SUPPEE. 259 



The Doctor paused while measuring a handful of 

 sugar for his omelette to see the cooking progress. Rose 

 basted the turkey, ejaculating from time to time, "Gi, 

 he hot." Mike sat like a. Turk on liis crossed legs, gra- 

 dually withdrawing the venison steak from the heat, and 

 Jackson, who never gave himself much concern about 

 the dinners, stood overlooking the coffee-pot. It was a 

 pleasant dinner in cooking, and when it was announced 

 by universal acclaim that it was done, we all felt that we 

 had earned our appetites. 



First came out the fish from his hot bed, a black steam- 

 ing mass, that bore more resemblance to a sacred croco- 

 dile embalmed in the pyramids than to an article of food ; 

 but as one by one the wrappings of wet rags and leaves 

 were removed, bringing with them the skin and scales, 

 and his fishiness was gently rolled over on a piece of 

 clean hollow birch bark and placed on the table, white, 

 flaky, and steaming hot, a universal ha! fi-om the con- 

 vives heralded the .success of our first course. To talk 

 of boiled fish, where half of the peculiar flavor of a 

 trout is left in the water, or sole au grathi that is 

 smothered in sauce and mushrooms, is a mark of grati- 

 tude for past enjoyments and the dinners we have eaten 

 at Mackinaw or at Magny's, but if the nostril has ever 

 inhaled the pure steam, the condensed just liberated 

 essence of a cold water fish, baked in the ashes, or the 

 tongue ever moistened under the first pure morsel that 

 entered the mouth, he ^vill forget those artificial combina- 

 tions that have hitherto deceived him, and believe only in 



