|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Book, page 11 / 30 "oatmeal," and Winthrop notes among the provisions bought by Captain William Pierce, "4 hhds. of oatmeal." Rye meal was usually meant by the term "meal," and Window in his letter to George Morton advises him: "Let your meal be so hard-trod in your casks that you shall need an adz or hatchet to work it out with;" and also to "be careful to come by [be able to get at] some of your meal to spend [use] by the way." Notwithstanding that Bradford' speaks of their "selling away" some "60 firkins of butter," to clear port charges at Southampton, and the leaders, in their letter to the Adventurers from that port (August 3), speak of themselves, when leaving Southampton in August, 1620, as "scarce having any butter," there seems to have been some left to give as a present to Quadrequina, Massasoit's brother, the last of March following, which would indicate its good "keeping" qualities. Wood, in his "New England's Prospect" (ch. 2), says: "Their butter and cheese were corrupted." Bradford mentions that their lunch on the exploration expedition of November 15, on Cape Cod, included "Hollands cheese," which receives also other mention. There is a single mention, in the literature of the day, of eggs preserved in salt, for use on shipboard. "Haberdyne" (or dried salt cod) seems to have been a favorite and staple article of diet aboard ship. Captain Beecher minutes "600 haberdyne for the ship ARBELLA." Wood says: "Their fish was rotten." Smoked "red-herring" were familiar food to all the MAY-FLOWER company. No house or ship of England or Holland in that day but made great dependence upon them. Bacon was, of course, a main staple at sea. In its half-cooked state as it came from the smoke-house it was much relished with their biscuit by seamen and others wishing strong food, and when fried it became a desirable article of food to all except the sick. Mention is made of it by several of the early Pilgrim writers. Carlyle, as quoted, speaks of it as a diet-staple on the MAY-FLOWER. Salt ("corned") beef has always been a main article of food with seamen everywhere. Wood' states that the "beef" of the Pilgrims was "tainted." In some way it was made the basis of a reputedly palatable preparation called "spiced beef," mentioned as prepared by one of the sailors for a shipmate dying on the MAY-FLOWER in Plymouth harbor. It must have been a very different article from that we now find so acceptable under that name in England. Winthrop' gives the price of his beef at "19 shillings per cwt." Winslow advises his friend Morton, in the letter so often quoted, not to have his beef "dry-salted," saying, "none can do it better than the sailors," which is a suggestion not readily understood. "Smoked" beef was practically the same as that known as "jerked," "smoked," or "dried" beef in America. A "dried neat's-
|
Knowledgerush Search
|
|
Contact Us
| Privacy Statement & Terms of Use
|