Page:Tourist's Maritime Provinces.djvu/56

This page has been validated.
34
THE TOURIST'S MARITIME PROVINCES

funerals. "Bread" in the Newfoundland outports is hard biscuit. Soft bread is "a loaf."

From Newfoundland there came to the land south of it the familiar beverage known as spruce beer. In this brew the Irish fishing admirals used to toast "the Pope and two pounds" (for a quintal of codfish). Owners of fishing schooners supplied it in unlimited quantities to their crews. According to a recipe published in 1827, the beer is made by the following process: A bough of black spruce fresh from the tree is chopped and put in an iron pot with six to eight gallons of water and boiled over a fire until the leaves fall off. Half a gallon of molasses is thereupon added. When the liquor is cool it must be poured into a cask where a pint of grounds from an old brewing has been left and stood way to "work."

If so lucid a direction is carefully followed the result will be found almost as agreeable as Russian kwass—a comparison flattering to any beverage.

The Saturday night pot of beans is a favourite in Nova Scotia homes, many of which were fore-fathered by New Englanders. In the early fall, ménus are varied in both Nova Scotia and New Brunswick by the broiled or baked flesh of the moose which when tender is juicier and of better flavour than beef. If killed too late in the season the meat is tough and "garney." Indians like the moose liver. An author writing in 1818 recommends to epicures the upper lip of the cow moose,