In 1883 Mr. Hekmeyer, pharmaceutist in chief of the Dutch Indies,
exhibited at Amsterdam some specimens of Javanese edible earth, both in a
natural state and in the form of various natural objects. A portion of
this collection he has placed at our disposal, and has given us some
information regarding its nature, use, etc.
These clays, which are eaten not only in Java, but also in Sumatra, New
Caledonia, Siberia, Guiana, Terra del Fuego, etc., are essentially
composed of silex, alumina, and water in variable proportions, and are
colored with various metallic oxides. They are in amorphous masses, are
unctuous to the touch, stick to the tongue, and form a fine, smooth paste
with water. The natives of Java and Sumatra prepare them in a peculiar
way. They free them of foreign substances, spread them out in thin
sheets, which they cut into small pieces and parch in an iron saucepan
over a coal fire.
Each of these little cakes, when shrunken up into a little roll, looks
somewhat like a grayish or reddish fragment of cinnamon bark. The clay is
also formed into imitations of various objects.
We have tasted this Javanese dainty, and we must very humbly confess that
we have found nothing attractive in the earthy and slightly empyreumatic
taste of this singular food. However, a sweet and slightly aromatic taste
that follows the first impression is an extenuating circumstance.
According to the account given by Labillardiere, confirmed by the
information given by Mr. Hekmeyer, the figures are often craunched by
women and children, to the latter of whom they serve as dolls, toys, and
even money-boxes, as shown by the slits formed in the upper part of the
larger objects, which are usually hollow.
We have not sufficient documents to carry us back to the origin of that
tradition that would have it that the human form has been given to
certain food preparations from remote times. Savants will not be slow to
see in this a vague relic of the horrible festivities that succeeded
human sacrifices among primitive peoples. For want of prisoners and of
designated victims, a symbolic representation would have gradually
developed, and been kept up, though losing its religious character. We
merely call brief attention to this obscure problem, not having the
pretension to solve it.--_Revue d'Ethnographie_.
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