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Alexander von Humboldt: „Earth-eating Indians“, in: ders., Sämtliche Schriften digital, herausgegeben von Oliver Lubrich und Thomas Nehrlich, Universität Bern 2021. URL: <https://humboldt.unibe.ch/text/1807-Ueber_die_erdefressenden-26-neu> [abgerufen am 20.04.2024].
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| Titel | Earth-eating Indians | ||||
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| Jahr | 1850 | ||||
| Ort | Hereford | ||||
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Nachweis in: The Hereford Times, And General Advertiser for the Counties of Hereford, Monmouth, Glamorgan, Brecon, Radnor, Salop, Worcester, and Gloucester 20:1016 (2. Februar 1850), S. 12.
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| Sprache | Englisch | ||||
| Typografischer Befund | Antiqua; Spaltensatz; Auszeichnung: Kursivierung. | ||||
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|12|
It was a very prevalent report on the coast of Cumana, NewBarcelona, and Carracca, visited by the Franciscan monks ofGuiana on their return from the missions, that there were menon the banks of the Orinoco who ate earth. When, in returningfrom the Rio Negro, we descended the Orinoco in thirty-six days,we passed the day of the 6th June, 1800, in the Mission inhabitedby the earth-eating Otomacs. This little village is called Con-cepcion de Uruana, and is very picturesquely situated at the foot ofa granite rock. I found its geographical position to be 7 degs. 8mins. 3 secs. N. lat., 67 degs. 18 mins. W. long. from Greenwich.The earth which the Otomacs eat is a soft unctuous clay; a truepotters’ clay, of a yellowish grey colour, due to a little oxide ofiron. They seek for it in particular spots on the banks of theOrinoco and the Meta, and select it with care. They distinguishthe taste of one kind of earth from that of another, and do notconsider all clays as equally agreeable to eat. They knead theearth into balls of about five or six inches diameter, which theyburn or roast by a weak fire until the outside assumes a reddishtint. The balls are remoistened when about to be eaten. TheseIndians are generally wild, uncultivated beings, altogether averseto any kind of tillage. It is a proverb even among the most distantof the nations living on the Orinoco, when speaking of anythingvery unclean, to say that it is “so dirty that the Otomacs would eat it.” As long as the waters of the Orinoco and Meta arelow, these Indians live on fish and river tortoises. They kill thefish with arrows when at the surface of the water, a pursuit inwhich we have often admired their great dexterity. During theperiodical swelling of the rivers the taking of fish ceases, for it isas difficult to fish in deep river water as in the deep sea. It is inthis interval, which is of two or three months’ duration, that theOtomacs swallow great quantities of earth. We have found con-siderable stores of it in their huts, the clay balls being piled togetherin pyramidal heaps. The very intelligent monk, Fray RamonBueno, a native of Madrid (who lived twelve years among theseIndians), assured us that one of them would eat from threequarters of a pound to a pound and a quarter in a day. Accord-ing to the accounts which the Otomacs themselves give, this earthforms their principal subsistence during the rainy season, thoughthey eat at the same time occasionally, when they can obtain it, alizard, a small fish, or a fern root. They have such a predilectionfor the clay that even in the dry season, when they can obtainplenty of fish, they eat a little earth after their meals every day asa kind of dainty. These men have a dark copperbrown com-plexion, and unpleasing Tartar features. They are fat, but notlarge bellied. The Franciscan monk, who lived among them as amissionary, assured us that he could perceive no alteration intheir health during the earth-eating season.—
Humboldt’s Aspectsof Nature
EARTH-EATING INDIANS.