Down North and Up Along 
meal, salt fish, and potatoes, scorn the luxuries 
of an effete civilisation, as we discovered upon 
presenting some bananas to the youngsters of 
a house where we stopped. They tasted, spat 
violently, and ran howling to their mother, who 
was as much mortified as we were amused. 
We thereafter refrained from proffering tropi- 
cal fruits to children reared so near the pole. 
In the winter, it seems that those who own 
sheep kill one, and this gives them the only 
fresh meat of the year. Of course the poorer 
families do not have even this. 
At the time of our visit the mountains were 
covered with blueberries, the largest and 
sweetest we ever tasted. These the people 
gathered and ate without sugar or milk, and 
allowed the surplus to lie and ferment, in 
which state they seemed to be relished just as 
well, though they were as sour as vinegar and 
half decomposed. No one took the trouble to 
cook them or dry them, or in any way pre- 
serve them for winter use. 
We stopped at some strange places in the 
course of our leisurely journey, and the mo- 
ment of reckoning was always a delightful one 
to M., who stood discreetly aloof and watched 
224 
