Democratic Sentinel, Volume 5, Number 48, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 30 December 1881 — Earth-Eating Tribes. [ARTICLE]

Earth-Eating Tribes.

M. Grevaux, a French naval surgeon, has lately been exploring the northern parts of South America, more especially in the valley of the Orinoco and its affluents. Among other facts of observation, he states that the Guaraunos, at the delta of that riVer, take refuge in the trees when the delta is inundated. There they make a sort of dwelling with branches and clay. The women light, on a small piece of floor, the fire needed for cooking, and the traveler on the river by niglit often sees with surprise long rows of flames at a considerable height in the air. The Guarauuos disEose of their dead by hanging them in ammocks in the tops of trees. Dr. Crevaux, in the course of his travels, met with geophagous or. earth-eating tribes. The clay, which often serves for their food whole months, seems to be a mixture of oxide of iron and some organic substances. They have recourse to it more especially in times of scarcity; but, strange to say, there are eager gourmands for the substance, individuals in whom the depraved taste becomes so pronounced that they may be seen tearing pieces of ferruginous clay from huts made of it and putting them in their mouths.