344 OUR ARCTIC PROVINCE. 



inquirer must himself try the effect on his own palate. I frankly 

 confess that I had a slight prejudice against seal-meat at first, hav- 

 ing preconceived ideas that it would be fishy in flavor ; but I soon 

 satisfied myself to the contrary, and found that the flesh of young 

 seals not over three years old was as appetizing and toothsome as 

 some of the beef, mutton, and pork I was accustomed to at home. 

 The following precautions must be rigidly observed, however, by 

 the cook who prepares fur-seal steaks and sausage-balls for our de- 

 lectation and subsistence. He will fail if he does not : 



1. The meat must be perfectly cleaned of every vestige of blub- 

 ber or fat, no matter how slight. 



2. Cut the flesh then into very thin steaks or slices and soak 

 them from six to twelve hours in salt and water, a tablespoon of 

 fine salt to a quart of fresh water. This whitens the meat and re- 

 moves the residuum of dark venous blood that will otherwise give 

 a slightly disagreeable taste, hardly definable, though existing. 



3. Fry these steaks, or stew them d la mode, with a few thin slices 

 of sweet "breakfast " bacon, seasoning with pepper and salt. A rich 

 brown gravy follows the cooking of the meat. Serve hot, and it is, 

 strictly judged, a very excellent meat for the daintiest feeder, and 

 I hereby recommend it confidently as a safe venture for any new- 

 comer to make. 



The flesh of young sea-lions is still better than that of the fur- 

 seal, while the natives say that the meat of the hair-seal (Phoca 

 vitulina) is superior to both, being more juicy. Fur-seal meat is 

 exceedingly dry ; hence the necessity of putting bacon into the 

 frying-pan or stew-pot with it. Sea-lion flesh is an improvement in 

 this respect, and also that its fat, strange to say, is wholly clear, 

 white, and inodorous, while the blubber of the " holluschickie " is 

 sickening to the smell, and will, nine times out of ten, cause any 

 civilized stomach to throw it up as quickly as it is swallowed. 

 The natives, however, eat a great deal of it, simply because they 

 are too lazy to clean their fur-seal cuts and not because they really 

 relish it. 



In this connection it may be well to add that the liver of both 

 Callorhinus and Eumetopias is sweet and wholesome ; or, in other 

 words, it is as good as liver usually is in Fulton Market. The 

 tongues are small, white, and fat. They are regularly cut out to 

 some extent and salted in ordinary water-buckets for exportation 

 to curious friends. They have but slight claim to gastronomic 



