I4 Spencer, What is Nardoo. 



Vict. Nat. 

 Vol. XXXV. 



I took to be clover, and, on looking closer, saw the seed, and 

 called out that I had found ' the nardoo ' ; they were very glad 

 when I found it." 



It may be noted also that the explorers, in addition to the 

 bean called padla, already referred to, were well acquainted 

 with at all events one other vegetable food quite distinct from 

 nardoo, as will be seen by the following questions put to and 

 answered by the survivor King when giving evidence before 

 the Parliamentary Commission : — 



" No. 899. And about that time the provisions began to get 

 short ? — Very short. 



" No. 900. And the allowance was on a very small scale to 

 match ? — On a very small scale ; our prin- 

 cipal ration was the portulac. 



" No. 901. Which is a kind of vegetable ? — Yes, a kind of 

 vegetable. 



" No. 902. A leafy vegetable ? — Very leafy. 



" No. 921. How did you cook the vegetable ? — Boiled it." 



Dr. Howitt is perfectly clear on the matter. In his journal,* 

 on 2nd September, Camp 20, he writes : — "On some of the 

 flats I observed quantities of the plant growing from the seeds 

 of which the natives make their bread. It appears to choose 

 a loose, blistered, clayey soil, subject to be flooded, such as is 

 generally found in polygonum ground. The leaves resemble 

 clover, but with a silvery down, which is also found on the seeds 

 when fresh ; these grow on short stems springing from the 

 roots, and are flat and rather oval. In places where the plant 

 has died down, these seeds quite cover the ground ; they are 

 gathered by the native women, and, after being cleaned from 

 the sand, are pounded between two stones and baked as cakes." 



The above evidence at first hand from Dr. Beckler, Wills, 

 King, and Dr. Howitt is surely conclusive, and, moreover, as 

 I write this I have in front of me, amongst the records of the 

 expedition, two little packets, described as nardoo, and both 

 containing a few sporocarps of Marsilea quadrifolia. One 

 contains nardoo actually brought down by King from Cooper's 

 Creek ; the other | is accompanied by a copy of a note made 

 by Dr. Howitt, as follows : — " Nardoo collected by Burke and 

 Wills and King at Cooper's Creek, found by A. W. Howitt at 

 their camp." 



* "Diary of Burke and Wills, Howitt's Journal and Despatches, 

 King's Narrative, &c," Melbourne, published at the Age office, 1861. 



I I am indebted to Miss Mary E. B. Howitt for this. Miss Howitt 



wr ites : " I have a small quantity of the actual seeds found in a little 



heap, as gathered by one of the fated party, somewhere near the remains 

 of one of them." 



