Morris tribune., 1897-06-30
ARCTIC HOUSEKEEPING.

Only
Lieutenant Peary has impaired a
few of his ideas in housekeeping in
the arctic regions Of course the
mainstay of the larder is supply
of canned articles, such as pre-.
serves, jams, biscuits, vegetables,
butter, tea, coffee, chocolate, cocoa,
and, in short, every variety of food
that is capable of being preserved
in a canister Such supplies are, of
course, most useful on board the
ship. During sledge Journeys it is,
however, different. ''On these"
said Peary, there must be the
sternest simplicity in the matter of
food. The changes which l should
make in another expedition sledge
equipment would be all in the direc-
ton of cutting down the variety
of food supplies. There are just four
things in the way of provisions that
I should take and those are pemmi-
can, ships biscuit, tea and con-
densed milk. A fifth article would
be furnished in the shape of fresh
meat of any kind that we might
kill on the way. On my previous
journeys took great many things
that were not only useless, but
worse, because they merely added
weight to the sledges and thus
wasted our strength unnecessarily.
If a man cannot get along with penn
mican and biscuit, with tea to drink,
the arctic regions are no place for
him. He muslin t expect the luxuries
of hotel dinner.
"Pemmican is beef mixed with a
considerable quantity of suet. 1t is
the staple arctic food, and is not at
all disagreeable to the taste. 1t is
much compressed. One pound of it
is equal to four pounds of ordinary
meat; SO that the carrying of it re-
duces the sledge weights very much.
One pound of it is the daily ration
for a man Of the hard ship biscuit
one pound is alsoa day s allowance,
and of tea about quart These ra-
tons are consumed almost always
in two meals, which are all we have
time to stop for on sledge journeys.
1.-The tea is in compressed quar-
ter pound cakes, which are further
marked off somewhat like a cake of
chocolate, into little divisions of
quarter ounce each. One of these
makes pint of tea, and it is stron-
ger than one generally drinks at
home. The condensed milk is the
ordinary article which you see ev-
erywhere. 1t freezes. of course, Of
ten perfectly solid, but that does
not impair it. Tea is the only drink !
for sledge journeys. Coffee is not
satisfactory, nor is chocolate or
cocoa, which produces thirst. Lime
juice I have no faith in at all, and
shall never try it again. It has al
ways been thought necessary to
counterfeit tendency to scurvy
from the consumption of so much
salt and fatty food. But never had
any indications of scurvy in any of |
my party.
Dried vegetables have been car
ried by some explorers, and while
they are well enough to have at the
headquarters, where, as said, there
may be any variety one chooses,
they are entirely superfuous while
sledging. A man can get along per-
fectly well without vegetables. In
fact, / never eat them, even at
home, and there isn't much nour-
ishment in them for arctic work.
There is only one thing besides
those / have mentioned which l
consider good, and that is com
pressed peasoup. It has agreat deal
Of nutriment in it, and is especially
palatable. But it can be dispensed
with if reduction Of weight becomes
i highly important point, for the
pemmican and biscuit are trust
worthy standbys New York Tel
sgram. |