Daily Yellowstone journal., 1891-08-07
q As = DIET.

ne Eating Habits of the Esquimau.
Are Not Very Diaerens from Ours.
had read about Esquimaux eating
habits-how. once upon a time. for in
stance. an arctic explorer offered some
EsquiinauI some sweetmeatS which
were rejected, while taIlow candles
were eagerly accepted and eaten Nov
] wa to see an Esquimaux eat With
many smiles Peter entered the cabin
and sat down at the table l 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
tallow 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 50 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 a 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
a 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 a great deal
Of sugar to zach cup. He wal a long
time getting to il, but he finally began
on the butter He had poured his last
cup of coffee. and was looking about
for something to a with it. when his
eye fell on a plate of cake. Taking a
small piece he put a small lump of but
ter on it. and slowly III the combina-
ton with the coffee. To the reader ii
may seem strange, but the fact is, I'M
til ! saw this man at the table | had
really expected to find the Esquimau1
of South Greenland showing the habits
and tastes of those living a thousand
miles farther up the coast
| had not quite expected to find them
living in snow houses but / had a
misty idea that an Esquimau was a lit
tie black Indian, whose chief delight
among the things brought from a civil.
lied country was the tallow 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 SALINE ~villosuA
A favorite way Of eating the dried aug
matfat is to take it by the tail. poke il
into the oily blubber for a while. and
then chew it down. Awful, isn't itG
1t is almost as bad as eating sardines
There is a deal in a name. Blubber is
oil, if for use on a salad, is
delicious and Indispensable. have
eaten seal oil and found it very unex-
p~ectedly) good I had supposed it
have a favor Of fish oil There
IS no such flavor about il. Ii Is equal
10 the best extract Of cotton seed-that
sold as olive oil in all American
groceries Augmatfat and blubber, un-
der a French label, would be esteemed
4 luxury in New York as IN Aruk.
For the rest the Esquimaux trade
zeal oil and skins to their governor for
three kinds Of hard tack. for coffee.
and tea They catch arctic cod
ash misarkornak in Esquimaux and
navaga in the books and salmon
the seasons. They shoot no end of
yulls, ducks, ptarmigans and the arctic
hare. They have eggs in endless guam
-ity in the season. and very many foxes
IRE trapped The fox is to the Esqui-
naux what the opossum is to the
plantation darky. He likes to smoke.
. Goldthwaite's Geographical Maya
ine. )