Page:Life with the Esquimaux - 1864 - Volume 2.djvu/77

58 rain and mist. I was obliged to open my case of pemmican, and in doing so, found under the top a card, incased in tin, reading thus: "George Schlee, Cincinnati, Ohio. Farewell!" Though I am unacquainted with the person whom this name represents, yet this told me that some one in the employ of H. W. Stephenson, of Cincinnati—the maker and sealer up of my pemmican cans—had kind thoughts and good wishes for me, though a stranger to him. "Farewell" is a word of rich import from well-known friends, but from a stranger, whose soul may be beating in unison for the same noble cause to which one devotes his life, the word becomes almost sacred to the life and heart of the adventurer. The next day Ebierbing still continued very sick. Several of the natives took a boat and went up to the ship; and I heard that she was to remain in the bay, seeking a secure harbour higher up. Later in the day I saw her under sail, but the fog soon closed her from my view. An extract from my journal of this date (Friday, August 2d) runs thus:— "This morning for breakfast cold rock pemmican. It goes better this way than when made into soup. The two families already mentioned as members of the expedition trip I purpose to make seemed to like it. A very little of this solid, rich food satisfies one's appetite. This article is eaten, not because it tastes good, for it does not, but to live. It is almost like eating tallow candles. One must have a sharp appetite to eat pemmican in the usual way it is prepared. In the manufacture of mine I used the best of beef and beef suet in the place of what is generally used, to wit, beef and hog's fat. The composition consists of an equal weight of beef (dried and granulated) and beef suet, which are incorporated while the latter is hot, and then put up in tin cans and hermetically sealed. Thus made and put up, it will keep good for years. One pound of my pemmican is equivalent to two and a half pounds of fresh beef-steak. Four pounds of fresh beef, on being dried, is reduced to a pound." At 2.30 I went up to make my call on Captain B