.•392 METHOD OF PRESERVING MEAT. 



the hunter has to consider three modes of disposing 

 of the carcase. When near a station he generally 

 puts the animal " en cache," surrounding it with logs 

 and heaping snow over all to keep the wild beasts 

 from it, a precaution not always successful ; the 

 wolverine, or glutton, being a most determined 

 marauder. Intelligence is then sent to the Fort, 

 whence sledges are despatched to bring home the 

 prize. In this case the meat is fresh, and will of 

 course remain so, while frozen, for any length of 

 time. The other two modes of preparing the flesh 

 are similar to each other, differing only according to 

 the caprice of the curer or the distance which 

 intervenes between the spot where the animal falls 

 and the destination of the carcase ; in either case the 

 flesh is cut into layers and the bones removed, the 

 meat is then placed upon stages and subjected to the 

 action and smoke of slow fires and the sun's rays ; 

 by this process it gradually becomes desiccated, the 

 watery particles evaporate, leaving only the fibre and 

 sinew. It is according to the completeness of this 

 process that " dried " or " half-dried meat " are 

 obtained. I need not say much about their excellence ; 

 neither of them is very nice, and we can only give 

 them the degrees of comparison, bad and worse, but 

 their preparation is rendered necessary by the great 



