"There are references to pemmican in many of the books about Native American culture and life. Pemmican was a food made by pounding jerked meat into a fine consistency, and combining it with the pulp of pounded chokecherries and suet (hard fat), which was then formed into small cakes that could be stored in rawhide cases, and taken easily on hunts, war parties, and horse raids.  In one reference I read that 'they did their best to preserve their pemmican and dried meat for the direst emergencies'. This is what I have tried to portray in the painting - cold, weary hunters who have been unsuccessful in finding fresh food, and have gotten down to the last of the food they brought with them - the last of the pemmican."