Perth Amboy evening news., 1905-12-22
GLUTTONOUS SIOUX
INDIANS SAID TO BE EATING
THEMSELVES no DEATH.
The Once Great Tribe Reduced to a
Remnant and Very Largely
Through Inordinate
Appetite.

II Thomas A. Edison referred to
the American Indians when he said
that people were eating themselves to
death, he could find plenty of cor
roboration of his theory on the reser-
vations. Overeating is doing more to
bring about the extinction of the Sioux
and Yankton Indians than race sui
eide, fire water and all the diseases
which haunt the wigwam of the red
man.
The great tribe of Sioux Indians is
disappearing. The members, it is de-
clared, are literally eating themselves
to death on account of the plenty
about them.
With the new railroad being built
through the White river valley the
Indians will be enabled to secure sup
plies with greater ease. They are
likely to become greater feeders than
they are now, and thus to hasten the
time of their disappearance from The
reservations in South Dakota.
II corroborative evidence was not
easily obtained, it would scarcely be
accepted as true that in the course
OF a night of feasting, dancing and
story telling the average Indian will
consume from 10 to Is pounds of meat,
and if he has an abundance of food
and can make his W selection of
the parts to be eaten, he will swallow
without inconvenience not less than
20 pounds of meat in a single night.
Carloads of canned meats are con
sumed by the overfed Sioux Indians,
and some canned goods have become
almost as sacred a dish with the red
men as the fat dog stew of old, for
which the Sioux Tribe is famous.
Among the varieties of canned goods
eaten to excess, the oyster holds first
place. A hungry Indian will eat half
a dozen cans and drink the liquor.
Besides the harm done by eating ex-
cesslye amounts of food, the fact that
it is not properly prepared makes it
the more injurious. There is no va
riety or style about Sioux Indian
cookery, no French methods, no ne
cesslty for titillating appetites already
over keen.
A pot full of meat and water is put
on the fire by the sGuaw and allowed
to heat, but there is no definite time
for the meal to cook and no point in
the cooking process when it is done.
The dinner is ready whenever her lord
comes in and grunts about being
hungry.
If the Indian is especially hungry
he may begin on the contents of the
Kettle by the time the meat is fairly
warm. There is never any fault-ind-
ing about the way in which the food
is prepared, and whether it is half
raw or done to rags, no objection is
made by the head of the family.
The Indians know the choicest It'd
bits of every animal, and how to
cook them. The hunt at this time Of
the year gives the Sioux Indian the
fullest enjoyment of his appetite, and
during the next three months the
average buck will devour enough meat
to satisfy four ordinary men.
Condiments are in great demand by
the Indians, and the Sioux Indians
probably consume more black and
red Pepper per capita than any other
people in the United States. Their
former favorite condiment was the
gall OF an elk.
The Sioux Indians are responsible
for the reputation which nearly all
tribes have of eating dog meat, but
there are few other tribes which ever
served dog meat, even at the feast
of important ceremonies. The Chey-
ennes, Shoshones and A%rapahoes never
touch dog meat.