Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1913-07-07
AN eskimo Dinner
1t Was Not Very Dainty, but 1t
Was a Satisfying Feast.

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
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
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
| 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
On to a different place. My host was
| the seal hunter whom we lad first APP
preached on the ice. Els 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.
at turned out, however, that his
| wife was not 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 off for me and
dry them over the lampp She had
boiled some seal meat for me, but she
had not boiled any fat, for she did not
know whether 1 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
be cooked in a moment
when l told her that my tastes
| quite conceded with theirs, rs 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
If 1 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 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 it 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 n knife of native cop
per. l found it 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 neat has been taken out of the
po tand stirring briskly until the whole
comes nearly-but never quite-to q
boil. This makes a soup Of thickness
comparable to our English pea soup
but if the pot be allowed TO come to Q
boil the blood will coagulate and settle
to the bottom. When the soup IS q
few degrees from boiling the lamp
above which the pot is swung is ex
tinguished and a few handfuls OF
snow are stirred into the soup to bring
It TO a temperature at which 1t can 3:
freely drunk. BY means Of a small dip
per the housewife then fills the large
musk OK horn drinking cups and as
signs one to each person. If the num-
Der of cups is short two or more per
sons may share the contents of one cup
or a cup may lie refIled when one is
through with 1t AID passed TO another.