254 MESSRS. D. HOOPER AND H. H. MANN ON 



official remarks that pregnant women eat earth during the last months of their preg- 

 nancy, and another reports that it is eaten during the first three months. There 

 seems to be some difference in custom in this respect, but that most widely prevalent con- 

 sists, apparently, in eating during the first two or three months. Indeed, some Afghans 

 state, that the fact of a wife having taken to earth-eating is regarded as a sign of the 

 commencement of pregnancy. It is also reported from Quetta, Hindubagh, Fort Sande- 

 man, Loralai, Sibi and Koklu, that sometimes, but rarely, women not pregnant indulge 

 in the habit. 



As already mentioned, information has been received that in one or two of the 

 Frontier districts (Musa Khel, Dalbandin) the habit of earth-eating is not known among 

 the tribes, but the information seems of doubtful accuracy. The principal of these tribes 

 are : the Isot, Jafar, Pani, and Zamari Afghans ; and Kharsin or Gharshin Saiads, the 

 Muhammad-Nasni, Tuti Rakhshani, Mengal, Sasoli, and Sumalani Bruhuis. 



(e) Madras, Mysore and Travancore. — In Mysore and many of the districts in Madras 

 the habit is common. In the bazars of Madras and Bangalore specially prepared clay is 

 sold for consumption. In the planting districts of the Wynaad, the Canarese coolie 

 women and children and Coimbatore Tamils indulge in the habit. Men rarely eat it, and 

 the jungle tribes hardly ever. The lower classes of Tamils and Badagas, chiefly women, 

 eat earth on the Nilgiris. Muhammadans or better-class Tamils are not known to practise 

 the custom. In Travancore and Cochin, earth-eaters are found largely among the im- 

 ported labour in the tea estates. The coolies are Tamil-speaking people from Tinnevelly, 

 Trichinopoly, and Nagercoil in South India, and consist of the Hindu castes of Pariah, 

 Chakkalie, Pallar, Shanar and Elava, and a few Christians. The Kanies or Hill tribes 

 have not been observed to eat earth, and the Malayalis or natives of Travancore State 

 only occasionally indulge. Women, girls, and even crawling children contract the habit. 

 In one estate in Travancore the medical officer reports that 75 per cent, of the women 

 and children are earth-eaters. Men, as a rule, are not known to indulge. 



In this review of the habit from the north to the south of India, it will be noticed that 

 earth-eating prevails among all castes of the community and is not restricted to the Aryan 

 race. Mr. S. C. Mitra has recently published a " Note on Clay-eating as a Racial 

 Characteristic, " ' in which he asserts that "the use of clay for food is more confined to the 

 Indian branch of the Aryan race, some Dravidian races, and the various peoples belonging 

 to the Mongolian stock, than to any other offshoot of the Aryan family or to any other 

 race." Our information has certainly not permitted us to draw so definite a conclusion. 

 The peoples mentioned by Mr. Mitra certainly all eat clay in one form or another, but the 

 habit seems hardly to be confined within any such racial bounds. Rather should we believe 

 that the custom is all but universally known throughout India, and though the frequency 

 of its adoption may vary much according to the social position of the particular caste or 

 tribe to which individuals may belong, there is no sufficient evidence to state that such 

 frequency follows any ethnological lines. We are aware that the matter deserves and needs 

 a much closer investigation than we have been able to give to it, but on the basis of the 



Jvurn. Anthrupol. Soc. Bombay, VII (1905), pp. 284-290. 



