Crawford avalanche. (Grayling, Mich.) 1879-19??, 1897-02-25
ARCTIC HOUSEKEEPING.
LIEUTENANT PEARY ON THE FOOD
SUPPLY or A POLAR EXPEDITION.

SUPPLY or A POLAR EXPEDITION.
He Believes In Reducing the Variety for
Sledge Parties. Only Four Things Ne
cessary. Copying the Esqulmsau Ways.
Lieutenant Robert Il. Peary. the Arc
tic explorer. who recently described be-
fore the American Geographical Society
his plans for another Polar expedition,
talked to New York Tribune reporter
about his ideas for provisioning Arctic
parties. He emphasized in the begin
ming the fact that there are two dis
tinct classes of food supplies-those
which may be kept in large quantities
at the general headquarters, and those
which are suitable for sledge journeys
over the inland icecap.
There is scarcely any limit to the
number OF different articles of food
which may form the headquarters sup
ply" said Lieutenant Peary. "and while
only a few things would be absolutely
necessary, II Is of course pleasanter to
have little variety among them. On
my previous expeditions l had almost
every canned article that you could
mention, at Radcliffe House. Besides
the various kinds of meats, we had all
sorts OF preserves, jams, crackers, vege-
tables, butter, tea, coffee, chocolate,
cocoa and, in short, such variety Of
things that l can't remember half OF
them.
There Is no trouble in having a we'll
stocked larder at the headquarters, and
by headquarters you know, mean
the point furthest north to which we
are able to bring ship. The exact
location of this would be determined
altogether by the mildness or severity
of the season, 1t being possible to pro-
coed much further in certain summers
than in others. 1t used to be thought
years ago that no permanent headquar-
tiers could be maintained much beyond
Melville Bay, but / now believe thor
oughly that it is possible in most sea-
sons to get a vessel up as far as Sherard
Osborne Ford"
From Sherard Osborne Fjord he
would push forward sledge parties,
leaving caches of provisions behind
them at short stages, and then, at a
favorable opportunity, when consider
able progress had been made in this
manner, would make the final dash for
the Pole, accompanied by only one or
two men and few picked EsQuimau
dogs.
ION these sledge journeys" continued
Lieutenant Peary, there must be the
sternest simplicity in the matter OF
food. The changes which l should
make in another expeditions sledge
ortrivN NJ he 81 H. tn
OF cutting down the variety of food
supplies. There are just four things
in the way OF provisions which should
take, and those are pemmican, ships bis
cult, tea and condensed milk. A fifth
article would be furnished in the shape
of fresh meat of any kind which we
should kill on the way. On my pre-
vious journeys l took great many
things which were not only useless, but
worse, because they merely added
weight to the sledges and thus wasted
our strength unnecessarily. If man
cannot get along with pemmican and
biscuit, with tea as a drink, the Arctic
regions are no place for him.
'Pemmican, you know, is beef, mixed
with a considerable quantity of suet 1t
is the staple Arctic food, and ii is not
at all disagreeable to the taste. In
fact, like it very much. Mrs. Peary
used to eat 1t, too; didn't your" he
asked, appealing to his wife, who sat
near by. The latter, whose Arctic ex-
periences with her husband have inter-
ested so many thousands of people, adj
mitted the truth of this, but was not
as her husband.
"Pemmican is much compressed"
said Lieutenant Peary. "One pound OF
it Is equal to four pounds of ordinary
meat, so that the carrying of it reduces
the sledge weights very much. One
pound is the daily ration for a man.
OF the hard ship biscuit pound is also
the allowance, and of tea about quart.
These rations are consumed almost al
ways in two meals, which are all we
have time to stop for on sledge jour
neys.
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 II is stronger than one generally
drinks it at home. 1t is the best quail
ity of English breakfast tea. COM
pressed in England, and costs 81 cake
here. There is one thing besides those
/ have mentioned which ! consider
good, and that is compressed pea soup.
1t has a great deal Of nutriment In ii
and is especially palatable. But it can
be dispensed with, IL reduction of
weight becomes a highly important
point, for the pemmican and biscuit are
trustworthy standbys.
THE fresh meat Is great item, and
the more we can get of 1t the more we
can save Of our regular provisions, not
to mention the delight Of tasting 1t
after long course of canned stun.
Near the coast we can find seal, walrus
and narwhal, which are all available,
and various kinds Of water fowl. the
best of which Is the aux, or Arctic
duck. / have seen those ducks as far
north as Thank God Harbor, the old
Polaris winter quarters, just south Of
Robson Channel. On the inland ice
cap, musk oxen have been found as far
north as any one has ever been. There
were numbers of them near Indepen-
dence Bay when / was there in 1892.
Steaks 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 correct.
AFTER cutting up the animal they
take a piece Of the meat in one hand
and a piece of the outer layer of soft
biubber In the other, and bite from each
alternately. It is something like eat
ing butter with bread. They do not
make a meal of the blubber alone. /
have nffen eaten in nrecisely the same