646 



age to Martinico, expresses himself very judici- 

 ously on this pathological phenomenon. " Ano- 

 ther cause," he says, " of this pain in the sto- 

 mach is, that several of the Negroes, who come 

 from the coast of Guinea, eat earth ; not from a 

 depraved taste, or in consequence of a disease, 

 but from a habit contracted at home in Africa, 

 where they eat, they say, a particular earth, the 

 taste of which they find agreeable, without suf- 

 fering any inconvenience. They seek in our 

 islands for the earth the most similar to this, 

 and prefer a yellowish red volcanic tufa. It is 

 sold secretly in our public markets ; but this is 

 an abuse, which the police ought to correct. 

 The Negroes who have this habit are so fond of 

 caouac, that no chastisement will prevent their 

 eating it*." 



In the Indian Archipelago, at the island of 

 Java, Mr. Labillardiere saw, between Surabaya 

 and Samarang, little square and reddish cakes 

 exposed to sale. These cakes, called tanaampo, 

 were cakes of clay, slightly baked, which the 

 natives eat with appetitef\ The attention of 

 physiologists, since my return from the Oroo- 

 noko, having been powerfully fixed on these 

 phenomena of geophagy, Mr. Leschenault (one 

 of the naturalists of the expedition to the South- 

 ern Lands under the command of Captain Bau- 



* Voyage d la Martinique, 1763, p. 84.^ 

 t Voyage in Search of La Perouse, vol. ii, p. 322. 



