268 THE ESKIMO ABOUT BERING STRAIT [ETH.ANN. 18 



I 

 some salmon or cranberries are mixed with it and the who..e is kneaded 



until it becomes a homogeneous mass. This compound is regarded as 

 the greatest delicacy that, can be served to guests and at feasts. 



The blubber of seals, walrus, or whales is stored and often eaten in 

 its natural form; or the oil may be tried out and stored in bags and 

 used for food as well as for burning in lamps. When used as food it 

 is placed in a small wooden tray or dish and the people dip their dried 

 fish or other meat into it. The oil is never drunk by them except when 

 desiring to take it as a purgative; at such times a large draft of seal 

 oil is usually effective. 



The oil obtained from whiteflsh is regarded as a great delicacy when 

 eaten with dried salmon. Walrus flippers and the skin of the white 

 whale are also among the choice bits of the Eskimo larder. The blood 

 of seals or other large game is made into a stew called Jcai-u -shak. The 

 soup of boiled meat is called mt-chu -a and is greatly relished. 



On the mainland it is customary for the women to go out every spring 

 and search the marshes for the eggs of wild fowl which breed there. 

 Upon the islands waterfowl are caught and their eggs taken from the 

 cliffs facing the sea, and many geese and ducks are speared or netted 

 while molting at the end of the breeding season. 



In autumn the women gather a large supply of blueberries, heath 

 berries, salmon berries, and cranberries, which they store for winter 

 use. At this season is also gathered a kind of wild sorrel, which is 

 boiled and crushed with a pestle and then put into a wooden tub or 

 barrel and covered with water, where it is left to ferment in the sun. 

 This makes a very pleasant acid relish, which is added to various dishes 

 in the winter and is called Jco-pa -tulc. Young willow leaves are also 

 boiled and eaten. 



The women also gather the bulbous roots of a species of grass, which 

 are either boiled or eaten raw ; they have a sweetish, nutty flavor. They 

 also search for the little stores of these roots which have been gathered 

 by field mice. They feel around among the grass-covered knolls with 

 a long-handle staff until a soft spot is found, showing the location of 

 the hidden store, which they quickly transfer to their baskets. 



All the Eskimo are forced by the harsh nature of their climatic sur 

 roundings to provide a supply of food for winter, but they are careless 

 and improvident in many ways. They frequently consume nearly all of 

 their stores during midwinter festivals and live in semi-starvation 

 throughout the early spring. 



The seal nets set out in the fall are of the utmost importance to the 

 natives, as they depend upon the catch ot seals at this time for food 

 and for a supply of oil for their lamps and other purposes, as well as 

 the skins for buying necessary articles from the traders. 



Just before the netting season, one of my paddle men, an unusually 

 industrious hunter, found that there was some whisky in a village 

 where we stopped. Before I knew it he had traded off his only seal 

 net for enough whisky to make himself intoxicated, in which condition 



