The record-union., 1897-02-15


when at home, and there isn't much
nourishment in them for Arctic work.
There is one thing besides those I have
mentioned which 1 consider good, and
that is compressed pea soup. 1t has
great deal of nutriment in it and is es
recially palatable. But it can be dis
pensed with, if reduction of weight be-
comes highly important point, for the
pemmican and biscuit are trustworthy
standbys.
THE JOYS OF FRESH MEAT.
The fresh meat is a great item, and
the more we can get of it the more We
can save of our regular provisions, not
to mention the delight of tasting it after
a long course of canned stuff Near the
coast we can find seal, walrus and mar
Whal, which are all available, and va
riouS kinds of water fowl, the best Cf
which is the aux, or Arctic duck. l
have seen these ducks as far north as
Thank God Harbor, the old Polaris
winter quarters, just south of Robson
Channel. On the inland icecap, musk
oxen have been found as far north as
anyone has ever been. There were
numbers of them near Independence
cut from them are tender and delicious
when broiled'
In speaking of the way in which the
Esquimaus eat seal and walrus meat
Lieutenant Peary said that the popular
impression that these people ate pure
fat and drank clear oil was not cor
rect
After cutting up the animal they
Ike piece of the meat in one hand
and a piece of the outer layer or soft
blubber in the other, and bite from
each alternately. 1t is something like
eat butter with bread. They do not
make a meal off the blubber alone
have often eaten in precisely the same
way and really enjoyed the food. The
blubber from a freshly killed animal
has not an unpleasant taste. What
can | compare it top he asked, appeal
ing again to Mrs. Peary; would you
say it was something like fresh but
ter?"
But Mrs. Peary's imagination refus-
ed to go as far as this.
oh, dear; no." she exclaimed; sit S
much more like lard, if it's even as good
as that. You know, these Esquimau
articles of food are not really pleasant" ;"
she said laughingly to the reporter;
you have to acquire a taste for them,
and it is considerably harder to ac-
quire than the proverbial taste for
Olives
Asked about her housekeeping eXpe
riences at the headquarters on Whale
Sound, Redcliffe House, Mrs. Peary
told several interesting things On the
fI,r~@ I
and naturally found rather different
conditions governing. that work than
are customary.
THAWING OUT THE FOOD.
I'VE always had to remember" she
said, ito bring everything in from the
storehouse day in advance of the
time we wanted to use 1t. That was to
thaw the different articles out, you
know. They We're frozen so hard that
it took hours to get them into fit con-
dition for cooking. We used kerosene e
oil as a fuel for this, finding that it
made less waste and worked better
| than anything else. although we had
coal for heating purposes. When the
food was finally thawed, there was no
more trouble in cooking and serving
it than there would have been any
where else.
Il always took pride in having my
room look as cosey as possible, and
amused myself a good deal in decorat
ing it with such things as l had l
must have produced some effect, for
when the different men would drop in
to see it they always said the same
thing-that it was easily seen that d
woman lived there. Although it was 50
comfortable, however. staying in the
house all the time would have been
dreadfully monotonous, and l went
| out nearly every day, if possible, even
| in the bitterly cold weather when we
| had to watch one another's faces, for
| fear of their becoming frosted, as hap
| pens easily without the owners knowl-
edge"
| One of the most important principles
| upon which Lieutenant Peary works,
| is the imitation of the Esquimaus in
| many things In talking of this, he
| said:
| FOLLOWING THE ESQUIMAU EX-
| AMPLE.
1T is only reasonable to assume that
| these people, having lived for genera
| ti0ns under the severe conditions of the
Arctic lands have evolved the best