MEAT FROM THE ARCTIC

Evening Post, Volume CXIII, Issue 30, 5 February 1927, Page 20

MEAT FROM THE ARCTIC

]^EW FOOD SUPPLY

"The day can be foreseen," an American scientist recently declared, "when beefsteaks will be found only on the rich man's table." He is alluding, explains Mr. D. M,. le Bourdais' in*- the "Empire Review," to the steady shrinkage, of the world Js pasturing areas, and the^inereaso in the value of arable land. But vegetarianism is not the only alternative. "Across Canada, Alaska, and Northern Siberia lies an immense area known as the barren lands. Estimates are little more than guesses, but it is believed that the area suitable for grazing purposes in this vast region is not less than 2,000,000 square miles," says Mr. le Bourdais. "These immense' tundras are the greatest pasturage lands in the world. Days in summer are long hot. Growth is rapid and luxuriant. Practically all the grasses, sedges, and herbs' with which we are familiar in the so-called temperate zones abound in great profusion, even beyond the Arctic Circle, and on the islands in the Arctic Ocean."

The winters, however, are too long for sheep and cattle. They would have to be fed too long for the industry to be profitable. But the native animal the reindeer, was domesticated before the dawn of history,- and supplied the people of large sections of the Old World with food, clothing, material for weapons, and implements, and served, as well, as a beast of burden. The caribou of Canada and Alaska are wild reindeer, but their numbers have been seriously depleted by white hunters. In order to relieve the plight of starving Eskimos, reindeer were imported from Siberia into Alaska, owing to the efforts of Dr. Sheldon Jackson, chief of the Educational iiureau in Alaska. In all 1280 reindeer were imported, with Lapps in attendance, between 1891 and 1902. There are now about 500,000 reindeer in Alaska, 70 per cent, belonging to Eskimos, and 150,000 have been slaughtered for food and trade purposes. The lot of the Eskimos in Alaska has been made secure. Scientific observations have been made at special stations throughout the period. It_ is proposed to increase the size of reindeer, the carcasses of which average about 1501b weight, by crossing them with caribou, the weight of which runs to 3001b. The animals are easy to handle, forage is abundant, and Mr. le Bourdais estimates that the tundras of Alaska and Northern Canada will support 24,000,000 head when fully stocked. Ho believes that the day is in sight when this reindeer meat will ma'ko an immense accession to the food supplies of the world.