PECULIARITIES OF MALLEE-SCRUB 97 



are made of trunks of this tree, and it affords valuable 

 timber for many other purposes. 



On the flat plains beyond the hills there are many 

 miles of " mallee-scrub." This singular plant is a species 

 of eucalyptus, though if one tells an ignorant squatter or 

 stock-rider that the mallee plant is of the same family as 

 the "gum-tree," he is stared at in blank astonishment. 

 Such is the fact, however. 



The root of the mallee is a large, flat, woody disc, often 

 more than a yard across, and some eight or ten inches 

 thick. It is called a " scab " by the colonists, and from the 

 underside of this scab a great number of small fibres, or 

 rootlets, penetrate the ground to a great depth — until they 

 find moisture, indeed — so they are sometimes at least a 

 dozen feet long. From the upper side of the scab sprout 

 a number of cane-like sticks, or stems, reaching a height 

 of fourteen or fifteen feet, and sprouting, at the top, into a 

 dense cluster of leaves. The ground in a mallee-scrub is 

 thickly covered with these strange, disc-like roots; and 

 each " scab " is so firmly held to the ground by its numer- 

 ous rootlets, that, as I have proved by actual experiment, 

 the strength of a dozen oxen is not sufficient to tear one 

 of them up. 



The rootlets of the mallee-scrub contain a great 

 quantity of moisture ; and where it abounds the bushman 

 cannot perish of thirst. If the rootlets are dug up, broken 

 into small pieces, and placed to drain into a billy (or small 

 tin pan), a goodly supply of drinkable fluid may be 

 speedily obtained. 



Mallee-scrub is tiresome country to travel through, 

 the numerous scabs being a great nuisance to a horse, and 

 a still greater annoyance to a bullock team, and the 

 monotony of the scrub is very depressing to the mind of 

 man. There is absolutely no break in the general appear- 

 ance of the country, one scab being as like to another as 

 two pins are. 



Mallee-scrub is characteristic of what is called desert 

 country. It does not grow near rivers or on well-watered 

 plains, and I have ridden through a hundred-mile patch of 



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