Camping and woodcraft - Scoutmastercg.com

4i8CAMPING AND WOODCRAFTdog meat; but the animals that they speak of weresuch as had been specially fattened by the Indiansfor food, and not starved and hard-worked sledgeanimals.One who was driven by starvation to eat wolf'sHesh says that it "tastes exactly as a dirty, wet dogsmells, and it Is gummy and otherwise offensive.'*But it seems that tastes differ, or, more likely, thatall wolves are not alike. Ivar Forsheim of Sverdrup'ssecond Norwegian polar expedition says:"They were two she-wolves in very much bettercondition than beasts of prey usually are, with theexception of bears. The fat really looked so whiteand good that we felt inclined to taste it, and ifwe did that, we thought we might as well try thehearts at the same time. Although most peoplewill consider this a dish more extraordinary thanappetizing, I think prejudice plays a large parthere; as, at any rate, we found the meat far betterthan we expected."I am assured by more than one white man whohas eaten them that the flesh of snakes and lizardsis as good as chicken or frogs' legs. One of myfriends, however, draws the line at the prairierattler. Once when he was on the U. S. GeologicalSurvey he came near starving In the desert,and had to swallow his scruples along with a snakediet. "Probably," he said, "a big, fat diamond rattlermight be all right, but the little prairie rattleris too sweetish for my taste; It's no comparison topuff-adder; puff-adder, my boy, Is out of sight!"This much I can swallow, by proxy; but whenDan Beard speaks approvingly of hellbenders as aside dish, I must confess that I'm like Kipling'selephant when the alligator had him by the nose:"This Is too buch for be!"Another of my acquaintances assured me thatthe prejudice against crow (real Corvus) Is notwell founded, and I found by testing that he wasin the right. The great gray owl is good roasted,despite what it may be when "blled." The flesh of