I 



BY JOHN MACPHEHSON. 641 



T. L. Bancroft, and Mr. Edward Palmer* speaks of its bark being 

 used by the Gulf of Carpentaria natives, broken up in water, as 

 a lotion for the relief of pain. The juice of the Milky Mangrove, 

 according to Mr. J. H. Maiden,! was used by the aborigines of 

 Eastern Australia, New Guinea and India to cure chronic ulcers. 

 In Fiji the patient was fumigated wdth the smoke of the burning 

 wood. In the Clarence River scrubs grows a tree perhaps 

 identical with this Milky Mangrove and whose bark and sap 

 were used by the blacks in the treatment of burns. When 

 cutting the bark it was necessary to avert the face, else the 

 juice spurting into the eyes might destroy the sight. This juice 

 was collected in a medicine bucket. In treating burns, snake's 

 fat was first smeared upon the injured surface and over this a 

 piece of the bark, while, at a distance, the acrid sap itself was 

 applied, doubtless as a counter irritant. In severe pain arising 

 from any cause, the juice was spread over the painful area, or the 

 bark, rolled up into little fragments, was ignited and the glowing 

 ember applied. This was reserved for sufferers otherwise strong, 

 two dusky comrades holding the patient during this administration 

 of the cautery. 



Another tree, however, of the Queensland and New South 

 Wales coastal scrubs is the rough-leaved Fig tree (Ficus asjjei-a, 

 R.Br.), which likewise yields an acrid, milky juice, employed by 

 the Cleveland Bay natives to expedite the healing of certain 

 wounds (James Morrill). 



The tannin-containing kino of the Apple-tree (Angophora sp.) 

 was included in the Ngarrabul pharmacopoeia. Mr. J. F. Mann J 

 also speaks of the use of the astringent sap of the Apple tree in 

 aboriginal therapeutics. In times of drought the Yukumbul 

 Blacks procured water from Apple trees to obviate their drinking 

 impure natural water; as in other parts of Australia, under the 

 stress of thirst, the natives derive water from the roots of the 



* Proc. Roy. Soc. N.S.W., Vol. xvii., 1883, p. 107. 



f Indigenous Vegetable Drugs (Dept. of Agriculture Publications) Pt. ii., p. 19. 



X Proc. Geogr. Soc. Aust., 1st Session, 1883-4, Vol. i., p. 49. 



