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Post by brokennock on Jul 9, 2021 19:32:15 GMT -7
I guess this goes here as it is a question,, possibly a series thereof, that comes up based on a book. I suppose the 1st one could have gone in either equipment of food and cooking. B.H. please feel free to move it if need be.
I may use this thread as a place to ask other questions I've had or that I come across as I read.
Anyway.
The quote that instigated this 1st question,
"concealed myself near the road, and killed a buffalo. When this was done, we jirked (dried on a low scaffold over a slow fire)6 the lean and fried the tallow out of the fat meat, which we kept to stew with our jerk as we needed it.”
This would be our man James Smith and the mulatto slave, Jamie. They are on their own having separated from their party to walk back east while the rest of their party continued on to the Illinois. James has wounded his foot and they are stuck in one place for a while.
So, my question. "which we kept to stew with our jerk as we needed it.”
What did they most likely keep it in?
It wouldn't seem as they packed Tupperware, Ball Mason Jars, or anything more seriously period, for the eventuality of needing to store anything they didn't already have.
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Post by spence on Jul 9, 2021 21:12:56 GMT -7
I can think of two possibilities from the period. From Scoouwa, the captivity narrative of that same James Smith, 1755-1760:
In February: “In this month we began to make sugar. As some of the elm bark will strip at this season, the squaws, after finding a tree that would do, cut it down, and with a crooked stick, broad and sharp at the end, took the bark off the tree, and of this bark made vessels in a curious manner, that would hold about two gallons each: they made above one hundred of these kinds of vessels.
He was with them for 5 years, did sugar several times, maybe he learned to make bark buckets.
From the John Dabney Shane interview of George Fearis, describing plunder taken from some defeated Indians,1780s:
"Took 7 or 8 bridles that they had taken with the horses, a brass kettle holding about a gallon, 1/2 bushel jerk, a bears gut 1 1/2 or 2 yards long full of bear’s fat and 7 or 8 deer-skins"
Maybe he used the buffalo's gut for the fat, the skin for the jerk.
Spence
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Post by hawkeyes on Jul 10, 2021 6:03:13 GMT -7
Or possibly the nutsack to be blunt... I've came across things here and there at the mention of the scrotum being used as a vessel, and apparently it does make to be a fine storage container.
Other than that particular part, the bladder and stomach come to mind as top alternatives and parts of the animal we know got used for those purposes.
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Post by Sicilianhunter on Jul 10, 2021 6:35:25 GMT -7
Both the bark and gut containers make sense to me especially after killing a walking grocery/hardware store!!
Not to stretch the "It stands to reason..." comments too far but I think we don't give the Old Boys as much credit for creative thinking as we should.
We often find ourselves in a situation utilizing ideas we "heard of" or "seen somewhere" quite effectively.
It's very possible, being exposed to other Woods Runners that these two heard a story around the camp fire on how to process the game in question as well as preserve its bounties including packing them for travel.
Spence,
I found your second quote very interesting in that they listed what they took as "battlefield pick ups".
A while back I suggested something along those lines regarding settlers using NA equipment such as pack frames but was pooh-poohed.
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Post by brokennock on Jul 10, 2021 6:54:35 GMT -7
Thank you gentlemen.
My 1st thought was bark containers, though, being from Mew England, I was thinking birch bark.
While I know of the use of animal parts like stomach, bladder, scrotum, and intestines, being used, I guess I didn't think of it because given his description of what they took and how they prepared and used it from the animal, I would have thought that if they used these parts he would have described it. It would seem he would have described how he, or more likely Jamie, cleaned and prepared animal parts for service as storage units.
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Post by lenapej on Jul 10, 2021 6:57:27 GMT -7
I have rendered deer fat, and after cooling it dries hard, so if rendered in a tin or kettle it could be taken out in chunks or cubes and stored or carried in bags or whatever one had.
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Post by spence on Jul 10, 2021 7:10:13 GMT -7
Smith had been on an exploratory trip for several month. He would have had cooking gear and containers for supplies as part of his kit. When he decided to leave his horses with his companions and walk home, he would have taken what he could of essential gear with him, I would think. So he might have had kettles, bags, etc., especially with Jamie the slave to carry it.
Spence
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Post by hawkeyes on Jul 10, 2021 7:43:25 GMT -7
I have rendered deer fat, and after cooling it dries hard, so if rendered in a tin or kettle it could be taken out in chunks or cubes and stored or carried in bags or whatever one had. My thoughts as well... I like rendered deer tallow for this reason as well. Doesn't taste the best but it'll work! |
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Post by brokennock on Jul 12, 2021 6:49:27 GMT -7
What is the consensus on questions regarding this book?
Should I post other questions within this topic/thread or start a new one for each question?
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Post by hawkeyes on Jul 12, 2021 7:24:14 GMT -7
What is the consensus on questions regarding this book? Should I post other questions within this topic/thread or start a new one for each question? Keep going I'd say. No ill will as the thread has been created, hit it with another question. |
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Post by Black Hand on Jul 12, 2021 18:09:02 GMT -7
My vote is for the gut or bladder. Deer tallow is waxy - not sure about bison tallow but I suspect it is softer.
Keep going with the questions...
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Post by brokennock on Jul 14, 2021 16:13:31 GMT -7
I'll have to come back with other questions. I'm having a tough time convincing self to stop reading to copy and paste quotes and post questions. Especially as I'm usually reading as I go to bed.
I know Spence has read this and has always spoken highly of it. Anyone else read it?
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Post by Black Hand on Jul 14, 2021 16:26:25 GMT -7
I've read it, but it was some time ago. I recall having enjoyed it and having a generally positive reaction to the content.
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Post by spence on Jul 14, 2021 17:05:28 GMT -7
Both this and the sequel Flowering on the Cumberland are very peasant reads. I enjoyed both enough to buy them. That said, keep in mind that professional historians have reservations about the book based on the quality of the evidence behind many of her descriptions and assertions. Here are a couple of reviews to show what I'm talking about. personal.tcu.edu/swoodworth/Arnow.htmSpence |
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Post by brokennock on Jul 14, 2021 17:19:22 GMT -7
Both this and the sequel Flowering on the Cumberland are very peasant reads. I enjoyed both enough to buy them. That said, keep in mind that professional historians have reservations about the book based on the quality of the evidence behind many of her descriptions and assertions. Here are a couple of reviews to show what I'm talking about. personal.tcu.edu/swoodworth/Arnow.htmSpence I can see that, I've scratched my head a few times feeling like there are assertions being made that don't have evidence to support them, or that were once thought to be the case but further research had since disproven. To be perfectly honest,,, I was not loving it at first. Not sure how far along it was before I found myself getting more interested and enjoying it. |
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