The daily morning journal and courier., 1902-05-26
New Haven, Conn.,, May 19, 1902.
THE ROMANCE OF PEMMIcAN

THE ROMANCE OF PEMMICAN. Fifty years ago pemmican was, to the shifting and scant population ot the northwest, what flour is in the present day to English-speaking peoples in most civilized portions of the globe the staple and most common food for the country. Then it was always made from the buffalo which covered the western plains. The great fur corpora tion known as the Hudson Bay compa- ny bought hundreds of bags of the dark, nutritious compound annually from the Indians, for use at it's trading posts scattered over the vast wilderness stretching from Red River and Hudson Bay to the Rocky Mountains and from
 the two Saskatchewans to the Arctic Sea, a region then designated Prince Rupert's Land. Pemmican Cor, more properly, pimeekon) is a Cree word, meaning mixture, or something made with fat. It 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. It did not look inviting, but was in fact wholesome, strong food, which would keep for years But if the buff falo was important to the fur trader, the ungainly animal was life itself to the red man; for it furnished him with everything his heart could desire or with the means of procuring It. And as, owing to the migratory instincts of the herds, which took them first into the recognized territory of one tribe and next into that of an enemy, fresh meat was not always obtainable, pemmican was the form in which the indian pre- served and laid away his store of pro- visions against the day of scarcity.
 Quitting the excitement of the hunt and substituting domestic herds for the wild ones of the plains, description of pemmican-m making by the Indians quarter of a century ago will give an idea of what might have been witnessed at Duck Lake in the summer of 1885, Intelligence that band of buffalo was In the vicinity threw the Indian camp at once into a state of violent excite
 
 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, mounted on their "buffalo-runners' and under the direc- tion of the chief of the hunt, moved ln a silent body out of the camp. On nearing the herd advantage was taken of each slight rise or dip to cover the approach, which was always up wind, so that the wary brutes should not catch the scent. Stealthily they rode, one behind another until concealment was no longer possible. Then, at a sig nal from the chief, they burst upon the open plain, and dashed, yelling, at the top speed of their trained horses at the startled herd.
 Usually it was some distance away perhaps half mile--and 1t took good horse to overhaul q buffalo. Once up with the straining animals, however their pace slackened, and the rest was easy. Onward galloped the hunters between the long, undula- ting files of shaggy, brown backs, pick Ing out the fat cows and the young bulls at their leisure. And as feath- cred shaft left the snapping bowstring, and a stricken beast tottered and went town, the loud, triumphant cry of the hunter rang out, and he tossed a moe ,asin or a beaded firebag beside it to mark his kill, and then flew on. The | chase might last as long as the horses wind When it was over the women ,ame with the ponies and the trailing | ravoys upon the field of slaughter. | The carcasses were soon stripped of | heir hairy coats, the meat packed on | he travoys the bones broken and the | marrow extracted and, loaded with the ! ed spoil, the whole party returned to | amp Here in an incredibly short time | he meat was cut into wide, thin sheets, md hung upon pole frames in the sun md wind to dry. After day or two hese sheets were removed and spread lpon the clean prairie-grass, where, if he weather continued fair, they soon ] eeame as hard as shingles. They were hen placed upon hide threshing oor, with the sides elevated on short egs to form a sort of basin, and beat n with fails or between stones until he meat was reduced almost to a pow CT. The strange thing was that, if handled, the flesh seldom, if yer, became at all tainted, though in ny other than the dry, pure atmos- here of the northwest such a method f preparing it would doubtless be inn osstble.
 Meanwhile the marrow and other hoice fat had been rendered and bags. ome two feet by one and a half, of raw uffalo hide doubled over at the bot om and sewn up the sides with the thew of the animal, made for the re- option of the pemmican. The melted at was next poured over the shredded neat in the threshing basin and the hole mixed to the consistency of paste. hat was the pemmican. It was show He'd into the sacks, pounded down, and fter the tops had been sewn up and he bags jumped upon to make them at, the cooled pemmlcan packages ere as solid and almost as hard as so lany boulders. When you desired to at pemmcan you chopped piece off 'ith an axe sack and all The meat as already cooked in q measure by ln, wind and the hot fat, but if you after tearing off the adhering idle, you could fry it in a pan or boil 1t l a pot.-Canadian Magazine.