Morris tribune. [volume] (Morris, Minn.) 1880-2000, 1899-09-16
THE EATERS OF CLAY
THERE ARE MILLIONS OF PEOPLE
WHO FEED ON DIRT.


No collection of national dishes in
cludes earth or clay among them. but
this is favorite plat" with a good
many millions Of people up and down.
Even in Europe they are not difficult
to find, or were not 80 years ago.
Tastes have changed good deal since
then, no doubt. But human beings do
not readily give up favorite dish, es-
pecially when it is cheap. If superior
persons denounce it, they enjoy the
treat on the sly.
Probably the quarrymen Of Kiffhan-
sen no longer breakfast in public upon
slices of bread 'buttered" with fine
clay, as Humboldt saw them, but we
should be rather surprised to learn
that thrifty souls among them do not
follow the custom of their ancestors
in private Humboldt was reminded
of that early experience upon the
banks Of the Amur, where he saw
Russian soldiers eating what they
called crock butter" similar clay.
Mr.. Laing had the good fortune to OBJ
serve the first appreciation of the deli
cacy, or almost, in one district of Swe-
den. Five years only before he made
the ''tour" so famous in our grandsires'
time there was dearth in the country
The people had already begun to eat
bark bread" when very poor wood
man noticed some white stuff among
the roots of tree he felled. 1t looked
so clean and nice that he carried home
a basketful, mixed it with rye and
bark and baked it. The loaf proved to
be excellent, and no disagreeable con-
sequences followed. So the woodman
told his neighbors, and rush set in.
When the magistrates heard of this
abnormal provender, they forbade the
use of it, Of course; that would be the
natural impulse of the superior per-
son. But the peasantry were not TO
be persuaded or coerced into rejecting
food which they knew by experience
to be wholesome and nourishing.
When Mr.. Laing visited the district
it is called Degenfors-they were u.s.
ing the stuff both for soup and bread.
Samples dispatched to Stockholm for
analysis gave Finely pulverized flint
and feldspar, lime, clay, oxide of iron
and a residuum of some organic matter
similar to animal which yielded am
monia and an OIL"
1t is organic matter which contains
the nourishment everywhere, no doubt,
if nourishment there be. But that is
not always the case, and earth eating
seems to deserve more attention than
has yet been paid to it, so far as our
reading goes. Commonly it is dismiss
ed as a degrading practice of savages.
But German quarrymen, Swedes, even
Russian soldiers, are not to be classed
with savages. Nor are the potters of
Scinde. Their work is fashionable at
present and they make money-that is,
by the Indian standard. But among
their weekly expenses an allowance
must be made for the quantity of
"chaniah" which their wives and chill
dren consume; "chaniah" is a white
unctuous earth used for glazing pot
terry.
But, as rule, of course. it is saw
ages who affect this diet, alike useful
and agreeable to their taste. Few I'M
derstand, perhaps, how common it is
Instances might be found in every con-
tinent and every zone by any one who
looked into the matter thoroughly. We
oh
The Amos are enthusiastic earth eat
ers. In the north of their island is
valley where alone the material can
be dug, but it is carried to all parts.
They boil it with the root of the wild
lily. When certain proportion of the
ed off and eaten like cream. Sir
Spencer st. John reports that the Sea
Dyaks always took a supply Of red
ochre on their piratical expeditions as
a reserve in case stores should run
short, land we once found in some de-
serted Seribas praus many packets of
a white, oleaginous clay used for the
same purpose"
In Java little cakes of earth are sold
in the market; women buy and eat
them to preserve slender shape. The
treatment succeeds, for they lose all
appetite. Humboldt asserts that the
Indians of Quito put earth and quartz
sand into their drinking water; but
this is not unusual, so far as the earth
goes. at least. We have heard a Boer
family complain that they could no
where get good water when absent
from their home on the banks of the
Orange. The water of the Orange is a
'puree" Of mud; hence it's name.
The peoples of New Caledonia eat
pieces of friable stone, ''Lapis OIL |
laris." Messrs. Cloquet and Brischet, |
in those islands, could get |
no food for several days. They came
upon some green laminate tale and ate |
i've ounces each; their strength return |
ed, and they never felt any inconveni- |
ence. The Ottomac Indians of South |
America live exclusively on fish when |
they can get it. But during the sea-
son of floods there is no fishing, and |
they manage very comfortably with |
earth. Moreover, they find the diet so |
agreeable that during the rest of the |
year they eat a ball of clay for dessert. |