Camping and woodcraft - Scoutmastercg.com

156 CAMPING AND WOODCRAFTPemmican.—The staple commissary supply ofarctic travelers, and of hunters and traders in thefar Northwest, is pemmican. This is not so palatableas jerky, at least when carelessly prepared;but it contains more nutriment, in a given bulk,and is better suited for cold climates, on account ofthe fat mixed with it.The old-time Hudson Bay pemmican was madefrom buffalo meat, in the following manner: firsta sufficient number of bags, about 2x1^ feet, weremade from the hides of old bulls that were unfitfor robes. The lean meat was then cut into thinstrips, as for jerky, and dried in the sun for two orthree days, or over a fire, until it was hard andbrittle. It was then pounded to a powder betweentwo stones, or by a flail, on a sort of hide threshingfloorwith the edges pegged up. The fat and marrowwere then melted and mixed with the powderedlean meat to a paste; or, the bags were filled withthe lean and then the fat was run in on top. Afterthis the mass was well rammed down, and the bagswere sewed up tight. No salt was used ; but thepemmican thus prepared would keep sweet for yearsin the cool climate of the North. A piece as largeas one's fist, when soaked and cooked, would makea meal for two men.outfit,When there was flour in thethe usual allowance of pemmican was i ^ toI ^2 pounds a day per man, with one pound of flouradded. This was for men performing the hardestlabor, and whose appetites were enormous. Serviceberries were sometimes added. "Officers' pemmican"was made from buffalo humps and marrow.Pemmican nowadaj^s is made from beef. BleasdellCameron gives the following details: A beefdressing 698 pounds yields 47 pounds of first-classpemmican, 47 pounds of second-class pemmican^and 23 pounds of dried meat, including tongues, atotal of 117 pounds, dried. The total nutritivestrength is thus reduced in weight to one-sixth thatof the fresh beef. Such pemmican, at the time hewrote, cost the Canadian government about forty