The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1895-06-14
ABOUT CLAY EATERS.
The Disgusting Habit Is Common
in All Countries.
Tribes OF Indians Who Mix Mud with
Their Bread-Some Singular Rea-
sons for the AbomIpabIe
Practice.

AioiP ihe extraordinary passions
Tor eating uncommon things must be
reckoned that which some people eNhib-
1t for eating earth or clay. OF this prac-
tce, which would appear to have once
prevailed all over the world. SAYS the
Philadelphia Times. numerous exam
pies were cited by Capt. J. e. Bourll,..
nited States army. in the ninth an
nual report of the bureau Of ethnologv.
In some places the custom has dcgcn-
Grated into ceremonial. while in
others the eating of this strange food
still prevails as a kind of necessity to
the lives of those who are addicted to it.
The Mexican devotecS picked up a
piece of clay in the temple of Tezcatli-
poca and ate it with the greatest r,vcr-
ence, and also ate a piece of earth in
swearing by the sun and earth. But
the use of clay by the MexicanS was
not merely matter of ceremony. for
the substance seems to have been AN
esculent in common use. Edible earth
was sold openly in the markets of Mex
leo and appears in the list of foods
given by Gomara.
Cabeza de Naca says that the Indians
of Florida ate clay, and that the natives
offered him many mesquite beans
which they ate mixed with earth. Nene-
gas asserted that the Indians of Cali
fornia ate earth. The traditions of the
Indians of San Juan Capistrano and
vicinity show that they had fed upon
kind of clay which they often used
upon their heads by way of ornament.
The Tatu Indians of California. accord
ing TO Powers, mix red earth into their
acorn bread to make the latter sweet
and cause IL To go further. Sir John
Franklin writes that the banks of the
Mackenzie river contain layers Of Il
kind of unctuouS mud which the Tin
neh Indians used as food during the
seasons of famine. and even at other
times chew as an amusement. 1t has Il
milky taste and the flavor is not diSa-
greeable. The Apache and Navajo
branches of the Atha hascan family of
North American In, ans are not un-
acquainted with the use of clay as
cOmestible, although among the former
II is now rarely used, and among the
latter is employed only as a condiment
to relieve the bitterness of the taste of
the wild potato. In the same manner
it il known to both the Zuni and the
Tusayan.
In South America, likewise, the eat
ing of clay prevails among the Indians
on the banks of the Orinoco, through
out Brazil and on the mountains of
Bolivia and Peru.
In western Africa the negroes of
Guinea have long been known to eat Il
yellowish earth called 10y them
''caouac." and the flavor and taste uf
which is very agreeable to them and
said To cause them no Inconvenience.
Some addict themselves SO excessively
to the use of it that il becomes To them
a real necessity, and no punishment II
sufficient to restrain them from the
practice of consuming it.
When the Guinea negroes were in
former times carried as slaves to the
West India islands they were observed
to continue the custom of eating clay.
But the ''caouac" of the American
islands, or the substance which the
poor negroes attempted to substitute in
their new homes for the African earth
was found To injure the health of the
slaves who ate it. and the practice
was long ago forbidden and has posi-
bly, now died out in the West India colo
nies. In Martinique, a species of red
earth or yellowish tufa was formerly
secretly sold in the markets, but the
use of it has probably ceased in the
French colonies also
In eastern Asia a similar practice
prevails in various places In the
island of Java. between Soura baya and
Samarang. Labillardiere saw small
square reddish cakes of earth sold in
the villages for the purpose of being
eaten. These were found by Ehren-
berg to consist for the most part of the
remains of microscopic animals and
-, I.I 4
posted in fresh water. Some of the
japanese. too. are addicted To- the
practice of eating earth. DIR. Love.
some time ago, published an analysis
of a clay which is eaten to consider
able extent by the Amos; it occurs IN a
bed several feet thick in the valley of
Tsie-tonal (eat-earth valley on the
north coast of Yesso. 1t is light gray
in color and of fine structure. The peo-
pie mix with the clay fragments of the
leaf of some plant for the aromatic
principle it contains
They eat the earth because they think
it contains some beneficial substance,
not because il Is a necessity with them.
They have meat and abundance of
vegetable food. The clay is eaten in
the form of a soup. Several pounds
are boiled with lily roots in a small
quantity of water, and afterward
strained. The Amos pronounce the
soup very palatable.
In Runjut valley, in the Sikl>im Him
alaaas, a red clay occurs which the ma
tives chew, especially as a cure for the
goitre.
In Smiths "Aborigines of Victoria, ="
it is stated that kind of earth
pounded and mixed with the root of
the meme" Ia species of Haemadoruml,
is eaten by natives of west Australia.