2 MEMO IBS OF TEE QUEENSLAND MUSEUM. 



experienced any difificiilty in obtaining all they required. Mr. Cheeseman, the 

 Curator of the Auckland Museum, has pointed out that it is rather curious^ 

 considering the extent to which fish-poisons are employed in Polynesia, but that 

 on the other hand none of the plants used in Polynesia extend to New Zealand, 

 and that they have very few poisonous species of their own. This just suggests 

 the idea that the plentiful growth of poisonous shrubs may be one of the reasons 

 why the Malaysians employed fish-poisons universally, in spite of the fact that 

 they too might be regarded as expert navigators, and raiglit have got all the fish 

 they required by more legitimate means. 



Pliny the Elder^ not only states that fish-poisons were used with success 

 on the Roman Campania, but that lime was used as an adjunct. That the fish 

 were attracted by the plant Pliny emphasises, but what part the lime played in 

 the killing process he does not say. 



Lime is used with effect in the Western Pacific, and the late Douglas 

 Rannie spoke from personal experience when he said: "Lime produced from 

 calcined or burnt coral is utilised for many purposes and in a great variety of 

 ways by the natives inhabiting the many islands of the Western Pacific with 

 whom I have come into contact. One practice I have seen reverted to, but one 

 which does not gain favour with the permanent residents of a district, is that 

 of employing lime to catch a big haul of fish. This plan is simply to throw a 

 quantity of lime into a waterhole in some freshwater stream or creek, which has 

 the almost instantaneous effect of killing all the fish in and below the waterhole 

 for some considerable distance down the stream. But as this method kills far 

 more fish than is usuall.y required, it is looked upon as reprehensible and wasteful, 

 and is as a rule only adopted by natives' travelling parties, and strangers 

 poaching on others' properties far oft' from their own homes. I have seen 

 marauding parties of head-hunters using this means of obtaining fish from 

 freshwater streams on the west coast of Gaudalcanar, Solomon Islands. I have 

 also seen war parties poaching in similar manner in the rivers of Malaita. As 

 these people are betel-nut eaters they always carry a plentiful supply of lime. 

 I have never seen them killing with lime in the salt water, so cannot say if it 

 would be as effective in salt water as it is in fresh. ' ' 



Relative to the genesis of fish-poisoning practice among the Queensland 

 aborigines, regard is had to the possible acquisition of poison lore due to external 

 influence, the independent adoption of the practice from chance observation, and 

 to the evidence for experimentation leading to the distinction of toxic from 

 non-toxic plant varieties. 



The universality of the practice in Malaysia and the Islands has been 

 referred to. Derris and Tephrosia species, widely used for the purpose, are 

 common fish-poisons both in the Archipelago and Polynesia, and among tribes 

 in Northern Queensland. The possibility of the introduction of the custom from 

 such quarter must be judged on general grounds and by the standard of 

 recognised external influence upon aboriginal customs. 



Considering the universality of fish-poisoning it is not unjustifiable to 

 assume an independent origin among the Australian aborigines, and the evolution 

 of an empirical knowledge of efficient piscicides. The aboriginal himself would 

 appear to have retained no notion of the origin of the art. His impression 

 conveyed in his own way, ' ' Black fella come up first time, catch 'em ! ' ' denotes 

 the bequest of an unwritten lore through generations. Further his child-mind 

 seeks for no explanation, nor is it legitimate to press for reason an intelligence 



^25th Book Natural History, chapter 54. 



