UNDER THE MIDNIGHT SUN". 323 



the case might be. I do not think our bill of fare could 

 be much improved. 



As will appear from my bills of fare mentioned herein 

 before, one day in the week, Saturday, has been allotted 

 a certain amount of pemmican. Our American pem- 

 mican had been exclusively used to within a week, and 

 it occurred to me to give the English pemmican, carried 

 in the Alert, and purchased by Mr. Bennett from the 

 admiralty, a trial ; accordingly, an issue was made of it. 

 I confess we did not like it in its simple form as well as 

 that of American manufacture. It was dull and taste- 

 less. The pemmican was of the sweetened kind, much 

 preferred by the English to the unsweetened, as I was 

 informed by Captain Markham. It being suggested 

 that it would make a delicious soup, our Chinese stew- 

 ard was commanded to prepare some and also to make 

 a stew. But as he decided in his own mind that he 

 knew a trick worth two of ours, he mixed so many 

 things Avith the compounds — for instance, bacon with 

 the soup, and corned beef with the stew — that we were 

 bewildered as to what particular taste predominated, 

 and the experiment had no value. I must admit that 

 the steward made very savory and acceptable food in 

 both cases, but our purpose was defeated for the pres- 

 ent. Between the two kinds eaten out of the hand, as 

 might frequently be the case while sledging, we give 

 the preference to American pemmican. Besides having 

 more raisins to increase the saliva, the meat and fat h:o 

 down together, while in the English article the chewing 

 is drier, and the fat seems to separate from the meat 

 and cling to the roof of the mouth. As a soup and as 

 a stew, I shall express an opinion after a trial. 



The wasting action of the ice-field on the surface, as 

 remarked by me heretofore, still continues. Fronx 



