he forerunner of the
spoon was the "allutok," a name derived from two words, "allukto," to
lick, and "tock," occurring only in the construction of compound words
and having a reference to bringing. The first "allutok" was simply a
small stick like the Chinese chop-stick. It continued in use for a
great many centuries, or to within the past ten or twelve years. Since
then it has been entirely replaced by the modern spoon, which has
retained the same name.

Calling boiled seal meat the first, we will look upon "pooy[=a]" as the
second triumph of the culinary art. I give the recipe for number two.
At the same time, it is doubtful if any of the modern ladies of the
kitchen will care to experiment with its manufacture. The only things
of interest about "pooy[=a]" are its age, the ingredients and style of
its construction, and its one great product (according to the
Inupash)--the first man.

During those very early days, the woman appears not to have washed her
dishes, although she may have spent a great deal of time in the water.
The recipe says: Scrape the old dried dinner from the "allutok" used at
a previous feast of seal meat. To the scrapings add a small pinch of
the tender pin feathers of a bird. The two ingredients are to be mixed,
then masticated until metamorphosed into chewing-gum.

There were no clocks or watches in those early days, so the Polar man's
first mother had lots of time. After a few centuries had passed, some
genius invented a new form of chewing-gum called "[=a]noon." It appears
to have been the third triumph in the culinary line. Seal oil is
boiled; the upper portion being poured off, the thick sediment
remaining is again boiled until it becomes black and nearly burnt, when
it is ready for chewing. The use of this is said to shorten time
considerably, but the mass does not look inviting.

"Keveh," made by warming deer tallow, then beating it into a light mass
with salmon berries, was the fourth innovation, and "ahkootoo," the
fifth. "Ahkootoo" is made from deer marrow, mixed with whale oil, a
small amount of soup from boiled deer meat and also some of the meat
cut fine. The mass is to be beaten until it becomes quite light. It is
an article of food very highly esteemed by the Inupash.

These remained the only dishes known to the cook for a vast length of
time, but I take it that much meat and fish were devoured raw. On the
first introduction of flour, the people did not care for it, but about
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