Crawford avalanche. (Grayling, Mich.) 1879-19??, 1896-10-22
FANclEs OF THE STOMACH.
They Differ as Do Nations, and Some arc
Very Queer Indeed.

| The human stomach Is indeed 4 sim
gular organ. AS the gastronomic tastes
| of individuals differ, so do those of ma
| tons or of localities. The corn pone"
has never found favor in New Eng
land, and, on the other hand. the baked
beans of Boston have few devotees in
| New Orleans.
The French epicure cares little for
the venison steaks and currant jelly
that the gourmets the other side OF
the Rhine smack their lips over, and
the ''tarts" of apple rhubarb which the
Englishman loves have no cult outside
the United Kingdom.
Germans, though their southern
boundary is but few hours distant
| from the land of macaroni, abhor that
delicacy, without which the true-born
Neapolitan would starye, and the Ital-
ian would certainly grow faint and
sick at some Of the combinations Of
meats that make the Teuton ruddy
checked and strong.
But these tastes i'm food ere alto
gether normal, and induced partly by
the climate. There seems TO be little
excuse for earth eating, however, which
is custom of scores of the savage
and even civilized people all over the
world. One of the most remarkable
recent examples OF this abnormal APP
petite is furnished by a seeming cpl
demic which broke out among the chill
dren of the city of Cavins, n town In
the province of Queensland. Australia.
Scores, and hundreds, even, Of the
children of that place seemed all at
once To become afflicted with strange
disease, battling to the physicians,
which caused great emaciation of the
body and n swelling of the abdomen.
1t was not until some Of them died and
autopsies We're performed that the
truth became known, and then 1t was
discovered that all Of them had been
eating largely of a ledge of red clay.
that had been washed bare by recent
rains. This clay was fine grained and
very sweet, which proved so attrac-
tive to the children that they filled
their stomachs with it, with the most
disastrous results.
Perhaps if they had cooked 1t the
way some of the South American ma
tives do they would have experienced
less digestive difficulty. The natives
who live around the head waters of the
Orinoco and Negro rivers are pas
sionately fond Of a sort of red clay,
which owes its color TO oxide of iron.
But before putting it into their mouths
they subject it TO culinary processes.
They carefully knead this clay into
cakes and then fry ii in oil. 1t cam
not be recommended as n healthy dish,
however, for brief indulgence in this
sort OF food causes emaciation and i'll
ness. In New Caledonia also the ma
tives consume to their detriment large
quantities of an oily earth. Recent
works on the subject, indeed, would
warrant the belief that this strange
mania for earth as q food was to be
met with in nearly every savage land
beneath the sun.
Earth eating is in fact a practice OF
great antiquity, for it is recorded by
tradition and history that the people
who ruled Mexico before the coming
OF the Spaniard were accustomed,
when making vow, TO eat bit of
earth and to swear by the sun and the
moon. Edible clay also seems to have
been common article of commerce
with these early Mcxicans, for il was
sold openly in the markets in the cities
of that country.
MCDASIELS-S NINE 900 o o
Cabeza de Naca tells how the Indians
used to eat ear'h, and that the natives
offered him fOt food, rs II most de-
lcctable dish, beans mixed with clay
and bal ed in small cakes. The Indians
of San Juan Cagistrano. IL is said. used
to make themselves large head dresses
of edible clay. and when they grew
hungry conteIited themselves with
breaking Off ard munchlng a piece Of
this adornment According to another
writer, the Tatp Indians of California
were accustomed to mix red earth with
their bread and grain in order TO make
ii more. sacred and so that it might
last the longer
Sir John Fnnklin. the great Arctic
explorer, rcporteJ that the banks OF
the Mackenzie river contained sort
of oily clay which served the TInach
Indians Es food during periods of fam
inc. IL tasted like new milk and It's
odor was not agreeable.