Chap. VIII.—B. S.] 
EARTH-EATERS. 
115 
a full account of the way he used to go on. He was 
about twelve years old when he took to the habit, 
and carried it on till he was twenty-five. Com¬ 
mencing little by little, he ultimately ate several 
pounds a day, and he lived successive days upon no¬ 
thing but earth, always drinking a good quantity of 
water, and feeling little or no appetite for any other 
kind of food. At most times he used to eat the earth 
as it came from the mine, but sometimes he would 
vary the flavour by an admixture of common brown 
sugar, or by toasting the clay over the fire. At last 
he carried earth-eating to such an excess that he be¬ 
came seriously ill, and had to give it up to save his 
life. More than two years had elapsed since that 
time, but he retained nevertheless the livid look pecu¬ 
liar to earth-eaters, and thought that he should never 
regain his natural colour. It is very difficult to say 
what proportion of the mining population of Chontales 
are addicted to earth-eating. As the majority regard 
it as a vice, many practise it on the sly ; but from my 
own observation I should say they amount to about 
ten per cent. 
In these mountains a species of caoutchouc (known 
here by its Aztec name of Hie), vanilla, sarsaparilla, 
quassia, fustic, and other valuable woods abound, and 
there are many vegetable productions which are rare 
or perfectly new to science. Amongst the most note¬ 
worthy are a species of Marcgraavia , every umbel of 
which terminates in five flower-bearing pitchers filled 
with water, a large white Sobralia, and a tree (Iierrania 
purpurea, Decaisne) with fingered leaves and small 
i 2 ' 
