234 THE FRIENDLY ARCTIC 



portant kind of caribou fat and that is the tallow secured by first 

 crushing and later boiling the bones. A difference in flavor and 

 hardness may exist between tallows made from different bones but 

 in this regard we have no experience, for when bones are pounded 

 to be boiled for fat they are taken indiscriminately, vertebrae and 

 briskets, head bones, long bones, back bones, etc. 



This discussion relates to the season when the caribou are fat. 

 At certain seasons no fat is discernible, even behind the eyes or close 

 to the bone of the brisket. The marrow in all the bones alike is 

 then liquid and has the appearance of blood, and I do not know 

 that there is a difference in consistency or flavor. Such marrow 

 when boiled congeals into a slightly tough substance, resembling 

 the white of hard-boiled egg both in texture and flavor, or rather 

 lack of flavor. 



Experiment has shown us that fats and marrows of mountain 

 sheep, musk ox and moose are to be classified both in flavor and 

 consistency about as those of caribou, with two principal exceptions: 

 In the moose it is considered that "moose nose" is about the most 

 agreeable. In the musk ox the fat of the neck is rated higher than 

 that of the back, while on the caribou there is not much fat on the 

 neck and what there is is considered to have no specially fine flavor. 



Apart from any intrinsic interest these notes may have as ap- 

 plied to the caribou directly and from their analogy to other mam- 

 mals used for food, I offer them thinking that students of human 

 anatomy may not in their investigation of the marrow of man have 

 noticed these differences. It seems to me it would be interesting to 

 note whether human marrow gets harder the farther away from the 

 toes and finger-tips. The question of comparative flavor of human 

 marrows will probably have to remain speculative. 



