Union County courier. [volume] (Elk Point, Union County, D.T. [S.D.]) 187?-1913, 1891-10-09
ESKIMO DIET.
IL 10 CAlouloted to Produce Dyspepsia IL
Any Other ssumsn Being.

Any Othor ssumsa Being.
l had read about Eskimo eating
habits-hOw once upon a time, for
instance. an Arctic explorer offered
some Eskimo girls some sweetmeats
which were rejected, while tallow
candles were eagerly accepted and
eaten. Now l wish to see an Eskimo
eat. With many smiles, Peter
tered the cabin and sat down. at the
table. l should have apoplogized to
him on account Of the scantiness of
our fare, for we had no candles and
there wasn't a bit OF tallow on deck
even, let alone in the cabin. but I
noticed that the butter plate was
heaping full, the sight OF which made
me wish for some of my friends SO
that we could make a pool on the
number OF bites he would take in
swallowing the roll. Then Peter sat
down and without ceremony helped
himself to q lot Of baked beans, q
piece OF dry bread and a large piece
OF very lean, salt beef all of which he
bit into and swallowed as a hungry
'lOngshoreman might have done.
Then he took more beans and more
bread and more lean beef, and with
them several cups Of coffee with a
great deal Of sugar to each cup. He
was a long time getting to it, but he
finally began on the butter. He had
poured his last cup OF coffee and was
looking about for something to eat
with it, when his eyes fell on a plate
Of cake. Taking q small piece he put
q small lump OF butter on it and
slowly ate the combination with the
coffee. To the reader OF a geographic
cal magazine it may seem strange,
but the fact is, until / saw this man
at the table, I had really expected to
find the Erkimos Of South Greenland
showing the habits and tastes of those
living q thousand miles further up the
coast. / had not quite expected to
flnd them living in snow houses, but
/ had q misty idea that an Eskimo
was a little black Indian whose chief
delight among the things brought
from a civilized country was the tai
low candle. The staple food is seal
meat and bluhber. Next to that Is
the little fish taken in the ford and
dried for winter use, known to them
as the augmatfat and to the learned
AZ salmo uillosus. A favorite way OF
eating the dried augmatfat is to take
1t by the tale, poke it into the oily
blubber for a while, and then chew it
down. Awful, isn't it? 1t is almost
rs bad as eating sardines. There is a
deal in a name. Blubber is disgust
ing; oil, II for use on a salad is de-
liciOus and indispensable. 1 have
eaten seal oil and found it VERY un-
expectedlD good. / had supposed 1t
would have q flavor OF fish oil. There
ID no such flavor about 1t. 1t Is equal
to the best extract of cotton seed
that quality sold as olive Oil in all
American groceries. Augmatfat and
blubber, under q French label, would
be esteemed a luxury in New York as
in Arsuk. For the rest, the Eskimos
trade seal oil and skins to their Gov
ern0r for three kinds OF hard tack,
for coffee, sugar and tea. Theycatch
Arctic goldfish (misarkOrnak In Eskimo
and 0ada0 nGuaga In the boOks) and
salmon In the seasons; they shoot no
end OF gulls, ducks, ptarmigans, and
the Arctic hare; they have eggs in
endless quantity in the season, and
very many foxes r trapped. The
fox Ii to the Eskimo what the pos
sum Is to the plantation darkey. He
likes to smoke and, under favorlng
circumstances, will swap anything
he's got, including his wife, for rum.
-G0ldthacaise's Geographical Ndgasimc.