The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1912-06-27
USE OF EARTH AS FOOD.
Practice Among Indian Tribes-Relic
of Superstitious Observance.

One of the most odious character
| istics of Southern 'crackers," as they
| we're described to US few years ago,
is the habit of chewing earth or clay.
When DR.. Stiles, of the public health
service, discovered that the low men,
tai and physical condition of these
people was due almost entirely to the
ravages of the "hookworm" we learn
ed at the same time that the earth
eating was but manifestation of
perverted appetite.
The practice of eating earth, says
the Scientific American, is not con-
fined to any race or region of the
earth. In America several tribes of
Indians, of the Northern as we'll as of
the Southern continent, are given to
using earth as food Different varie-
ties of clay seem to be preferred.
The Pawnee Indians used a yellow
ish clay which they shaped into little
balls that were allowed to dry in the
air and were then slowly roasted at
the open fire. When the clay attained
| red color the balls were removed,
moistened with water and eaten.
These clay balls were especially
liked when served in connection with
fish and seem to have prompted dl-
gestion.
The Timmeh indians of the Mack
enzie river used to resort to earth as
food in time of famine. They dug
out the clay found in the holloWs
along the banks of the river. In pros
porous years they chewed the clay
as a delicacy. The Apaches mixed
powdered clay into their meal before
baking this into their rude loaves of
bread.
In South America the Indians IN
the uplands of Bolivia ate a clay that
is nearly white in color; this they
used either raw or in the form or
cakes of various shapes, which are
sold in the market places. They al
so prepare a sauce with the clay; this
they eat with boiled potatoes.
Among the negroes of the Guinea
coast as well as among those in West
Africa the eating of clay is very COM
mon. The natives of the Sudan dig
their favorite clay from between lay
ers of sandstone in the banks of the
river: The natives of Java prepare
little cakes of clay containing ochre;
these are sold in the public markets.
The hairy Ainus," the obarigines
of Northern Japan, mix clay with
their rice and with the leaves of va
rious plants which they use as food.
In Persia varieties of clay are consid-
cred luxuries among certain classes,
while in the foothills of the Hima-
layas the natives are constantly
chewing a piece of greenish clay,
which they believe has the property
of protecting them against the goiter.
In Finland as we'll as in certain
parts of Sweden powdered clay is
mixed with the flour used for baking
bread. This practice is similar to that
of the Apaches, and may really rep
resent relic of some early cere-,
monial or superstitious observance.
In the Ural Mountains the natives
mix gypsum (''plaster of paris')
with their dough. In Styria, in Sar-
DINA and in Treviso (the Travisium
of the ancients, near Venice,) cakes
of clay are sold in the markets with
other food stuffs.
In parts of South America the
whites initiate the natives in using
clay as an article of diet; but there
they cultivate the excuse that eating
earth leads to the production of a
fine complexion.