The comet. (Johnson City, Tenn.) 1884-1916, 1891-06-18
HLUBBER AS A DIET.


The Eating Habits Of tho Esquimaux
Are Not Very Different from Ours.
had read about Esquimaux eating
habits-how, once upon time, for In
stance, an arctic explorer offered some
Esquimaux some sweetmeats. which
were rejected, while tallow candles
were eagerly accepted and eaten. Now
/ was to see an Esquimaux eat. With
many smiles Peter entered the cabin
and sat down at the table. | should
have apologized to him on account of
the scantiness of our fare, for we had
no candles, and there wasn't a bit of
talldw on deck even, let alone in the
cabin. but 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 pool
on the number of bites he would take
In swallowing the roll
Then Peter sat down, and without
ceremony helped himself to lot of
baked beans, a piece of dry bread and
a large piece of very lean salt beef, all
of which he bit into and swallowed as
g hungry man might have done Then
he took more beans and more bread
and more lean beef, and with them
several cups of coffee, with great deal
of sugar to each cup. He was 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
eye fell on a plate of cake. Taking a
small piece<he put small lump of but
ter on it, and slowly ate the combina-
ton with the coffee. To the reader it
may seem strange, but the fact is, I'M
til saw this man at the table had
really expected to find the Esquimaux
Of South Greenland showing the habits
and tastes of those living thousand
miles farther up the coast.
/ had not quite expected to find them
living in snow houses, but I had q
misty idea that an Esquimau was lit
tie black Indian, whose chief delight
among the things brought from civil
lied country was the talIow candle.
The staple food is seal meat and blub-
Der. 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 as salmo villosus
A favorite way of eating the dried aug
matfat is to take it by the tail, poke it
into the oily blubber for a while, and
then chew it down. Awful, isn't it2
It is almost as bad as eating sardines
There is deal in name. Blubber is
disgusting; oil, if for use on a salad, is
delicious and indispensable. 1 have
eaten seal oil and found it (very unex-
pectedly) good. I had supposed it
would have flavor of fish oil. There
Is no such flavor about it. It is equal
to the best extract of cotton seed-that
quality sold as olive oil in all American
groceries Augmatfat and blubber, un-
der a French label, would be esteemed
a luxury in New York as in Arsuk
For the rest the Esquimaux trade
seal oil and skins to their governor for
three kinds of hard tack, for coffee,
sugar and tea They catch arctic cod
fish misarkornak in Esquimaux and
gadus navaga 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 guam
tity in the season, and very many foxes
are trapped. The fox is to the Esqui-
maux what the opossum is to the
plantation darky. He likes to smoke.
- Goldthwaite's Geographical Maya
zine.