"What do you suppose he was after? Clay! And he ate it!"
This remarkable proceeding could hardly be credited by the boys.
"Ate it!" exclaimed George. "I think you must be mistaken."
Ralph looked at Tom, and immediately answered: "That is just what they did with that stuff we saw that the first savages had; don't you remember, Tom?"
"I never stopped to inquire; but I know they had something that looked like clay mud. I wonder if that was eaten by them?"
"That is not so remarkable," observed the Professor. "It is a custom in many parts of the world."
"Where?"
"In Eastern Asia, in Java, in the Himalaya Mountains, in northern Europe, particularly the remote regions of Sweden, in Finland, as well as in many parts of South America, particularly in Brazil, Peru and Bolivia, and many instances are known of this habit among the savages of the Pacific islands."
"Can they live on the clay for any length of time?"
"Humboldt, the great geologist, relates cases of tribes in South America which live for at least three months at a time on this substance, without any apparent ill effect, but from all the analyses made there does not seem to be anything nutritious in it. I am not surprised that Chief should have a knowledge of it."