482 AUSTRALIAN INDIGENOUS HUMAN FOOD-PROVIDING PLANTS, 



is now given, and no adult in Australia should be ignorant of it. 

 There is no doubt that a knowledge of this method of obtaining 

 water would have been the means of saving the lives of many 

 people who have suffered one of the most terrible of all deaths — 

 death from thirst. 



" It frequeiitly happens to the natives, when out in the mallee 

 country, that the water-holes on which they had counted on 

 obtaining a supply of water have dried up ; but they are never 

 at a loss. They select in the small broken plains some mallee 

 trees, which are generally found surrounding them. The right 

 kind of trees can always be recognised by the comparative density 

 of tlieir foliage. A circle a few inches deep is dug with a toma- 

 hawk around the ba.se of the tree ; the roots, which run 

 horizontallj, are soon discovered. They are divided from the 

 tree and torn up, many of them being several feet in length. 

 They are then cut into pieces, each about 9 inches long, and 

 placed on end in a receiver, and good, clear, well-tasted water is 

 obtained. The roots of several other trees yield water" (Dr. 

 Grummow). This method of obtaining water in arid regions has 

 been described in almost similar language by many explorers. 



" How the natives existed in this parched country was the 

 question ! We saw that around many trees the roots had been 

 taken up, and we found them without the bark and cut into 

 short clubs or billets, but for wliat purpose we could not then 

 discover. ... I expressed my thirst and want of water. 

 Looking as if they understood me, they hastened to resume their 

 work, and I discovered that they dug up the roots for the sake of 

 drinking the sap. It appeared that they first cut these roots into 

 billets, and then stripped off the bark or rind, which they some- 

 times chew, after which, holding up the billet, and applying one 

 end to the mouth, they let the juice drop into it." — " Three 

 Expeditions," (Mitchell), pp. 196 and 199. 



See also a paper by Mr. K. H. Bennett, Proc. Linn, Soc. 

 N.S.W., viii., 213. 



See Eucalyptus, Vitts, Hakea. 



