The Van Buren press. [volume] (Van Buren, Ark.) 1859-1914, 1897-05-22
AMID ARCTIC SHOWS
How Explorer Peary subsfsted :" n"0
on iii. Trip to the Frozen North.

Lieut.. Pearv. whose brilliant exploits
In the far north have only been ecllpseo
thus far by DR.. Nansen, has impaired
few Of his ideas in Housekeeping III
the arctic regions. OF course the NAM
stay of the larder is supply OF canned
articles, such as preserves, jams, DIS
cults, vegetables, butter, tea, coffee'
chocolate. cocoa and, in short, every
variety of food that is capable OF being
preserved in canister. Such supplies
are. of course. most useful on board the
ship; during sledge journeys it is, how
ever different. ION these" said Peary'
there must be the sternest simplicity
| in the matter of food. The changes
which | should make in another eX-
peditions sledge equipment woulo De
all in the direction of cutting down
the variety of food supplies. lhere
are lust four things in the way OF pro-
| visions that | should take, ana those
are pemmican, ships biscuit, tea ana
condensed milk. A fifth article would
be furnished in the shape of fresh meat
of any kind that we might kill on the
WOW. On my previous journey TOOK
great many things that were not only
useless, but worse, because they mere
" added weight to the sledges and thus
| wasted our strength unnecessarily. II
a man cannot get along with pemmlcan
md biscuit, with tea to drink, the arctic
regions are no place for him. He
mustn't expect the luxuries OF hotel
dinner.
'Pemmican is beef mixed with con-
siderable quantity of suet. 1t Is the
staple arctic food, and is not at all dis
agreeable to the taste. 1t is much COM
pressed. One pound of it is equal to
four pounds of ordinary meat, so that
the carving of it reduces the sledge
weight very much. One pound OF 1t is
the daily ration for man. Of the
hard ship biscuit one pound is also
days allowance, and of tea about a
quart. These rations are consumed al
most always In two meals, which are
all we have time to stop for on sledge
journeys.
"The tea is in compressed, quarter
pound cakes, which are further marked
off, somewhat like cake of chocolate
| into little divisions of a quarter-ounce
each. One of these makes a pint oil
tea, and it is stronger than one general
" drinks at home. The condensed milh
is the ordinary article which you set
everywhere. 1t freezes, of course, often
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 pro
duces thirst. Lime juice have no faith
in at all, and / shall never try it again
1t has always been thought necessary
to counterfeit tendency to scurvy
from the consumption of so much sal
and fatty food. But l never had any
indications of scurvy in any of my
party.
Dried vegetables have been carried
by some explorers, and while they arr
well enough to have at the headquar
ters, where, as l said, there may b'
any variety one chooses, they are en-
tirely superfuous while sledging.
man can get along perfectly well with
out vegetables; in fact, l never ca
them, even at home, and there ism
much nourishment in them for arcti
work. There is only one thing beside
those have mentioned which | consid
err good, and that is compressed pei
soup. 1t has great deal of nutrimSn
in it and is especially palatable. But j
can be dispensed with if reduction o
weight becomes highly importan
point, for the pemmican and biscui
are trustworthy stand-bys. IN. Y. Tel
| ppram