goats; TP substitutes

From: Martin Crim <mcrim_at_erols.com>
Date: Wed, 11 Sep 1996 12:56:16 -0400 (EDT)


Re: Orlanthi use of goats

        I can see some Orlanthi having goats in areas where goats do well and other animals do not. This would be like the Muslims of Morocco's Atlas Mountains who keep pigs in the cool upland forests. "Who, us? We don't keep pigs." But the pigs are there. There may also be places where Orlanthi keep goats openly, but only low-caste people handle them. Cf. Buddhists in Thailand, who won't kill any animal ... but as long as the animal was butchered by someone else, it'd be a shame to let all that good meat go to waste.

Re: toilet paper substitutes

        I haven't gotten v03.n182 yet (Loren, come home, all is forgiven), so someone may have mentioned this, but sand is another possibility for anal hygiene, particularly in Prax. They don't have a whole lot of leaves that would be usable safely, grass would probably cut and/or itch, and water is way too scarce.

        A frequent calumny against my upland Scotch-Irish ancestors (that's hill-billies to you) is that they used corn cobs. Unlikely, and in any case not directly translatable to the Orlanthi (who are their closest analogue). Pelorian ones, maybe; or that may just be what the lowlanders whisper about them.

        Toilet paper, I have read, was invented in China, so why not have the real stuff in Kralorela?

        Bidets I'd expect only in Teshnos and/or Fonrit: decadent, luxury-loving places. That doesn't mean water isn't used, though; probably lots of people clean up with water.

        People living along a river can just do their business in the river. Redmond O'Hanlon, the travel writer, did this in the Amazon jungle, despite the danger of the dreaded candiru fish.

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