The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1902-05-25
ROMANCE OF PEmMIcAN.
How the indians Used to Prepare
Their Meat.

How the indians Used to Prepare
Their Meat.
New York. May FIFTY years age
pemmican was. to the shifting and scan'
population OF the northwest. what -four
is in the present day 70 the English
speaking peoples in most civilized por-
tions of the globe-the staple and most
common food OF the country. Then If
was always made from the buffalo which
covered the western plains. The great
fur corporation known as the Hudson
Bay company bought hundreds of bags
of the dark. nutritious kind. for use at
its trading posts scattered over the vast
wilderness stretching from the Red river
and Hudson bay TO the Rocky mountains
and from the two Saskatchewans TO the
Arctic sea, region then designated as
Prince Rupert's Land. Pemmican Cor,
more properly. pimeekon) is a Cree word,
meaning a mixture, or something made
with fat. 1t was composed OF buffalo
meat dried in the sun and pounded fine.
mixed with melted fat; and was sewn
up in sacks made from the raw hide OF
the buffalo, with the hair outside 1t
did not look inviting, but was in fact
wholesome, strong wholesome food which
would keep for years. But if the
buffalo was important to the fur trader
the ungainly animal was life Itself to the
red man; for it furnished him with every
thing his heart could desire or with the
means Of procuring it. An as, owing 10
the migratory instincts of the herds,
NH frE @l,o
ritory of one tribe and next into that
of an enemy, fresh meat was not always
obtainable, pemmican was the form in
which the Indian preserved and laid away
his store of provisions against the day of
scarcity.
Omitting the excitement of the hunt
and substituting domestic herds for the
wild ones of the plains. a description OF
permicaG-making by the Indians quar-
ter of q century ago win give an idea
of what might have been Witnessed at
Duck Lake in the summer of 1899. Intel
ligence that a band of buffalo was in
the vicinity threw the Indian camp at
once into a state of violent excitement.
Men rushed from the lodges buckling on
quivers of arrows and belts of cartridges.
women talked and gesticulated, boys
raced wildly about shouting shrilly TO
one another the horse herd was driven
in, and in a few minutes the bucks, un-
der the direction of the chief of the hunt,
moved in silent body out of the camp.
On nearing the herd advantage was taken
of each slight rise or dip to cover the ap-
proach which was always up wind, so
the wary brutes should not catch the
scent. Stealthily they rode, one bedind
another until concealment was no longer
possible. Then at a signal from the chief
they bursa upon the open plain and
dashed, yelling at the top speed of their
trained horses at the startled herd.
Unusually it was some distance away
perhaps half a mile-and it took a good
horse to overhaul a buffalo. Once up with
the straining animals however, their pace
slaekened. and the rest was comparative
ly easy. Onward galloped the hunters
between the long, undulating files Of shag-
gy. brown backs. picking out the fat
cows and the young bulls at their leisure.
And as feathered shaft left the swapping
bow string, and a stricken beast tottered
and went down. the lOnd. triumphant
cry of the hunter rang out, and he tossed
a moccasin of a beaded firebag beside
il to mark his kill. and then few on.
The chase might last as long as the
horses wind. When all was over the
women came with the ponies and the
trailing travoys upon the field of the
slaughter. The carcaSes were soon strip
ped of their hairy coats, the bones brok-
en- and the marrow extracted, and loaded
with the spoil the whole party returned
to camp. Here in an incredibly short
time the meat was cut into wide. thin
sheets. and hung upon pole frames in the
sun and wind to dry. After a day or
two these sheets were removed and were
spread upon the clean prairie-grass where /
if the weather continued fair they soon
became as hard as shingles. They were
then placed upon hide threshing-foor.
with the sides elevated on on short pegs
to form a sort of basin. and beneath with /
falls or between stones until the meat
was reduced 10 almost a powder. The /
strange thing was that il properly !
handled. the flesh seldom. If ever. became |
at all tainted. though in any other than /
in the dry. pure atmosphere Of the north +
west such method of preparing 1t would /
be impossible
Meanwhile. the morrow and other choice |
fat had been rendered, ard bags. some /
two feet by one and one-half. OF raw
buffalo hide doubled over at the bottom |
and sewn up the sides with the sinew OF I
the animal, made for the reception Of the {
pemmican. The melted fat was next (
pourned over the shredded meat in the /
,hreshing basin and the whole mixed (
to the consistency of paste That was i
the pemmican. II was shovelled into the I
sacks, pounded down. and after the tops I
had been sewn up and the bags jumped f
upon to make them fat the cooled penn /
nican packages were as solid and almost +
as hard as so many houiders- When you /
desired TO eat pemmican you chopped q I
piece OF with an axe. sack and an. The I
meat was already cooked II a measure /
5y the sun wind. and the hot fax but 4
Z you preferred after tearing oft the 4
hide. you could fgy 1t in pan +
1r boil it in q potlCanadian Magazine.