Evening journal., 1900-01-16
COOKING OF
MAINE INDIANS
Some Of the Food Articles
Greatly Estimated By the
Red Men of the North.
PRIMITIVE WAY OF COOKING
MOOSE MEAT THAT CAN BE PRE-
SERVED FOR LONG HUNTING
COMMISSIONING WATER IN
BIRCH BARK-MEAT OF THE
HEDGEHOG.

DitN1l DARN MIA w ~
HEDGEHOG.
"A favorite dish with the Maine In
dams 10 the musquash." said New
York merchant who was horn in the
Pine Tree State 81 remember seeing
in my boyhood the Indians coming
down the Piscataquis river from their
Springs trapping at the headwaters. lnI
every canoe, beside the heaps OF akins.
were great baskets filled with mus
quash, all skinned, dressed and smoked,
which they were taking to their homes
in Old Town where il would be served
as a dainty. The eel is greatly esteem
ed by them as q food fish. In old days
the spearing and trapping Of cells in
Spring and Autumn. as the slippery
fish ran up or down the rivers was as
a regular business with them as the
sowing and reaping Of grain is to the
farmer. Feels in great quantities we're
skinned and split and smoked, and
served as food through the year.
MY first acquaintance with a dis
tinttiveiy Indian article OF diet was
when hunting in the woods about the
west branch of the PenobscOt with Joe
Peelpole sole forty odd years ago. Joe
was an Indian, of the Passamaquoddy
tribe, / think, and a famous guide in
his day. We had followed a wounded
,,loose in snowshoes all Of February
day, had eaten the last OF the grub that
we had taken along in our pockets at
noon, and nightfall found us twenty
good miles from camp and hungry,
without having once sighted the moose
Joe was not disturbed at the prospect
lover there, two, tree. mile, is camp
and moose meat, he said, nodding his
head in the direction he wished to in
dictate. We so Their pretty quick and
stay. Catch EN- moose in mornin,
mebbe
"Joe's two. tree, mile were long
ones, but I tramped them cheerfully,
buoyed up by the thought of moose
meat, for | was in that famished state
where hunger seemed to gnaw at my
stomach. We got to the camp, a de-
serted logging cabin, by moonlight. and
after we had started bright fire which
both warmed and lighted the camp,
| Joe reached up among the rafters and
pulled down something that looked
| like a fiat stick. ten or twelve feet
long. He chopped off two feet Of IL
with the axe and offered the piece to
ma
What's this? l don't want it.
/ Where's your moose meat?' ! said.
e That's him. He moose meat all
right answered Joe, as he cut off a
two-foot section for himself and began
to chew at the end of it, Eat him and
at good. He fill you up
What he had offered me to eat was
a part Of the lower intestine of moose
cleaned and dried An Indian eats
every part OF a moose or deer. but
from the fact that the lower intestine
may be dried, or 'jerked, so that II
will keep unchanged for many months
when he kills a moose he reserves this
part OF the entrails and dries it to carry
as provision on trips where he wishes
to travel lightly loaded. The piece
had looked about as edible as a bean
pole, but seeing Joe munching away 81
! contentedly at his piece ! plucked VI
heart to try mine. 1t did not taste S,
7 bad to a hungry man, but after | haS
eaten pot or SO Of it raw I decide,
that ! would cook the remainder Of m,
meal.
y Il stopped up with pine plugs tn
holes in an old tin dish that / founl
o IN the camp, and cutting a three-foo
I strip Of intestine into short pieces pu
them to soak in cold water. Whei
\ they had softened up somewhat I sc
the dish over the Goals and let Their
4 simmer a half hour. BY this time joe
' having finished about six feet of drie
I entrail, had lain down on the hemloc
q bonghs before the fire and was asleeI
4 bolted' the ration / had cooked an
\ went to sleep myself. We had n
4 blanket and whenever the fire got S
= low that the cold woke us one OF u
! got up and replenished It, and so W
n got through the night. With the frs
CLEAN OF daylight we were afoot, max
ing back to the trail of the moose q
the point where we had Quilted Il IN
night before. Following the trail tw
miles We came upon the moose wheI
= no had lain down for the night, kille
him with a shot behind the shOulde
ir and building a fire we made our breal
y fast from full ten pounds Of moos
re steak, eaten to the last scrap.
" 1T was Joe Peelpole who showed n
that water could be boiled in a bircl
" bark vessel. In one Of our hunting e.
a. petitions, as we sat down 10 eat OF
te luncheon, ] wanted some tea to drinl
N We had built fire and had a pap,
he OF tea in my pocket, but We had L
D dish 20 boil II in.
e I'm, / fix that all right said 10
x. He went TO a white birch tree an
M peeled on a piece OF clear bark som
thing more than a foot square. +
D. turned up the edges all round, skewe
n cd the corners with wooden pins, ar
k IN this way made a square-shaped We
al sci that would hold about three pint
sr, kakng come live Goals ont from Il
Is hre. he set three stones among the!
Is and filling the birch bark vessel wi
e. water, placed II upon the stones, Will
~ upheld Il few inches above the Goa.
Is Had u been anybody else than Joe Pee
~ pole who tried the experiment. I shou
ad have expected the bark 10 be burn
promptly through az the bottom. ,
- such thing happened. but the wat
grew hot and presently was boilir
~ We made our tea and turned part OF
" 80 two birch bark cups that J
re- meantime had constructed. But d
er appointment awaited me, after all T
~ tea had got from the birch bark
az queer taste which, after three or IL
TII |..... ell