XVII 



THE EVOLUTION OF THE COOK 



The Arctic cook's necessary tools are first a fire, 

 then a pot and a spoon or stick, and a piece of seal 

 meat. Judging from tradition, these must have 

 been known to the first old woman. The forerun- 

 ner of the spoon was the " allutok," a name derived 

 from two words, " allukto," to lick, and "tock," 

 occurring only in the construction of compound 

 words and having a reference to bringing. The 

 first "allutok "was simply a small stick like the 

 Chinese chop-stick. It continued in use for a great 

 many centuries, or to within the past ten or twelve 

 years. Since then it has been entirely replaced by 

 the modern spoon, which has retained the same 

 name. 



Calling boiled seal meat the first, we will look 

 upon "pooya" as the second triumph of the culi- 

 nary art. I give the recipe for number two. At the 

 same time, it is doubtful if any of the modern 

 ladies of the kitchen will care to experiment with 

 its manufacture. The only things of interest about 

 III 



