426 The Genus Araucaria. 



tree is a magnificent one, growing from 100 to 200 feet 

 high, with a stout trunk, scarcely tapering, and covered with 

 a thick smooth bark, often unbranched for half the height, 

 with a conical loose head, overtopping all the other trees of the 

 forest. The branches are arranged in whorls, sometimes giving 

 off near the summit as many as sixteen in a whorl; these 

 branches average twelve feet in length, and about one and a- 

 half inches in diameter. The youug branches are arranged 

 horizontally on the stem, but the older ones have a drooping 

 habit. The branchlets are disposed in pairs, opposite, about 

 eighteen inches long, very slender, sparsely covered with the 

 thin long leaves ; in the younger and terminal branches the 

 leaves are more crowded. The cones are very large, quite the 

 size of a man's head, and sometimes nearly as broad as long, 

 the top often slightly depressed. The scales are large and 

 thick, with an acute ridge running across them, terminating in 

 a sharp-pointed recurved spine. The seeds, seated between 

 these scales, are also very large, frequently from one to two 

 inches long, and sometimes even longer, and quite three- 

 quarters of an inch wide, broad at one end and tapering at the 

 other. The cones are produced on the uppermost branches of 

 the tree, and one cone frequently contains as many as 150 

 seeds, which are freely scattered on the ground as the cone 

 ripens. The trees bear fruit plentifully once in three years, 

 usually between the months of January and March. At these 

 seasons the aborigines assemble from far and near to collect 

 the seeds, which are a favourite food with them. They roast 

 them in the shell, crack them between two stones, and eat 

 them while hot. In flavour they somewhat resemble roasted 

 chesnuts. So- well does this food agree with them that they 

 are said "to grow sleek and fat" upon it. That part of 

 the district where these trees most abound is called the Bunya- 

 Bunya country. 



The trees are protected by an act of the Colonial legislature, 

 forbidding their destruction under heavy penalties, as they 

 form one of the natural sources of food of the natives. One of 

 the most remarkable things connected with these trees is the 

 division of them as personal property among the various tribes, 

 each tribe owning a particular group, which passes from gene- 

 ration to generation as. an hereditary right, and, with the 

 exception of these, they are not known to possess any property 

 in a similar manner. The wood is very fine and close-grained, 

 of a lightish yellow colour, sometimes beautifully veined ; it is 

 very durable, is easily worked, and is susceptible of a high 

 polish. 



The Brazilian Araucaria, Arauccuria Brasiliensis, Rich., is 

 found growing at a great elevation, chiefly in the province of 



