Reading the first volume (of three) of the history of the Hudson's Bay Company by Canadian journalist and author Peter C Newman I'm finding some extraordinary snippets of historical information.
In the chapter about trapper and explorer Samuel Hearne there are many extracts from his detailed journal. On one particular trip with some Native Indians of the Chipewyan tribe he details a remedy for constipation which makes my eyes water.
"For some inward complaints, such as griping in the intestines, difficulty in making water etc, it is very common to see those jugglers blowing into the anus, or into the parts adjacent, until their eyes are almost starting out of their heads:and this operation is performed indifferently on all without regard to age or sex. The accumulation of so large a quantity of wind is at times apt to occasion some extraordinary emotions which are not easily suppressed by a sick person and as there is no vent for it but by the channel through which it was conveyed thither, it sometimes occasions an odd scene between the doctor and his patient". 8O
Living out in the wild with these folks, Hearne did his best to blend in and live their way, particularly in sharing their eating habits. Here is their recipe for haggis..... a dish he became pretty fond of!
"Caribou meat was at first cut into bite sized pieces and given to small boys to chew. The softened bits were then stirred in with the half digested contents of the animal's stomach with enough water added so that the whole mess would boil up into a mush, then stuffed into the stomach lining and cured over a Smokey fire"
He did however draw the line at eating fleas, warble flies and ticks plucked from his compatriots who regarded such as a delicacy by his very diplomatic reason that he feared that he didn't want to get to like them so much as it would mean he would pine for them when back in London where he would have no supply!
That said, he was happy to gorge himself on raw deer brains, caribou foetuses and baby beavers torn from their mother's wombs.
I hope you weren't eating whilst reading this....
Regards,
Jay.
In the chapter about trapper and explorer Samuel Hearne there are many extracts from his detailed journal. On one particular trip with some Native Indians of the Chipewyan tribe he details a remedy for constipation which makes my eyes water.
"For some inward complaints, such as griping in the intestines, difficulty in making water etc, it is very common to see those jugglers blowing into the anus, or into the parts adjacent, until their eyes are almost starting out of their heads:and this operation is performed indifferently on all without regard to age or sex. The accumulation of so large a quantity of wind is at times apt to occasion some extraordinary emotions which are not easily suppressed by a sick person and as there is no vent for it but by the channel through which it was conveyed thither, it sometimes occasions an odd scene between the doctor and his patient". 8O
Living out in the wild with these folks, Hearne did his best to blend in and live their way, particularly in sharing their eating habits. Here is their recipe for haggis..... a dish he became pretty fond of!
"Caribou meat was at first cut into bite sized pieces and given to small boys to chew. The softened bits were then stirred in with the half digested contents of the animal's stomach with enough water added so that the whole mess would boil up into a mush, then stuffed into the stomach lining and cured over a Smokey fire"
He did however draw the line at eating fleas, warble flies and ticks plucked from his compatriots who regarded such as a delicacy by his very diplomatic reason that he feared that he didn't want to get to like them so much as it would mean he would pine for them when back in London where he would have no supply!
That said, he was happy to gorge himself on raw deer brains, caribou foetuses and baby beavers torn from their mother's wombs.
I hope you weren't eating whilst reading this....
Regards,
Jay.
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