The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-05-02
HOUSEKEEPING IN THE NORTH.
An Explorer and His Larder-Tea the
Only Drink.
New York

Lieutenant Peary. whose brilliant ex-
ploits in the far north have only been
eclipsed thus far by DIR. Nansen, has i'm
parted a few of his ideas in housekeeping
in the arctic regions. OF course the main
stay of the larder is a supply of canned ar
ticles, such as preserves, jams, biscuits,
vegetables, butter, tea, coffee, chocolate.
cocoa and, in short, every variety of food
that is capable of being preserved in a
canister. Such supplies are, of course,
most useful on board. the ship; during
sledge Journeys it is, however, different,
ON these" said Peary, there must be
the sternest simplicity in the matter of
food. The changes which l should make III
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 provi-
sions that | should take and those are
pemmican, ships biscuit. tea and condensed
milk. a hfth article would be furnished in
the shape of fresh meat of any kind that
that we might kill on the way. On my
previous journeys L took a great many
things that 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 to
drink, the arctic regions are no place for
him. lie mustn't expect the luxuries of a
hotel dinner.
"Pemmican is beef mixed with a consid-
cradle quantity of suet. 1t is the staple
arctic food, and is not at all disagreeable
TO the taste. 1t is much compressed. One
pound of it is equal to four pounds of or
binary meat, so that the carrying of it re-
duceS the Sledge weights very much. One
pound of it is the daily ration for a man.
OF the hard ship biscuit one pound is also
q days allowance, and of tea about a
quart. These rations are consumed almost
always in two meals, which are all we nave
time TO stop for on sledge journeys.
The tea is in compressed quarter-pound
cakes, which are further marked off, some
what like a cake of chocolate, into little
divisions of a quarter-ounce each. One Of
these makes a pint of tea, and it is strong
er than one generally drinks at home. The
condensed milk is the ordinary article
which you see 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 produces
and l shall never try it again. 1t has always
been thought necessary to counterfeit a
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 we'll
enough to have at the headquarters, where,
as l said, there may be any variety one
chooses, they are entirely superfiuous
while Sledging. A man can get along per-
never eat them, even at home. and there
isn't much nourishment in them for arctic
work. There is only one thing besides those
/ have mentioned which / consider good,
ana that Is compressed pea soup. 1t has q
great deal of nutriment in it and is es-
pecially palatable. But ii can be dispensed
with If reduction of weight becomes a high
~ important point, for the pemmican and
biscuit are trustworthy ~standbys."