250 MESSRS. D. HOOPEE AND H. H. MANN ON 



unfrequently adopted in Brazil. In the island of Martinique in the Antilles a species of 

 red earth or yellowish tufa of volcanic origin was formerly sold in the markets for human 

 consumption, but it is believed that the use of this clay has now died out. The " Indians" 

 of South America use a particular clay called phassa or pasa for mixing with their food. 

 Venegas assert that the Natives of California mix red earth into their acorn bread " to 

 make the bread sweet and make it go further." The Miscas of Florida had in their lan- 

 guage the word jipatcra — a disease from eating earth, and Caberza de Vaca informs us that 

 it was customary for the " Indians " to eat earth mixed with beans as their ordinary food. 



The custom of eating clay has been common among the negroes of Guinea in 

 West Africa from time immemorial. At the time they were transported to the West 

 Indies to work as slaves on the plantations, they attempted to carry their custom to their 

 new home; but the West Indian clay had a deleterious effect on their health, and strong 

 measures were taken to suppress the practice. Dr. Ruthertord tells us that earth-eating 

 prevails pretty well all along the West Coast of Africa. On the east coast of Africa, at 

 Zanzibar, the habit is said to be common, and a disease called ' Safura ' seems to be 

 brought on by indulging in it. 



According to Sir Richard Burton l the earth-eating habit prevailed in Arabia during 

 the time of his visit about half a century ago. A peculiar earth was pointed out to him, 

 a yellow loam or bole called by the Arabs Tafl, by the Persians Gil-i-Sarshin, and by the 

 Sindians Metu. It was used as a soap in some parts of the East, and was supposed to 

 have some miraculous properties owing to the prophet having employed it with success 

 as a medicinal agent. Burton found that its only use was its being eaten by anaemic women. 



N. Annandale has observed" that both Malay and Siamese women eat a kind of 

 earth dug out of the banks of the river and roasted; this is administered as a tonic. 

 In Borneo the natives are accustomed to the use of various kinds of earth. 3 St. 

 John says that in their boat expeditions the natives take a supply of red ochre in case of 

 becoming short of other provisions, and a white oleaginous clay is used for the same 

 purpose. Bishop McDoughall states : " There is a certain slimy clay which the Sakarran 

 Dyaks always provide themselves with when they make their excursions in their boats, 

 and which they suck when their stock of rice is exhausted ; they say it is very nutriti- 

 ous." Mr. Crossland informs us that the Undup occasionally eat a clay much resem- 

 bling fuller's earth ; they do not regard it as very palatable but consider it a salutary 

 custom and imagined that the earth acted as a purifier. Odeardo Beccari 4 also refers to 

 the Dyaks of Borneo nibbling greedily a peculiar stone as if it were a sweetmeat. It was 

 a kind of clayey schist, soft and brittle and greasy to the touch. " It certainly was not 

 eaten to appease hunger, but as a delicacy or perhaps to assuage the instinctive 

 craving of the stomach for some substance." Another Italian explorer, L. M. D'Albertis, 

 says 5 that the natives of New Guinea near Hall Sound chew and swallow red clay. 

 The taste for eating earth is extensive in Java, where small square reddish cakes of 



1 Pilgrimage to Al-Madineh and Meccah, Vol. I , 415. 



2 Fasciculi Malayenses, Anthropology, Part II, p. 62. 



3 H. Ling Roth, The Natives of Sarawak and British North Borneo. 

 + Wanderings in the Great Forests of Borneo, 1904, pp. 335, 337. 



6 New Guinea : What I did and what I saw, 1880, p. 89. 



