A RAINY DAY IN CAMP 



203 



trated, stimulating food for men in the wilds, it is valu- 

 able. Charlie Smith and the Norboes were emphatic 

 in their expressions of regret that they never before had 

 known of that process. Said Charlie, ruefully, " Think 

 of the good meat, Mack, that we could have saved for 

 months on Bull River, that long winter, if we had only 

 known about this scheme! We would never have gone 

 meat-hungry! " 



There is no question about it. The American trap- 

 per has for a century been horribly wasteful of wild life, 

 because he did not know how to dry wild meat, easily 

 and cheaply. Pemmican is all right; but the making of 

 it, on a good, palatable basis, is neither simple nor easy. 



While on this trip I cured for Mr. Phillips and 

 myself about forty pounds (when dry) of the meat of 

 mountain goat, mule deer, mountain sheep and grizzly 

 bear. The mountain goat meat was good, but slightly 

 tough in comparison with the other meats. It had not 

 the slightest disagreeable flavor, but in spring it is spoiled 

 by the flavor of wild onions. All the meat of mountain 

 sheep and mule deer was tender and delicious, but that 

 of the grizzly bear, when dried, had a queer fishy taste 

 that made it unpalatable. The flesh of the mountain 

 sheep {Ovis canadensis) and mule deer are so nearly 

 identical, both in fibre and in flavor, that in the fall 

 months no human palate can distinguish one from the 

 other. 



In our small party there were some good story-tellers, 

 — " raconteurs " they call them, east of Altoona; besides 

 which, my companions were men who had seen and done 



