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Food'

'95

oak-wood fire, till they were quite dry and friable. Then they were ground in a malt-mill; after this process the powder resembled finely-grated meal. It was next mixed with nearly an equal weight of melted beef, suet, or lard ; and the plain pemmican was made. Part of the pemmican was mixed with Zante currants, and another part with sugar. Both of these mixtures were much liked, especially the latter. The pemmican, when complete, cost at the rate of Is. 72d. per pound, but then the meat was only 6~d. per pound ; it is dearer now. The meat lost more than three-quarters of its weight in drying. He had 17,424 lbs. of pemmican in all ; it was made from-fresh beef, 35,641 lbs. ; lard, 749 lbs. ; currants, 1008 lbs. ; and sugar, 280 lbs.

Pemmican., as nade Ana the Prairie.-Mr. Ballantyne, -who

was in the service of the Hudson's Bay Company, gives the following account -" Having shot a buffalo, the hunters cut lumps of his flesh, and slitting it up into flakes or layers, hang it up in the sun, or before a slow fire, to dry ; and tine fat con be dried a, cell as the lean. In this state, it is often made into packs, and sent about the country, to be consumed as dried meat (it is often best relished raw, for, when grilled without fat, it burns and becomes ashy) ; but when pemmican is wanted, it has to go through another process. When dry, the meat is pounded between two stones till it is broken into ,,malt pieces : these are put into a bag made of the animal's hide, with the hair on the outside, and well mixed with melted grease; the top of the bag is then sewn up, and the pemmican allowed to cool. In this state it may be eaten uncooked ; but the men who subsist on it when travelling, mix it with a little flour and water, and then boil it-in which state it is known throughout the country by the elegant name of robbiboo. Pemmican is good wholesome food; will keep fresh for a great length of time; and, were it not for its unprepossessing appearance, and a good many buffalo hairs mixed with it, through the carelessness of the hunters, would be very palatable. After a time, however, one becomes accustomed to these little peculiarities."

111eat-biscuit.-Beat-biscuit, which is used in American ships, is stated to be a thick soup, evaporated down to a o2