268 THE ESKIMO ABOUT BERING STRAIT [BTH. ANN. 18 
some salmon or cranberries are mixed with it and the who-e is kneaded 
until it becomes a homogeneous mass. This compound is regarded as 
the greatest delicacy that can be served to guests and at feasts. 
The blubber of seals, walrus, or whales is stored and often eaten in 
its natural form; or the oil may be tried out and stored in bags and 
used for food as well as for burning in lamps. When used as food it 
is placed in a small wooden tray or dish and the people dip their dried 
fish or other meat into it. The oil is never drunk by them except when 
desiring to take it as a purgative; at such times a large draft of seal 
oil is usually effective. : 
The oil obtained from whitefish is regarded as a great delicacy when 
eaten with dried salmon. Walrus flippers and the skin of the white 
whale are also among the choice bits of the Eskimo larder. The blood 
of seals or other large game is made into a stew called kai-w'-shak. The 
soup of boiled meat is called mi-chu/-d and is greatly relished. 
On the mainland it is customary for the women to go out every spring 
and search the marshes for the eggs of wild fowl which breed there. 
Upon the islands waterfowl are caught and their eggs taken from the 
cliffs facing the sea, and many geese and ducks are speared or netted 
while molting at the end of the breeding season. 
In autumn the women gather a large supply of blueberries, heath 
berries, salmon berries, and cranberries, which they store for winter 
use. At this season is also gathered a kind of wild sorrel, which is 
boiled and erushed with a pestle and then put into a wooden tub or 
barrel and covered with water, where it is left to ferment in the sun. 
This makes a very pleasant acid relish, which is added to various dishes 
in the winter and is called ko-pa’-tik. Young willow leaves are also 
boiled and eaten. 
The women also gather the bulbous roots of a species of grass, which 
are either boiled or eaten raw; they have a sweetish, nutty flavor. They 
also search for the little stores of these roots which have been gathered 
by field mice. They feel around among the grass-covered knolls with 
along-handle staff until a soft spot is found, showing the location of 
the hidden store, which they quickly transfer to their baskets. 
All the Eskimo are forced by the harsh nature of their climatic sur- 
roundings to provide a supply of food for winter, but they are careless 
and improvident in many ways. They frequently consume nearly all of 
their stores during midwinter festivals and live in semi-starvation 
throughout the early spring. 
The seal nets set out in the fall are of the utmost importance to the 
natives, as they depend upon the catch ot seals at this time for food 
and for a supply of oil for their lamps and other purposes, as well as 
the skins for buying necessary articles from the traders. 
Just before the netting season, one of my paddle men, an unusually 
industrious hunter, found that there was some whisky in a village 
where we stopped. Before I knew it he had traded off his only seal 
net for enough whisky to make himself intoxicated, in which condition 
