Herald and news. [volume] (West Randolph, Vt.) 1878-1943, 1897-07-15
AMID ARCTIC SHOWS.
How Explorer Peary subsisted sNhiie
on His Trip to the Frozen North.

ON HIS IEtp ~
Lieut.. Peary, whose brilliant exploits
in the far north have only been eclipsed
thus far by DIR. hansen, has impaired
n few of his ideas in housekeeping IN
the arctic regions. OF course the main
stay of the larder is a supply of canned
articles, such as preserves, jams, bis
cults, 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, how
eve different. ION these" said Peary.
there must be the sternest simplicity
in the matter of food. The changes
which | should make in another eN-
pedition's sledge equipment would De
all i'm the direction of cutting down
the variety Of food supplies. There
are lust four things in the way OF pro
visions that | should take, and those
are pemmican, ships biscuit, tea and
condensed milk. A fifth article woull
he furnished in the shape of fresh naea'
of any kind that we might kill on the
~ AAAN 49,
way. On my previous journey took
a great many things that were not only
useless. but worse, because they mere.
w added weight to the sledges and thus
wasted Il strength unnecessarily. Il
n man cannot get along with pemmican
and biscuit. with tea to drink, the arctic
regions are no place for him. He
mustn't expect the luNuries Of a hotel
dinner.
.Pemmican Is beef mixed with a cor
siderable quantity of suet. 1t IS the
staple arctic food, and is not At all DIS
agreeable TO the taste. 1t is much com
messed. One pound of ii is equal I
four pounds of ordinary meat, so thai
the carrying Of it reduces the sledgt
weight very much. One pound OF 1t y
the daily ration for n man. or The
hard ship biscuit one pound Is also Q
davis allowance, and of tea about q
quart. These rations are consumed al
most always in two meals, which are
all we have time to stop for on sledgc
journeys.
THE tea is in compressed, quarter
pound cakes, which are further marked
off, somewhat like a cake of chocolate
into little divisions of n quarter-ounet
each One of these makes n pint OF
tea, and il is stronger than one general
X drinks at home. The condensed mill
Is the ordinary article which you SEE
everywhere. II freezes, of course. OTTER
perfectly solid, but that does not impair
il. Tea is the only drink for sleagt
| Journeys. Coffee is not satisfactory
nor is chocolate or cocoa, which pro
duces thirst. Lime juice have no faltt
in at all, and / shall never try II again
II has always been thought necessary
to counteract a tendency TO scurVN
from the consumption of so much sal
and fatty food. But | never had any
Indications of scuryy in any oil M
party.
Dried vegetables have been carried
by some explorers, and while they ar
well enough to have at the headquar
ters. where, as | said, there may b'
any variety one chooses, they are en-
tirely supernuous while sledging. ;
man can get along perfectly well with
out vegetables; in fact, l never ca
them, even at home, and there ism
much nourishmeut in them for areti
work. There is only n thing beside.
those / have mentioned which | cons.d
er good, and that is compressed Pc
soup. 1t has a great deal of mutr'nAen
in it and is especially palatable. But i
can lie dispensed with if reduction o
weight becomes a highly importar
point, for the pemmican and b'seui
are trustworthy stand-bys."-N. Tel
porum-