1" MEUOJJiS OF THE QVEEXSLAXD MCSECM. 



MEDICINE. 



I am indebted to Mr. J. R. Cliisholm, The Prairie, for tlie following informa- 

 tion :— 



'"I doubt if blacks of my acquaintance ever 'took medicine,' but they are 

 alwaj-s alert to the need of a change of diet. Honey was their aperient, or perhaps 

 they might at times eat a quantity of yam locally knowii as ' Kaalgoolly.* It is, 

 I believe, allied to jalap, at any rate it has a purgative effect. They ahvays diluted 

 honey vrith. water, and sucked it out of a sponge or currajong bark or beaten grass. 

 A black is alwaj-s keen on a bit of green vegetable, and as they walked through the 

 forest were alert to pick a mouthful here and there. I have acquaintance with the 

 desert country tribes from Peak Downs up to this district. On the coasts and well- 

 Avatered districts they get lots of greenstuff, submerged mostly. When I was a lad 

 I used to go Arith the blacks a good deal about the Dawson (lower). They ate large 

 quantities of the pink Uly seed roasted, and various tubers. About Peak Downs 

 district in the scrubs (brigalow) I've gone wth myall blacks for da,ys ; study of 

 them was always congenial to me. I have kno^ni Western blacks on the Georgina 

 hA-ing on that nardoo rubbish. I think great numbers must have died from impaction. 

 There was no honey or other aperient that I knew of in that country. Xardoo is 

 totally indigestible to a white man ; so also are many of their other seed-cakes. 

 The nutriment value must be very meagre, and in dry seasons the Western blacks 

 became frequently constipated as a result of their frugal diet." 



Most natives know the value of greenstuff for keeping themselves fit. Young 

 pigweed is particularly prized for its blood- purifying properties.'" 



Probably the use of many herbs may dejjend on their efficacy for the .same 

 principle, as for example the following instance recorded from St. La\ATence : — 

 The blacks used to gather a sort of herb like iicnnyroyal, and make a tea of it and 

 drink some of it. Mr. T. lUidge tells me that he ta.sted it once and that it was slightly 

 bitter. They used it in cases of fever. The gum of certain trees, which when 

 jiowdcred was verj' red and astringent, was a common remedy for diarrhoea. A little 

 of the powder was mi.\ed with honey and taken .several times a day. The bulbs 

 of an orchid which favours the ironbark tree would be roasted in the fire, cooled olT, 

 oiJened, and swallowed with water for bowel complaint." 



DRESSING OF WOUNDS. 



I have it on the excellent authority of J. R. Chisholm that the awful retri- 

 butive cuts on the muscles of the legs, arms, or back healed very quickly by the 

 appUcation of ashes or clay, and he has often seen conmion mud from lagoons, which 

 contained much decomposing weed or leaves, used for the same jjurpose. An instance 

 is recalled on Peak Downs when one man infficted a dreadful gash on another from 



"Hamlyn -Harris, R., Anthropological Considerations of Queensland, &c., Proc. R. S. Q. 

 Pre.^idential Address, vol. 29, No. 1, 1917, 7, 27. 



" Oil the authority of T. Illidge. 



