The record-union., 1897-02-15
ARCTIC HOUSEKEEPING
Lieutenant Peary on the Food Supply Of
a Polar Expedition.
He Believes i'm Reducing the Variety
for the SIedge Parties-Only
Four Things Necessary.

Lieutenant Robert E. Peary, the Arc
tic explorer, who recently described
before the American Geogra phical So
ciety his plans for another Polar ex-
pedition, talked to a New York ''Tri-
bune" reporter last week about his
ideas for provisioning Arctic parties.
He emphasized in the beginning the
fact that there are two distinct classes
of food supplies-those which may be
kept in large quantities at the general
headquarters. and those which are
suitable fcr 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 alb
solutely necessary, it is of course pleas
anter to have a little variety among
them. On my previous expeditions
had almost every canned article that
you could mention at Redcliffe House.
Beside the various kinds of meats, we
had all sorts of preserves, jams, crack
ers, vegetables. butler, tea, coffee,
chocolate, cocoa and, in short, such
variety of things that 1 can't re-
member half of them.
There is no trouble in having a
We1l-stocked larder at the headquar-
tiers, and by headquarters, you know,
| mean the point furthest north to
which We are able to bring a ship The
exact location of this would be deter
mined altogether by the mildness or
severity of the season, it being posi-
bic to proceed much further in certain
summers than in others. Ii used to
bic thought years ago that no pergna-
nent headquarters could be maintained
much beyond Melville Bay, but l now
believe thoroughly that it is possible
in most seasons to get a vessel up as
far as Sherard Osborne Fjord."
TO THE NORTH VIA OSBORNE
FJORD.
From Sherard Osborne Fiord he
would push forward sledge parties,
leaving caches of provisions behind
them at short stages, and then, at
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 a few picked Esquimau
dogs.
"On these sledge journeys" contin-
ued Lieutenant Peary, there must be
the starnest simplicity in the matter of
food. The changes which I 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 which I should
take. and those are pemmican, ships
biscuit, tea and condensed milk A
fifth article would be furnished in the
shape of fresh meat of any kind which
we should kill on tine way On my
previous Journeys I took a 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 a man
cannot get along with pemmican and
biscuit, with tea as a drink, the Arctic
regions are no place for him. He
mustn't expect the luxuries of a hotel
dinner"
A FOURTH OF JULY ARCTIC MENU.
It may be interesting to quote the
bill Of fare with which Lieutenant Peary
and his companion Astrup celebrated
their Fourth of July banquet in 1892.
On that morning Lieutenant Peary had
at last come in sight of the Arctic
Ocean north of Greenland and finally
determined the insularity of that i'm
mense frozen continent. He named
the bay, whose glistening white ex-
panse stretched between him and a dis
tant northern shore, Independence Bay,
| in honor Of the date on which he saw
| it, This, however, is slight digres-
4
which the two men celebrated later in
the day. Here is the menu:
| Brandy Cocktail la Fourth of July.
| Pea Soup.
Sauterne.
Slrloin of Musk OK Broiled with Biscuits.
| Veal Outlets, with Biscuit.
| Bartlett Pears and Cream, a la Tin Can.
| Tea and Biscuits.
| 1t will be seen that there were several
things in this list that Lieutenant
| Peary bar out as too luxurious. The
fresh meat of course is always hailed
with joy and he spoke of that later.
! "Pemmican, you know" said he, lis
beef, mixed with considerable quanti-
ty of suet. 1t is the staple Arctic food,
and it is not at all disagreeable to the
taste In fact / like it very much.
Mrs. Peary used to eat it, too: didn't
you?" he asked, appealing to his wife,
who sat near by. The latter, whose
Arctic experiences with her husband
have interested SO many thousands Of
people admitted the truth of this, but
was not quite so enthusiastic about
pemmican as her husband
Il liked it very well when we were
out in the field and ate it cold" she
said Il suppose almost anything
would have tasted good then But l
could not eat it when it was warmed.
Then it had different, and to me an
unpleasant taste
ARCTIC EATABLES.
"Pemmican Is much compressed .
said Lieutenant Peary. "One pound of
| il 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 man. OF
| the hard ship biscuit a pound is also
| the days allowance, and of tea about
almost 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
/ OIL NDiItSN littt ilhe Il tdh1 vi 14ibtbIhtE,
into little divisions of a quarter ounce
each. One Of these makes a pint of tea
and Il is stronger than one generally
| drinks it at home. 1t Is the best Eng
lsh breakfast tea compressed in Eng
| land. and costs 81 a cake here The
condensed milk is just the ordinary ar
| ticle which YOU see everywhere. 1t
freezes, of course, often perfectly solid,
| but that doesn't hurt it for use Tea
is the only drink for sledge journeys.