Notes on Memories of a Bear Hunter 



piece of rawhide, on which the pounded shreds of 

 meat fell, to be gathered up from time to time, and 

 put in a sack. 



As made by the Northern Blackfeet, "The meat was 

 dried in the usual way, and for this use only lean meat, 

 such as the hams, loins and shoulders was chosen. 

 When the time came for making the pemmican, two 

 large fires were built of dry quaking aspen wood, and 

 these were allowed to burn down to red coals. The 

 old women brought the dried meat to these fires and 

 the sheets of meat were thrown on the coals of one 

 of them, allowed to heat through, turned to keep them 

 from burning, and then thrown on the flesh side of 

 a dry hide that lay on the ground nearby. After a 

 time the roasting of this dried meat caused a smoke 

 to rise from the fire in use, which gave the meat a 

 bitter taste if cooked on it. They then turned to the 

 other fire, and used that until the first one had burned 

 clear again. After enough of the roasted meat had 

 been thrown on the hide, it was flailed out with sticks, 

 and being very brittle, was easily broken up and made 

 small. It was constantly stirred and pounded until 

 it was all fine. Meantime, the tallow of the buffalo 

 had been melted in a large kettle and the pemmican 

 bags prepared. These were made of bull's hide and 

 were in two pieces cut oblong, and with the corners 

 rounded off. Two such pieces sewn together made 

 a bag which would hold a hundred pounds. The 

 pounded meat and tallow the latter just beginning to 

 cool were put in a trough made of bull's hide, a 

 wooden spade being used to stir the mixture. After 

 it was thoroughly mixed, it was shoveled into one of 



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