566 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1956 



was merely half dry. The resultant meat did not grind satisfactorily 

 to form jerky, as only an occasional piece was dry enough to be suit- 

 able. Consequently they chewed their meat instead of grinding it, and 

 spat it out to be dried. 17 



In the old days when pemmican was being manufactured it was 

 poured into the bag, and watch was kept to flatten the sides to a thick- 

 ness of 6 to 7 inches — thereby giving it more of a brick shape when it 

 was cooled. This aided in stacking and storing it, and in general made 

 it convenient to handle. Gradually these bags were standardized for 

 the fur trade at about the size of an old-fashioned bed pillow, and 

 would weigh, when filled, from 80 to 90 pounds. In this form the bags 

 were known as "pieces of pemmican." Each bag was of buffalo raw- 

 hide, the hair side out. When filled, the mouth was sewed shut and 

 all the seams were greased with fat, which was applied when cool 

 enough to congeal. This excluded air from the contents, and pre- 

 vented water from reaching the interior — if a canoe was upset, for 

 example. 



The French fur traders and trappers, as stated previously, chris- 

 tened these rawhide bags parfleches, and specified slightly different 

 shapes. They required that they be roughly cylindrical and taper 

 toward the bottom. Usually they were fringed on one side, and were 

 used for storage rather than for shipment. 18 



Around the turn of the twentieth century the rawhide bags were 

 also called taureaux (bulls). Alexander Henry reported receiving in 

 the Red River country of Dakota four taureaux of pemmican per 

 canoe, each load weighing over 300 pounds. These taureaux were 

 also rawhide bags whose contents totaled about 80 pounds. Some- 

 times the name taureaux was transferred to the same amount of pem- 

 mican when it was packed differently. The best quality of pemmican 

 came from the upper Red River in Dakota, and when circumstances 

 prevented Henry from getting other food he wrote : 



We now were obliged to eat pemmican, and had a few bags which had been lying 

 all summer in a heap covered with a leathern tent. I was apprehensive that it 

 was spoiled from the complaints made by my friends about the bad quality of 

 Lower Red River pemmican, but was surprised to find every bag excellent. This 

 was clear proof to me that the bad pemmican [of which they spoke] came from 

 another quarter — I suspect Portage-la-Prairie [west of modern Winnipeg and 

 not on the Red River]. 1 * 



Pemmican was a summer food, used in hot weather by Indians, trad- 

 ers, trappers, and explorers. Contrary to usual modern dietitians' 



17 Hodge, ibid., pp. 223, 224. 



18 Robert H. Lowie, The Crow Indians, p. 79, New York, 1935. 



"Elliott Coues, The Red River of the North in New lights on the early history 

 of the greater Northwest. The manuscript journals of Alexander Henry and of 

 David Thompson, vol. 1, p. 276, New York, 1897. 



