DRIED MEAT — WENTWORTH 559 



In the fifteenth century dried meats were known traditionally by 

 the Celts in Wales, Ireland, and Scotland, as used by their warrior 

 forebears 8 or 10 centuries earlier. The Basques in the Pyrenees, as 

 well as the French races of old Provence, were familiar with the prod- 

 uct during the ascendency of Rome. Earlier still, the ancient races 

 of lake dwellers in the Balkans, Switzerland, and islolated regions of 

 the Alpine mountain chains, left remnants of dried meats around their 

 ancient dwellings that indicated their use of the product. 



In his study of the American Indian, Clark Wissler divided the 

 North American continent according to basic meats consumed. 4 

 Throughout the arctic and subarctic regions the chief dependence was 

 placed on the flesh of the caribou, although in the northeast musk 

 oxen were occasionally substituted. The salmon area extended as far 

 south as San Francisco and eastward to the crest of the Sierras. The 

 heart of the continent, however, depended on the bison, which even 

 today contributes the best flavored jerky produced under conditions of 

 sun and wind drying. In eastern Canada and New England, deer and 

 moose, with an occasional elk, furnished the foundation ; while along 

 the Atlantic coast to the south, and in the Gulf region, deer and an 

 infrequent bear seemed most important. 



The first historical reference to jerky in the Western Hemisphere 

 was furnished by Castaneda, who prepared the records of the Coro- 

 nado expedition (1540-1542). Two standard translations exist, the 

 older being by George Parker Winship : 



They dry the flesh [of the bison] in the sun, cutting it thin like a leaf and, when 

 dry, they grind it like meal to keep it, and make a seasoup of it to eat. A handful 

 thrown into the pot swells up so as to increase very much. They season it with 

 fat, which they always try to secure when they kill a cow [bison]. 6 



The other standard translation, by Hammond and Key, renders, "sea- 

 soup" as "mash" and romanticizes the "pot" by calling it an "olla." 6 

 Some students have tried to assume that Castaneda referred to pem- 

 mican rather than jerky because of his allusion to fat, but it seems 

 rather obvious that he was discussing fat added during cooking or 

 eating. Pemmican itself seldom required added fat to improve its ap- 

 petite appeal, as it usually consisted of 35 to 50 percent fat and on the 

 northern plains it might contain as much as 60 to 80 percent. 



The chief problem was to gather enough meat during the hunting 

 season to warrant drying. Both the plains Indians and trappers re- 

 lied on the bison, but the forest-dwelling tribes also sought caribou, 

 moose, and deer. Indian attempts to catch numbers of salmon during 



4 Clark Wissler, The American Indian, 2d ed., pp. 2-3, New York, 1922. 



5 George Parker Winship, The Coronado Expedition, 1540-1542, Fourteenth 

 Ann. Rep. Bur. Amer. Ethnol., Pt. I, pp. 527-528, 1896. 



•George P. Hammond and Agapito Rey, Narratives of the Coronado Expedi- 

 tion, 1540-1542, pp. 262, Albuquerque, 1940. 



