The herald., 1897-04-24
AMID ARCTIC SHOWS
How Explorer Peary subsisted wnne
on His Trip to the Frozen North

Lieutenant Peary, whose brilliant ex-
ploits in the far north have only pesh
eclipsed thus far by DR.. Nansen, has I'M
parted 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, Dis
cults, vegetables. butter. tea, cohee,
chocolate, cocoa and, in short, every
variety of food that is capable OF being
preserved In q canister. Such supplies
are, of course, most useful on board the
ship; during sledge journeys It is, how
ever, different. "Or these" said Peary,
there must be the sternest simplicity
in the matter of food. The changes
which 1 should make in another sledge
expeditions equipment would be all In
the direction of cutting down the va
riety of food supplies. There are just
four things ir. the way of provisions
that i should take, and these are pemml-
can Snaps biscuit. tea and condensed
milk A fifth article would be furnished
in the shape of fresh meat OF any kind
that we might kill on the way. On the
previous journey l took a great mary
things that were not only useless, but
worse. because they merely added
weight to the sledges and thus wasted
our strength unnecessarily. III q man
cannot get along with pemican and bis
cult, with tea to drink, the arctic re-
gions are no place for him. He mustn't
expect the luxuries of hotel dinner.
"Pemmican is beef mixed with 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
pressed. One pound of II Is equal to four
pounds of ordinary meat, so that the
carrying of 1t reduces the sledge weight
very much One pound Of 1t is the daily
ratien fer c man. Gf the hard snip bis
cult one pound is also days allowance,
and Of tea about quart. These rations
are consumed almost always in two
meals, which are all We have time 10
stop for on sledge journeys.
The tea IL in compressed, quarter
pound cakes, which are further marked
off, somewhat like a cake of chocolate,
into little divisions OF a Quarter-ounce
each. One Of thse makes a pint of tea.
and IL is stronger than one generally
drinks at home. The condensed milk is
the ordinary article which you see ev-
erywhere. II freezes, of course, often
perfectly solid, but that does not inn
pair it. Tea is the only drink for sledge
journeys. Coffee Is not satisfactory, nor
Is chocolate or cocoa, which produces
thirst. Lime Juice l have no faith in al
all. and shall never try 1t again. 1t has
always been thought necessary to coun-
teract tendency to scurvy, from the
consumption of SO much salt 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 are
we'll enough to have at headquarters,
where. as l said. there may be aEy va
riety one chooses. they are entirely su-
perfluous while sledglng. A man can
get along perfectly well without vege-
tables; In fact, / never eat them, even
at home, and there isn't much nourish-
Is only one thing besides those have
mentioned which / consider good. and
that is compressed pea soup. 1t has
great deal of nutriment In II and is
especially palatable. But 1t can be dis
persed with II reduction of weight be-
comes a highly important point. for the
pemmican and biscuit are trustworthy
stand byes. New York Telegram.