Arizona silver belt., 1895-06-29
ABOUT CLAY EATERS.
The Disgusting Habit Is Common
 in All Countriea
Tribes of Indians Who Mix Mud with Their Broad--Some Singular Rea- sons for the AboiniBabIo
 Practice.


 Among the extraordinary passions for eating uncommon things must be reclxoned that which some people exhib- it for eating earth or clay. Of this prac- tice, whicl would appear to have once prevailed all over the world, says the Philadelphia Times, numerous exam pies were cited by Capt. ]. c. Bourlse, United States army, in the ninth an nualreportcf the bureau of ethnology. In some pla:es the custom has degen- erated into ceremonial, while in others the citing of this strange food still prevails as kind of necessity to the lives of those who are addicted to 1t.
 The Mexican devotecs picked up piece of clay in the temple of Tezcatli- poca and ate it with the greatest rever- cnce, and also ate a piece of earth in swearing ly 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 Vaca says that the Indians of Florida ate clay, and that the natives offered him many mesquite beans, which they ate mixed with earth. Vene- 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 witch they often used upon their heads by way of ornament. The Iatu Indians of California, accord ing to Powers, mix red earth into theji. acorn bread to make the latter sweet G.nd cause it to 60 further. Sir John Franklin writes that the banks of the Mackenzie river contain layers of a kind of unctuou3 mud which the Tin neh Indians used a.s food during the seasons of falniEe, and even at other times chew as an amusement. It has a milky taste and the flavor is not disa- grcc9bie The Apache and Navajo branches of the Athabascan family of North American In3inns are not un- acquainted with the use of clay as g comestible, although among the former 1t is now rarely used. and among the latter is employed only as a condimenl to relieve the bitterness of the taste of the wild potato. In the same manner it i5 known Co both the Zuni and the Tusayan.
 Ip south America, likewise, the eat. ing of clay prevails among the Indians on the banks of thc Orinoco, through out Brazil and on the mountains oi B0liyin and Peru.
 Tn western Africa the negroes oi Guinea have long been known to eat . yollowish earth called by them "caauac, and the flavor and taste oi which is very agreeable to them and said to causc them no inconvenience Some addict themselves 80 excessively Co the usc of it that it becomes 10 then a rcal necessity and DO punishment i. sufficient to restrain them from the practice of consuming it.
 When the Guinea negroes were ir former times carried as slaves to the West India islands they were observed to continue the custom of eating clay But the caonac" of the American islands, or the substance which thu pe1r negroes attempted to substitute 1T their new homes for the African earth wa found go injurc the health of th' slaves who ate t, end so the practice was long ago forbidden and has possi bly now died putin the West India colo nies In Martinique, 8 species of rel earth or ycllowiah tufa was formerly secretly sold in the markets, but tht use of it has probably ceased in tn, French colonies also
 In eastern Asia 6 similar practic, prevails in various places. In tn, island of Java, between Sourabaya ant Samarang, Labillardicre saw smal 51uarc reddish cakes of earth sold 1T the villages for the purpose of being eaten. These were found by Ehren berg to consist for the most part of tn, remains of microscopic animals and plants which had lived and been de posted in fresh water. Some of tn, Japanese, too, are addicted to tho practice of eating earth. Dr. Love some time ago, published an analysii of clay which is eaten to consider able extent by the Ainos; it occurs in bed several feet thick in the valley O Tsie-tonal teat-carth vallcy) on tn, north coast of Yesso It is light gray in color and of fine structure. The peo pie mix with the clay fragments of thu lcnf of some plant for the aromati, principle it contains
 They eat the earth because they thinl t contains some beneficial substance not because it is a necessity with them They have meat and abundance O. vegetable food The clay is eaten il the form of soup Several pound arc boiled with lily roots in a smal quantity of water, and afterwarC strained. The Ainos pronounce tn, soup very palatablc.
 In Bunjut valley, in the Silslsim Him alaaas, a red clay occurs which the ma lives chew, especially as a cure for tn, goitrc.
 In Smiths "Aborigines of Victoria, it is stated that kind of earth pounded and mixed with the root O. the 'mcnc" ta species of Hacmadorum) is eaten by natives of west Australia.
 Painted on Grain of Corn.