD AND STRENGTH.
Men Who Perform Wonder III Feats OF
Endurance on Starya ion Diet.


From the st. Louis Post-D4 uaich
Keeping in out of the heat Henry L.
Sherwood, of Astoria. Ore, tho is at
the Southern, in the course Of .onyersa-
ton with a Post Dispatch reporter to-
day, said: Having been for the last
thirty years engaged in the fur business,
| have been called upon very frequent
~ 10 visit China, and have taken a
number of trips TO the islands of the
Pacific and certain parts of India. |
have been obliged to learn a good deal
about medicine, and from the works |
read, conceived certain notions as to the
best diet for the development of muscu
lar strength. l studied the matter care
fully, and after a long series of obserya-
tons came TO the conclusion that the
medical writers know little or nothing
of the subject, and that diet, as long as
it was not absolutely deleterious, has
little or nothing to do with physical de-
velopment and endurance In the
early SOS | was called upon to live for
many months among the Indians of the
Northwest, especially among the Black
feet, Flatheads and Gros-N entres.
with the exception of the latter,
who eat great quantity of fish, these
tribes were almost exclusively meat
eating, and their vegetable diet was not
worth reckoning. Never among white
men have | seen anything ike the
same endurance that they displayed.
They were never of heavy physique,
few Of them weighing $50 pounds, and
most of them falling below AS, but
their runners We're unequallGd on this
continent With few pounds of penn
mican meat dried IN the sun and pound
ed into homogeneous mass, one OF the
BlackfoOt runners would set out on a
journey of3OO miles Oyera rugged mount
aInous country and never take more than
i've days IN making the trip, While the
first of them would arrive at his desti-
nation III a little over four On trip of
over one hundred miles the best horse
would stand no chance against then, even
on level ground, and when once among
the mountains they would laugh at all
mounted pursuit, no matter how close
the horsemen might be to them. The
Gros-Nentres, on a fish diet, would
start of TO trading post with pack of
turs weighing $50 pounds on their
backs, and travel forty or fifty miles a
day without apparent distress. So
much for diet exclusively com pound
ed of either fish or flesh.
when | went to China" Mr.. Sher-
wood continued, II was astonished at
the wonderful feats of the coolies en-
| gagged IL unloading the vessels.
They were usually men rather
under than above the average
stature of whites, but of immense
depth of chest and strength of limb
Never III nv life have | seen such mus
GUAR development as that of some Of
those coolies. The knotted muscles
stood up In great ridges and lunches all
over their chests, arms and shoulders,
and their short, sturdy legs bore them
up like towers. | have seen one of
them come up to a vessel carrying a
long, elastic pole over his shoulder with
ropes at each end to fasten q package 10
ii. He would take two packs of furs,
tie them to the pole, stoop down so as
to get his shoulder under 1t, and trot off
with his load as If II were nothing
unusual. Each OF these packs had
been carried to the wharf by two strong
seamen, one being deemed unequal to
the task, and yet those coolies would
move off easily under what had been
considered a good load for four sailors.
Four hundred pounds was considered
no uncommon load, and some were
said to be able to carry 800 or TO
pounds for long distances. These men.
whose muscles were far more powerful
than those OF any human beings | ever
saw, never tasted anything but rice
from years end to years end. A few
of the most prosperous would occasion-
ally, say once q month. get a bit of
meat or fish TO eat, or now and then a
little bread, but fully two-thirds of them
never had anything more nutritious
than rice. Bread and water, which
among Americans and Europeans is
considered the most meagre of all diets.
would have been a feast to them. and
yet their strength far exceeded that &C
corded those who live on a diet far
more generous and nutritious according
to medical science. The same thing
was true of the Chinese river boatmen,
who were magni6cently built men,
and could pull their heavy oars twenty
four hours at a stretch, receiving as
food during that time couple of hand
| fuls of rice-about as much as an Amer
lean would eat at single meal when he
had a number of other dishes on the
table.