The Butler County press. [volume] (Hamilton, Ohio) 1900-1946, 1913-08-01
AN ESKIMO DINNER
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.

Horn Drinking Cups-The Hospital
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 Harper's 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
to appear to them at any time in any
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
COuiO udTDtI no Eule LIoLu Lhc bhCC-
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 1t 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 a different place. My host was
| the seal hunter whom we had first 8p-
| preached on the ice. His house would,
| he said. be a fitting one I'm 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 1t 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 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 blubber
boiled or raw They always cut 1t in
small pieces and ate it raw themselves,
but the pot still hung over the lamp,
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 n great distance. She
would accordingly treat me exactly as
IL | 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
steaming on 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
seals foreleg, squeezed 1t 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 frs
experience with a knife OF native cop
per. found 1t more than SHARP
enough and very serViceable.
"Our meal was of two courses-th'
first. meat; the second. soup. The souI
Is made by pouring cold seal blood int
the boiling broth Immediately after th'
! | tODhctl meat hio DcCA OoI Va VIZ
po tand stirring briskly until the who'll
, | comes nearly-but never quite-to
boil This makes a soup of a thickness
: comparable to our English pea soup
but IL the pot be allowed TO come to
boil the blood will coagulate and settl
to the bottom. When the soup Is
: few degrees from boiling the lam
above which the pot is swung is ex
tinguished and few handfuls 0
snow are stirred into the soup to brin
1t to a temperature at which it can b
r freely drunk. BY means Of small dir
g per the housewife then fills the larg
O musk OK horn drinking cups and as
signs one to each person. If the nun
r ber of cups is short two or more per
sons may share the contents OF one GU
q or a cup may be refilled when one
:. through with 1t and passed TO another
. AFTER had eaten my fill Of fres
4 seal meat and drunk two pint cupful
OF blood soup my host and | moves
= farther back on the bed platform
I. where we could sit comfortably, proL
q ped up against bundles Of soft caribo
skins, while we talked Of variou
things"
{ AdyerSity has the effect of aiicitin