148 



would be very acceptable. Mr. Froggatt states that it is obtained 

 from the roots, and local Europeans and aborigines all make similar 

 statements as to its origin. 



It is in a cake about 4 inches in diameter, and 1^ inches in thickness. 

 The smell is something like bees-wax, but at the same time it has an 

 exceedingly disagreeable and persistent odour which is not easily 

 described. It reminds one of the smell of the fabric known as cordu- 

 roy. It is of especial interest because it is of aboriginal preparation. 

 Its colour is that of a dirty dark bronze-green, or almost of a slaty 

 colour with a little green in it. To the naked eye it looks very like 

 finely chopped hay or grass-seed cemented into a compact mass. It is 

 exceedingly tough, a sharp blow with a hammer on a cold chisel being- 

 necessary to fracture it. 



Petroleum spirit extracts 3'2 per cent, of a colourless fixed oil or fat, 

 which possesses a little of the disagreeable odour of the original sub- 

 stance. The solvent extracts no resin. As the substance has been 

 made up into cakes by the blacks, and is to that extent not an absolutely 

 natural product, it may be that the fat, or a portion of it has been 

 introduced. 



The substance was then digested in alcohol, which extracts a trans- 

 parent, hard, golden-yellow resin, possessing some odour, and which 

 appears to be an interesting substance. The amount of this resin is 

 67*3 per cent., and it darkens on keeping. 



Water digested on the residue dissolves out 6*9 per cent, of colouring 

 matter and salts. It contains no arabin. The remainder, 23 "1 per 

 cent., consists of dirt and particles of chopped grass. This also is 

 quite free from gummy matter. 



Summary — 



Fat, soluble in petroleum spirit ... ... 3*1 



Resin, soluble in alcohol ... ... ... 67*3 



Extractive and salts, soluble in water ... 6*9 



Accidental impurity ... ... . _-. ... 23*1 



100-4 

 A second sample, treated with alcohol direct, yielded 70*8 per cent, 

 to that solvent, Proc. Linn. Society, N.S.W. [2], iv, 639 (1889). 



Following is my report on an allied substance recently collected by 

 the Horn Expedition to Central Australia. 



No. 1. ''Portion of an ants' nest consisting of sand agglutinated by 

 gum from Triodia piuigens, formed around the base of the g-rass, and 

 continued as cylinders around leaves and flower stalks. Tempe 

 Downs/' This substance has the appearance of a lump of reddish- 

 brown clinker. When treated at a very low temperature the resin 

 melts (even in the flame of a match), and in its crude state would make 

 a useful cement. When the resin has burned away, the residue consists 

 of sand, principally quartz with ferric oxide, the latter being removed by 

 dilute hydrochloric acid. This ferric oxide assists to give the original 

 mass its reddish-brown appearance. When the original substance 

 is treated with alcohol (rectified spirit), the resin readily dissolves, 

 leaving the sand, which differs in no way from that obtained by burning 



