118 TILLEKS OF THE GROUND CHAP. 



We need proteid because our bodies are made 

 largely of proteid, and there must always be some 

 proteid added to make up for waste and to allow for 

 growth. We need starch and sugar because we are 

 always moving about and working, and it is starch 

 and sugar which give us energy to move. We 

 need fat to keep us warm, and therefore we need 

 less in summer than in winter, and people in warm 

 countries need less than people in cold. 



A missionary who lived with his family in the 

 Far North of America, where the cold is terrible, 

 tells us that if you offered his children a candle- 

 end with one hand and a lump of sugar with the 

 other, they would always seize the candle first and 

 eat it with delight. In the same way when 

 Nansen crossed Greenland, he tells us what a 

 fearful craving all his party had for fat of any 

 kind. They each got an allowance of butter, which 

 had to last the week, but most of them could not 

 make this allowance last the week ; the temptation 

 to eat it in great lumps was so strong that they 

 could not resist it. 



Both these little stories show us how important 

 fat is in a cold climate. On the other hand, in a 

 warm climate like Italy the people practically do 

 not eat butter at all, and take very little animal 

 fat. They take what fat they need in the form 

 of olive oil. Northern people could not do this 



