Daily Yellowstone journal., 1891-06-12
BLU8BER As a DIET.

nv AAANa - " Nv AHHuANAaMM
Are Not Very Different from Ours.
had read about Esquimaux eating
habits-how, M upon a time. for in
stance, an arctic explorer offered some
Esquimaux some sweetmeats which
were rejected, while talow 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 a~pologized 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, so that we could make a pool
on the number of bites he would take
in swallowing the roll
Then Peter a 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 be 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
If sugar to zach cup. He was a long
time getting to it but he finally began
on the butter He had poured bis last
cup Of coffee, and was looking about
for something to a with il 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 ate the combina-
ton with the coffee To the reader it
may seem strange, but the fact is, un-
I'll ! 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 t 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 70 the learned as salmo v~illosus.
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 it,
IL IS almost as bad as eating sardines
There is a deal in a name. Blubber is
disgusting, oil, if for use on a salad, is
delicious and indispensable. I have
eaten seal oil and found it (very unex-
pectedlyJ good. / had supposed it
would have a flavor Of fish oil There
is no such flavor about il. IL is equal
to the best extract of cotton seed-that
quality sold as olive oil in all American
groceries Augmatfat and blubber, I'M
der a French label. would be esteemed
a luxury in New York as in Arsuk.
For the rest the E~squirnaux trade
seal oil and skins TO their governor for
three kinds Of hard tack, for coffee,
and tea They catch arctic cod
fish unisarkornak in Esquimaux and
gadus navaga in the books) and salmon
in the seasons. They shoot no end of
gulls, ducks, ptarmigans and the arctic
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.