| OCR Text |
Show EARTH EATING IN JAPAN. - It is rather surprising to find that some of Japanese are addicted to the eating of earth. Dr. Love has lately published an analysis of a clay which is eaten to a considerable extent by the Ainos; it occurs in a bed several feet thick, in the valley of Tsetocai (eat-earth valley) on the north side of Yeaso. It is light gray in color and of fine structure. The people mix with the clay fragments of the leaf of some plant for the aromatic principle it contains. They eat the earth because they think it contains some beneficial substance, not because it is a necessity with them. They have meat in abundance and vegetable food. The clay is eaten in the form of a soup. Several pounds are boiled with lily roots in a small quantity of water, and afterwards strained. The Ainos pronounce the soup very palatable. - The English Mechanic. |
