Payette enterprise. (Payette, Canyon Co., Idaho) 1909-1935, 1913-09-04
1t Was Not Very Dainty, but 1t
Was a Satisfying Feast.
SEAL MEAT AND BLOOD SOUP.
The First Course Was Served Out Of
Hand, and the Second In Musk Ok
Horn Drinking cups-The Hospital
ity Extended to Explorer Stefansson.

An interesting description OF the no:
pitality Of Eskimos is given by VilhjaI
mar Stefansson In his paper. m
Quest In the Arctic" In Harper's Mag
azlne. at one stage of his adventure
the writer found himself among Eski
mos who had never before seen whit
people. He says:
Like our distant ancestors. N
doubt. these people fear most of al
things the evil spirits that are hkel!
TO appear to them at any time in an!
! guise. and next to that they fear stran
gers. Our first greeting had been &
+ bit doubtful and dramatic through our
| being mistaken for spirits. but now
| they had felt of Us and talked with us
and knew we were but common men
Strangers we were. it is true. but we
were only three among forty of them
and were therefore not to be feared.
Besides. they told US they knew we
could harbor no guile from the free,
dom and frankness with which we
came among them: for. they said. a
man who plots treachery never turns
his back to those whom he intends to
stab from behind
Before the house which they imme-
diately built for US was quite ready
for our occupancy children came run
ming from the village to announce that
their mothers had dinner ready. The
b,,eos ,rara On s,,.U +I,a+ e rrov NOT
convenient TO invite all three of US
into the same one to eat; besides, it
was not etiquette to do so. as we now
know. Each of us was therefore TAX
en- to a different place. Ny host was
the seal hunter whom we had first ap-
preached on the ice. His house would.
he said. be u fitting one in which TO
offer me my first meal among them,
for his wife had been born farther
west on the mainland coast than any
one else in their village. and it was
even said that her ancestors had not
belonged originally to their people. but
were immigrants from the westward
She would therefore like TO ask me
questions
1T turned out however, that his
wife was not a laxative person. but
motherly, kindly and hospitable. like
all her countrywomen. Her first ques-
tons were not of the land from which
| came but Of my footgear. Weren't
my feet just q little damp. and might
she not Pull my boots of for me and
dry them over the lamp? She had
boiled some seal meat for me, but she
had not boiled any fat. for she did not
know whether | preferred the blubber
boiled or raw. They always cut it in
small pieces and ate it raw themselves, (
but the pot still hung over the lamp,
and anything she put into it would
De cooked in a moment
when | told her that my tastes
lutte conceded with theirs, as in fact
hey did. she was delighted. People
we're much alike then. after ALL though
hey came from great distance. She
would accordingly treat me exactly as
/ were one of their own people
ONE to visit them from afar. H
when we had entered the house the
'oiled pieces of seal meat had already
'een taken out of the pot and lay
teal ming on a Sideboard On being as
ured that my tastes in food were not
kely 70 differ from theirs. my hostess
licked out for me the lower joint of
seals foreleg. squeezed it firmly be
ween her hands to make sure moth
ne should later drip from il, and
anded it to me. along with her own
opper bladed knife. The next most
piece was similarly squeezed
nd handed to her husband. and others
l turn TO the rest of the family
"As we ate we sat on the front edge
the bed platform. holding each his
iece of meat in the left hand and the
nife in the right This was my first
Experience with Il knife of native cop
er found II more than sharp I
lough and very serviceable
"Our meat was of two courSes-the
st, meat; the second. soup. The soup
made by pouring cold seal blood into
e boiling broth Immediately after the
oked meat has been taken out of the
} tand stirring briskly until the whole
mes nearly-but never quite-to a
Ill This makes a soup of a thickness
to our English pea soup.
1t If the pot be allowed to come to a E
III the blood will coagulate and settle Z
the bottom. When the soup is a n
W degrees from boiling the lamp 3
'ove which the pot is swung is ex-
lguished and a few handfulS of q
ow are stirred into the soup to bring 4
to temperature at which it can be
eely drunk BY means of a small dip 4
r the housewife then fills the large N
lsk OK horn drinking cups and as
ms one to each person. II the num-
r of cups is short two or more per-
us may share the contents of one cup q
cup may be reilled when one is .
'ough with 1t and passed to another. =
After ! had eaten my ill Of fresh
II meat and drunk two pint cupfuls h,
blood soup my host and moved
-ther back on the bed platform, -
lere we could sit comfortably, prop
! up against bundles of soft caribou