CHAP. XX.] DIRT-EATERS. 7 



In the course of all my travels, I had never seen 

 one opossum in the woods, nor a single racoon, their 

 habits being nocturnal, yet we saw an abundant 

 supply of both of them for sale in the market here. 

 The negroes relish them much, though their flesh is 

 said to be too coarse and greasy for the palate of a 

 white man. The number of pine-apples and bananas 

 in the market, reminded us of the proximity of the 

 West Indies. We observed several negroes there, 

 whose health had been impaired by dirt-eating, or 

 the practice of devouring aluminous earth, a diseased 

 appetite, which, as I afterwards found, prevails in 

 several parts of Alabama, where they eat clay. I 

 heard various speculations on the origin of this 

 singular propensity, called &quot; geophagy &quot; in some me 

 dical books. One author ascribes it to the feeding 

 of slaves too exclusively on Indian corn, which is 

 too nourishing, and has not a sufficiency in it of inor 

 ganic matter, so that when they give it to cattle, they 

 find it best to grind up the cob and part of the stalk 

 with the grain. But this notion seems untenable, for 

 a white person was pointed out to me, who was quite 

 as sickly, and had a green complexion, derived from 

 this same habit ; and I was told of a young lady in 

 good circumstances, who had never been stinted of 

 her food, yet who could not be broken of eating clay. 



Jan. 13. From Savannah we went by railway 

 to Macon in Georgia, a distance of 191 miles, my 

 wife 2oino; direct in a train which carried her in 



o CD 



about twelve hours to her destination, accompanied 

 by one of the directors of the railway company, who 

 politely offered to escort her. The same gentleman 



B 4 



