490 AUSTRALIAN INDIGENOUS HUMAN FOOD-PROVIDING PLANTS, 



according to Mr. Gunn, it has a i)leasant taste when taken with 

 plenty of milk. Its effect is, however, slightly aperient. 



It is also used in the form of a beer. 



Tasmania, Victoria and New South Wales. 



21. Atriplex cinerea, Poir., (Syn. A. halimus, R.Br., A. 

 elceaynoides, Moq.), N.O. Chenopodiacece, B.Fl., v.. 171. 



Once used as a pot-herb in New South Wales. 



During his overland journey to Port Essington, Leichhardt 

 used a species of Ati'iplex as a vegetable, and spoke very highly 

 of it. 



All the colonies. 



22. AvicENNiA OFFICINALIS, Linn., (Syn. A. iomentosa, Jacq.), 



N.O. Verbenacese, B.Fl., v. 69. 



" Mangrove," ** Egaie " of the Cleveland Bay aboriginals, 

 " Tagon-tagon" of the Rockhampton aboiiginals; " Baa-lunn " and 

 " Tchoonchee " are other aboriginal names. 



The fruit is heart-shaped, with two thick cotyledons. The 

 aboriginals of Cleveland Bay dig a hole in the ground, where they 

 light a good tire ; when well ignited, they throw stones over it, 

 which when sufficiently heated, they arrange horizontally at the 

 bottom, and lay on the top the Egaie fruit, sprinkling a little 

 water over it ; they cover it with bark, and over the whole, earth 

 is placed to prevent the steam from evaporating too freely. During 

 the time require 1 for baking (about two hours), they dig another 

 hole in the sand ; the softened Egaie is put into it, they pour water 

 twice over it, and the Midamo is now fit for eating. They resort 

 to that sort of food daring the wet season when precluded from 

 searching for any other (Murrell's testimony,* quoted by Mons. 

 Thozet). 



In salt-water estuaries all round the coast. 



*Murrell was a shipwrecked sailor, who lived for 17 years with the 

 aboriginals of Cleveland Bay, Queensland. 



