642 NGARRABUL AND OTHER ABORIGINAL TRIBES, 



Red Mallee {Eucalyptus oleosa, F.v.M.) and the Coolabah or 

 Dwarf Box {E. mic7'otheca, F.v.M.). 



The Red Gum, Yarrah (probably Eucalyptus rostrata^ Schlecht.), 

 also found a place in the Ngarrabul materia medica. E. rostrata, 

 of course, yields the Eucalyptus gum of the British Pharmacopceia. 

 According to various writers.* the medicinal use of the exudations 

 of species of Eucalypts was of wide extent among the Australian 

 aborigines. 



The White or Manna Gum, Horra {E. viminalis, Labill.) forms 

 one of the most conspicuous features of the Glen Innes forests. 

 Glencoe and ]Marowan, from the prevalence of this species, were 

 designated in Ngarrabul Horra-ivill. In some seasons the trunks 

 are prettily tinted with patches of pink or red. Golden beetles 

 [Anoplognathus), Psyllid insects, ttc, feed largel}^ upon the 

 leaves. The common opossum [Trichosurus vidj^ecula, Kerr) 

 subsists to a great extent upon the young foliage and bark of the 

 smaller shoots and twigs. The yield of oil from the leaves is 

 about J%, consisting mainl}'' of pinene, with comparatively little 

 eucalyptol. The active principle (or principles) of Eucalyptus 

 oils, however, for therapeutic purposes — whether eucalyptol 

 (cineol), peppermint ketone, or other body — has yet to be 

 determined. In this connection the admirable researches of 

 Messrs. R. T. Baker and H. G. Smith have opened up an 

 enormous field for the pharmacologist. The leaves of E. vimi- 

 nalis were used by the Ngarrabul Blacks topically for ophthalmia 

 — Narrada mil (i.e., "bad eye"), and by internal administration 

 for diarrhoea. It may have been mereh^ a coincidence that a 

 captive opossum of mine, when deprived of these leaves, suffered 

 from diarrhoea with green bilious stools, but was restored to 

 health when they were again added to his diet. Several authors 

 have observed the therapeutic exhibition of Eucalyptus leaves 



* Dr. W. E. Roth, ' Ethnological Studies among the North-West Central 

 Queensland Aborigines'; James Dawson, 'Australian Aborigines,' p. 57; 

 J. F. Mann. loc. cit., d'C. 



