3.50 AKIMAL FOOD RESOURCES OF DIFFERENT NATIONS. 



natural taste could lead us to carry to the mouth a larva 

 that changes its shape from day to day — now looks dry 

 and dark, and to-morrow bursts and pours forth a yellow, 

 dismal fluid ? Like a true Proteus it defies all know- 

 ledge of its next shape, and, in all stages, inspires dis- 

 gust rather than desire. Still, insects are eaten, but 

 their lowest kinds only by the lowest races of mankind. 

 Tschudi saw the natives of Peru hunt assiduously in the 

 forests of hair on the heads of their children and eagerly 

 devour the minute game — a taste which they share with 

 the Hottentots and other African tribes. New Caledo- 

 nians prefer spiders to all common food ; and the amiable 

 inhabitants of New South Wales catch even moths 

 [Euplaca hamata), remove the gray powder on their 

 tiny bodies, and roast them in masses. Bees — which 

 civilised nations deprive of the fruit of their labour — 

 are eaten in Ceylon as spice, and on account of the 

 fragrant odour they give to the breath. The pleasant 

 acid taste of ants tempts. many races of Brazil and the 

 'East Indies; and even in other more fastidious countries 

 the old and the feeble consume them under an impres- 

 sion that they strengthen the spinal marrow ! The acid 

 they contain bears a striking resemblance to that of the 

 lemon ; and many a European has learned, in Java and 

 Eastern countries, to thrust his arm into a hill of white 

 ants and to eat the quaint food without cooking and 

 dressing. The huge termites, however, those skilful 

 iartists of Africa, require, even at the hands of the 

 natives, a more careful treatment. They are caught, 

 as they fall into the water, in calabashes, and roasted 

 like coffee-beans in huge iron-pots ; then they are flung, 

 by the handful, into their mouths. The Hottentots also 

 are fond of them, and admire their fattening power. 

 In the East Indies they are caught by thousands and 

 baked in pies, which are brought to the public markets 

 — a custom which prevails in South America also, where 

 they are sold after having been roasted. 



Mr. Max Buchner's " Contributions to the Ethnography 

 of the Bantus " contains the following interesting notes, 



