“Mushrooms and fungi of all kinds are eaten by the Bongo of the Upper Nile region.”—(See “Heart of Africa,” Schweinfurth, London, 1878, vol. i. pp. 117-122.)
“The Niam-Niams of Central Africa use fungi for foods.”—(Idem, p. 281.)
In a synopsis of the lecture delivered by the explorer Stanley before the Royal Geographical Society in London, he is represented as referring to the skill of the Niam-Niam in woodcraft, and the ability with which they detected the edible fungi from the poisonous.—(See “Tribune,” Chicago, Ill., June 28, 1890.)
Agaric. Avicenna believed that the white, or “feminine,” was good, the black, or “masculine,” noxious; it was prescribed for epilepsy, fevers, sciatica, asthma, pulmonary troubles, etc. (Avicenna, vol. i. p. 278, improperly numbered in the book as p. 287, a 10, _et seq._) It also entered into a number of panaceas, such as “Theriaca,” “Theodoricon Magnum,” “Mithradatum,” and others.
It was a provocative of the menses, according to Avicenna, vol. i. p. 287, a 54.
Thurnberg mentions a plant—“Bupleorum giganteum”—found in Cape Colony, of which clothing was made, and which was also used for tinder.—(See Pinkerton’s Voyages, London, 1814, vol. xvi. pp. 21, 22, quoting Thurnberg’s “Account of the Cape of Good Hope.”)
“Toadstool, or rotten fish and willow bark, which are delicacies among the Kamtchadals,”—(“Russian Discoveries between Asia and America,” William Coxe, London, 1803, p. 60, quoting Steller’s account of the Behring Voyage.)
There are some varieties of agaric, notably that of the olive-tree, which at times emit by night a phosphorescent light. This peculiarity may well have caused them to be regarded with reverential awe by the ancients. On the subject of this effulgence, see “Philosophy of Magic,” Eusèbe Salverte, New York, 1862, vol. i. p. 63.
Pope Clement VII. died of eating too many mushrooms. See Schurig’s “Chylologia,” Dresden, 1725, vol. i. p. 60.
(Tierra del Fuego.) “There is one vegetable production in this country which is worthy of mention, as it affords a staple article of food to the natives. It is a globular fungus, of a bright yellow color, and of about the size of a small apple, which adheres in vast numbers to the bark of the beech-trees.... It is eaten by the Fuegians in large quantities, uncooked, and when well chewed has a mucilaginous and slightly sweet taste, together with a faint odor like that of a mushroom. Excepting a few berries of a dwarf arbutus, which need hardly be taken into account, these poor savages never eat any other vegetable food besides this fungus.”—(Darwin, in “Voyage of Adventure and Beagle,” London, 1839, vol. iii. pp. 298, 299.)