The Guthrie daily leader. [volume] (Guthrie, Okla.) 1893-1996, 1897-08-08
HousEkEEplNc ~ LIE NoRrH
An .Spiorer ana his Lareer-rsp the
ONLY DRINK.

Only Drink.
Lieut.. Perry. There must be the stern
In the far north have only been eclipsed
thus far by DR.. Nansen. has impaired
few OF his ideas on housekeeping in
the arctic regions. says the New York
Telegram. or course the mainstsy
Of the larder is a supply Of canned ar
ticles, such as preserves. jams, biscuits
vegetables. butter. tea, coffee. choco-
late. cocoa and. in short, every variety
OF food that is capable of being pre-
served in a canister. Such supplies are
OF course, most useful on board the
ship during sledge Journeys II is,
however, different. ION these" said
Lieut.. Peary, "there must be the stern
est simplicity in the matter Of food.
The changes which ! should make in
another expeditions sledge equipment
would be all in the direction OF cutting
down the variety of food supplies.
There are just four things in the way
Of provisions that ] should take. and
those are pemmioan, ships biscuit, tea
and condensed milk fifth article
would be furnished in the shape OF
fresh meat OF any kind that we might
XIII on the way. On my previous Jour
neys / took a great many things that
were not only useless, but worse. be
cause they merely added weight to the
sledges and thus wasted our strength
! unnecessarily. II a man cannot get
along with pemmican and biscuit, with
tUu hVfnlr Ea
no place for him. lie mustn't expect
the luXuries of a hotel dinner. Penn
mlcan Is beef mixed with consider
able quantity OF suet It Is the stable
arctic food and II is not at all disagree
able 10 the taste. IL Is much conf
pressed. One pound OF it ia equal to
four pounds OF ordinary meat, SC that
the carrying OF Il reduces the sledge
weights very much. One pound is the
daily ration for a man. OF the hard
ship biscuit one pound is also a days
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. The tea is IN compressed, quar-
ter-pound cakes, which are further
marked on. somewhat like cake OF
chocolate. into little divisions OF a
| quarter-ounce each. One Of these makes
Il pint OF tea. and it is stronger than
one generally drinks It az home. The
! condensed milk is the ordinary article
which you see everywhere. II 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 produces thirst. Lime
| juice / have 10 faith in at all and !
shall never carry Il again. It has al
ways been thought necessary to coun-
teract o 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 carried by some
explorers, and while they are well
enough 10 have at the Headquarters,
where. as | said, there may be any va
riety one chooses they are entirely
superfiuous while sledging A man can
get along perfectly we'll without veg
etables, in fact. never eat them even
at home, and there isn't much .nourish-
nent in them for arctic work. There
is one thing besides those have men
toned which | consider good. and that
Is compressed pea soup. 1t has great
deal Of nutriment in 1t, and is especial
ly palatable. But it can be dispensed
with. if reduction OF weight becomes
a highly important point, for the penn
mican aud biscuit are trustworthy
standbys"
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