The News-Herald. [volume] (Hillsboro, Highland Co., Ohio) 1886-1973, 1913-08-07
AN ESKIMO DINNER
1t Was Not Very Dainty, but It
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.

ity Extended to Explorer Stefansson.
An interesting description of the hos.
pitality of Eskimos is given by vilhjal.
mar Stefansson in his paper "My
Quest In the Arctic" in Harpers Mag.
azine At one stage of his adventures
the writer found himself among Eski.
mos who had never before seen white
people. He says:
Like our distant ancestors. no
doubt, these people fear most of all
things the evil spirits that are likely
20 appear to them at any time in any
Cuise. and next to that they fear stran-
,ers. 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.
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
houses were so small that it was not
convenient to invite all three of us
into the same one to eat: besides. 1t
was not etiquette to do so. as we now
know. Each of us was therefore TAX
en- to different place. My host was
the seal hunter whom we had first ap-
preached on the ice. His house would
he said be a 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.
"It turned out. however. that his
wife was not talkative person. but
motherly. kindly and hospitable. like
all her countrywomen. Her first ques-
tions were not of the land from which
came but of my footgear. Weren't
my feet just a little damp, and might
she not pull my boots off 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 bubber
boiled or raw They always cut it In
small pieces and ate it raw themselves,
and anything she put into it would
be cooked in a moment
"When | told her that my tastes
quite coincided with theirs, as in fact
they did. she was delighted. People
were much alike then. after ALL though
they came from a great distance She
would accordingly treat me exactly as
II I were one of their own people
come to visit them from afar
when we had entered the house the
boiled pieces of seal meat had already
been taken out of the pot and lay
stea ming on a sideboard. On being as
sured that my tastes in food were not
likely to differ from theirs, my hostess
picked out for me the lower joint of
a seals foreleg. squeezed it firmly be-
tween her hands to make sure moth
ing should later drip from it. and
handed 1t to me, along with her own
copper bladed knife. The next most
desirable piece was similarly squeezed
and handed to her husband, and others
in turn to the rest of the family
"As we ate we sat on the front edge
of the bed platform holding each his
piece of meat in the left hand and the
knife in the right This was my first
experience with a knife of native cop
per found 1t more than sharp
enough and very serviceable.
"Our meal was of two courses-the
first. meat; the second. soup. The soup
Is made by pouring cold seal blood into
The boiling broth Immediately after the
cooked meat bas been taken out of the |
po tand stirring briskiy until the whole
comes nearly-but never quite-to a
boil This makes soup of a thickness
to our English pea soup. |
but If the pot be allowed to come to a
boil the blood will coagulate and settle
to the bottom. When the soup is
few degrees from boiling the lamp
above which the pot is swung is ex-
tinguished and few handfuls of
snow are stirred into the soup to bring
It to a temperature at which 1t can be
freely drunk By means Of a small dip
per the housewife then Oils the large
musk OK horn drinking cups and as
signs one to each person. If the mum
ber OF cups is short two or more per
Sons may share the contents of one cup
or cup may be refilled when one is
through with 1t and passed to another
After | had eaten my Gil of fresh
seal meat and drunk two pint cuDfuls