Dodge City times. [volume] (Dodge City, Kan.) 1876-1892, 1880-07-03
curiosities Of Omnivorous Mankind.

said umberleSs-curlOSltles In CONNECT
ton with eating and drinking. even al
though our observations are restricted
to the human family. If our natural
teeth are examined at maturity, they
are found to point our their possessor
as omnivorous, and if they did other
wise we should, in the face of the fol-
lowing facts, regard them as false indi-
Gators, or, in other words, false teeth.
Beef and bread are the typical foods IN
the British Isles. but nowhere else; al
most every country has its own typical
foods, together with miscellaneous arti-
cles OF food of all descriptions. Dogs
flesh, cats, monkeys, birds'nests, are
all savory morsels to the Chinese. The
hedgehog is regarded as a % dainty dish
to set before a king" in Barbary, and is
largely consumed in Spain and Ger
MANY. KangarOos are relished by the
aborigines of Australia. The OpOssum
is eaten in America, Australia and the
Indian Islands. The walrus is eaten
by the Esquimaux; whilst whales flesh
is eaten bv almost all who inhabit re-
gions far north or south, where whales
are found. Mice and rats are consid-
lllOi5tis aus Va <h.is.-
Africa. Australia and New Zealand.
Horsefesh is gradually finding favor,
and has for long formed quite the sta
pie flesh food OF the Indian horsemen of
the Pampas, who eat neither bread,
fruit nor vegetables. The elephant is
eaten in Abyssinia and in Sumatra.
Three elephants were eaten by the
Parisians during the siege, and were
considered delicious, the liver more es-
pecially SO. DIR. Livingstone says he
breakfasted off cooked elephants foot,
and found it whitish mass. slightly
gelatinous and sweet, like marrow,
and quite delicious. The birds
nests we have spoken of as being
consumed By the Chinese are procura-
bic even in some London shops. They
are the nests of swallows found in cav
erns on the seashore of the Eastern Ar
chipelago, and are of gelatinous ma
ture, from a peculiar mucus which the
bird secretes and discharges from its
mouth whilst building the nest. Liz
ards are partaken of by the Chi
nese so are snakes. Spiders are rel
ished BY Bushmen, so are grasshoppers.
LOcusts are eaten, both in the fresh
stale and sailed, by Persians. Egyptians.
Arabians, Bushmen and the North
American Indians. White ants. bees,
moths, caterpillars. and grubs. all find
admirers, especially among the lower
savages. We have not rot to the low
est depths yet. Earth eating is prac-
ticed by the Japanese. who make it in
to thin cakes called tanaampo. 1t is
eaten especially by the women. who
take it to produce slenderness of figure.
Ii is generally an unctuous clay, con.
sisting of the remains of animal and
and plant life deposited from fresh
water. In Northern Europe bread
meal, consisting of the empty shells OF
minute infusorial animalcuies, is eaten
The Wanyamwezi, tribe living in Cen
trail Africa, eat clay between meals
preferring the clay of ant-hills. Some
earth-eaters take earth having no nu
TRENT properties. The Agmara Indians
for example. eat gritty whitlsb clay
\ destitute of all nutrient properties
/ Tropical America is the scene of en-
demic disorders from this depraveC
! officiating habit. Officers who have
Indian children in their employ use wirt
masks to keep them from putting ella.
into their mouths. A" negro addict
ed to this propensity is considered to b'
irrevocably lost for any useful purpose
and seldom lives long"
The quantity of food taken is also ;
matter of curiosity when we have wei
authenticated instances ofthe extreme
of going long time without food at all