Page:Material Culture of the Iglulik Eskimos.djvu/217

of blubber it is seldom that cooked meat (ûssoq) is eaten more than once a day.

Raw caribou meat (mikiaq) is eaten a great deal in summer and autumn, in winter time too, during and just after flensing; certain parts of the animal, such as the head, the meat and fat of which are especially tasty, the marrow bones and the chine, are as a rule thawed over the lamp in winter before they are eaten. But otherwise in winter most caribou meat is eaten frozen (quaq). If it is lean, a piece of fat is often taken with each mouthful, or, in the absence of this, a lump of raw blubber or a drink of rancid oil. The quantities of lean, frozen caribou meat eaten in winter, when the Eskimos have no other food to eat, are enormous; they can eat big pieces every other hour all through the day without being quite satisfied. The fillet is almost always eaten frozen.

Sometimes caribou meat is dried in summer; on rare occasions it is baked by laying a slice of meat with a lump of fat or blubber between two flat stones, under which a fire is lighted. Rotten caribou meat is also eaten, as caribou shot in summer and cached are often more or less ir a state of putrefaction when taken out. If the meat is so far gone that it smells strongly, it is usually used for dog feed. Even the entrails, with the exception of heart, liver and kidneys, are as a rule given to the dogs. The brains are eaten raw.

Caribou fat (tûnuk) is a great delicacy. It is thickest on the back, but the fat on the head, between the guts and in various parts of the body is considered to have a better taste. In the good hunting time in early autumn the fat is often rendered down and kept in bladders. to be brought out and consumed on festive occasions later in the winter, when fat is scarce. Children often play about sucking a piece of fat as white children suck sweets.

Caribou marrow (pateq) is valued even higher than fat and is the best these people can have; during the period when the marrow is firm and fatty — in summer and early autumn — it is particularly tasty. Most marrow bones are eaten at once, before they have time to freeze; but they are often saved for long periods and then all thawed together ― one method in the autumn being that they are hung down in a water hole and a young man breaks the bones into pieces and picks out the marrow. Later on in winter the marrow is more meagre and watery.

Contents of caribou stomachs (nerrugaq), a greenish, acidous mass, consisting of masticated and half-digested vegetation, is eaten with enjoyment, although most of it as a rule is thrown to the dogs. It is eaten either frozen, often covered with liquid blubber, or cooked with blubber; a mouthful or two are often eaten during flensing.