352 



DOMESTIC ECONOMY. 



[C11A.P. IV. 



he ate in addition two ounces of bread, and at each meal drank lialf a j)iiit 

 of ale. lie walked regularly 17 miles per day. The total solid food i-on- 

 tallied in this diet is 350 ounces weekly. AVe suppose about three pounds 

 of solid food per day in temperate climates may be taken as the average 

 consumed by hard-working men. But in the Arctic and Antarctic regions 

 the amount of food tluit can bo disposed of is trul}' immense. Thus Ross 

 tells us that the Esquimau.x eat 10 lbs. of meat at a mwil, accompanied by 

 the same quantity of oil. Parry weighed the food of nn Esquimaux lad, 

 scarcely full grown, and found that he consumed, dni-ing the day — sea- 

 horse flesh, 8i lbs. ; bread, If lbs. ; rich gravy soup, li pint; raw spirits, 

 3 glasses; strong grog, 1 tumbler; water, 1 gallon 1 pint. Cochrane de- 

 scribes a Yakut or Tongouse as eating -10 lbs. of flesh in a day, saying that a 

 good calf, weighing 200 lbs., " may serve four or five good Yakuts for a 

 single meal," and that he has seen three of them " consume a reindeer at one 

 meal." Admiral Saritcliefl:' says he knew a Yakut who consumed " tlic hind 

 quarters of a large ox, 20 lbs. of fat, and a proportionate quantity of melted 

 butter for his drink" in a day. The admiral tried an experiment with him 

 by giving liim " a thick porridge of rice, boiled down witli 3 lbs. of butter, 

 weighing together 28 lbs. ; and althougli the glutton had already break- 

 fasted, yet did he sit down to it with great eagerness, and consumed the 

 whole without stirring from the spot ; and, except that his stomach be- 

 trayed more than an ordinary fullness, he sliowed no signs of inconve- 

 nience or injury." Barrow states that three Hottentots ate one sheep in a 

 day, and that ten of them ate an ox all but the hind legs in tliree days. 

 The Samoyedcs are stated to consume 8 or 10 lbs. of meat at a meal, fla- 

 vored witli a dozen tallow candles, and washed down with a quart or two 

 of train-oil. Extravagant as these statements appear to be, most of tlicm 

 have been verified by numerous observations. 



"\Ve need not go to savage lands to find gluttons. "We have the well-au- 

 thenticated fact of one who lived in Connecticut, about seventy years ago, 

 who ate three shad a day, upon a wager, thirty days in succession. The 

 same man repeatedly ate a goose or a turkey at a meal. These were acts 

 of gluttony, and we look upon gluttony as a great sin. There is just as 

 much wrong in feeding too much to those wlio labor for us, who may hap- 

 pen to possess gluttonous natures, as there is in feeding others too little. 

 Ever}' laboring man requires a sufliciency of sound, nutritious food to 

 enable him to perform a fair task of labor. The question is. What is 

 suflicient ? 



372. Rations of Southern Slaves. — Tlie average ration of negro slaves in 

 our Southern States is 3i lbs. of bacon and a peek of corn-meal per week to 

 each adult. The meal will weigh 1-ii lbs., making IS lbs. of the strongest 

 kind of solid food. Then they always eat potatoes, turnips, greens, pindars, 

 green corn, and other things in their season, enough to make up an average 

 of three pounds of solid food a day. 



As it is the policy of planters to give the slaves all the food that is neces- 



