640 NGARRABUL AND OTHER ABORIGINAL TRIBES, 



Marvellous properties in the curing of disease were ascribed to 

 them. They were more potent for good, the Blacks informed me, 

 than any of the remedies at my command. Dr. Clutterbuck 

 spoke with disdain of the innocent herbs swallowed in decoction 

 by the indigenous tribes of Victoria. It is, however, highly 

 probable that a systematic investigation of their drugs would in 

 some instances reveal properties of which advantage might well 

 be taken in the practice of medicine. I need refer as an example 

 only to the Corkwood tree of Eastern Australia (Duboisia myopo- 

 roides, R.Br.) which was employed by the natives for its toxic 

 properties'^ and which yields Duboisine, a drug whose use in 

 medical practice has now become world-wide. The Bundela 

 women prepared a medicine from a small plant about nine inches 

 in height confined to the warm climate of the coastal regions. A 

 fire having been made, stones were placed upon it until they 

 became very hot. Over these stones was stood a kooliman or 

 wooden bowl (Noomie) filled with water. The plant was put in 

 the water, which was then boiled and poured into a strong wooden 

 medicine bucket (Goolong-gooloo). The steam was confined for a 

 while with tea-tree bark. The drug thus prepared was of sour 

 taste and great potency, being given with caution and onl}^ in 

 very small doses. The Yukumbul natives used herbs found grow- 

 ing upon the plains for internal disorders caused by drinking 

 contaminated water. Unfortunately I was unable to procure 

 specimens of any of these plants. 



Two species of the genus Exccecaria are found in Australia and 

 are remarkable for the possession of a milky sap with intensely 

 virulent and acrid properties and capable of inflicting, by contact, 

 the direst mischief upon the organs of vision. These are the 

 Gutta Percha tree of Queensland and Northern Australia {E. 

 parvifolia, Muell. Arg.) and the Milky Mangrove {E. agallocha, 

 Linn.) ranging from Northern Australia to the north coastal area 

 of New South Wales. The former species was studied by Dr. 



* F. M. Bailey, Proc. Linn. Soc. N.S.W., Vol. v., ISSO, pp. 1 et seq. 

 (quoting Rev. W. Woolls). 



