JERKING MEAT. 45 



time in repairing damages to wardrobes and accoutrements, 

 in cooking, and attending to the jerking of the buffalo meat. 



There are several ways of jerking meat. We had been 

 instructed in the best method by old Connor, and it is as 

 follows : 



An oblong frame of light poles, of proper dimensions, 

 is supported, four feet from the ground, on forked posts 

 firmly planted in the soil, and crossed with light sticks, thus 

 making a big wooden gridiron on legs thirty feet long by 

 ten wide is about the usual size ; under the middle of the 

 frame and of the same length, a shallow trench is made for 

 the " smoke-fire," and filled with cedar-chips, or, if the 

 neighbourhood does not afford such, with the next best 

 " smudge-wood " anything will do that will make a smoke 

 if you are not particular as to the flavour of the meat and 

 your "jerking-table " is ready. 



The meat is either cut off the carcass by "fleecing," or 

 off the joints and pieces brought into camp. 'It is cut in 

 ribbons two inches wide and three-quarters of an inch thick, 

 and as long as practicable. An expert fleecer can cut off a 

 carcass, strips averaging ten feet ; but the choice pieces of 

 meat furnish only shorter lengths, and the chief art in fleecing 

 is to cut all the strips of an equal thickness, so that the 

 meat may cure evenly. 



A camp kettle, full of brine, is boiling on the fire, and into 

 it, for a few seconds (two or three), the ribbons of meat are 

 dipped, and then laid on the jerking-table. 



When the table is covered with meat the wood in the 

 trench beneath is kindled, and thereafter kept burning 

 gently until the "jerky" is done. 



