BY J. BANCROFT, KSQ., M.D. 



105 



Though Nardoo is pronounced by Baron von Miiller to be a 

 miserable article of food," the ^-reat value of it to starving 

 travellers should not be lost sight of. 



No. 3. KooTOO, Grass-sekd. — Species undetermined. Each 

 seed is oval, smooth, and shining, one-tenth of an inch long. 

 On the convex side are five longitudinal white lines ; on the 

 flatter side two bi'oader white lines, and two white lines are 

 seen on the edges. 



Starch of small size constitutes the bulk of this grain, 

 making it a fairly good food. 



Mr. Gayson, in Brough Smyth's book, mentions " ' Wod- 

 laooroo,' very fine seed taken from the silver-grass growing in 

 the creeks." 



Mr. Edward Palmer, in a paper on " Plants used by the 

 natives for food," read before the Royal Society of N.S.W. in 

 1888, has the following: — Faniciim decompositiom, B.Br.; 

 native name on Cloncurry, ' Tindil.' The ' Umbrella' grass 

 grows on all western countiy, with a fine, bi-anching seed-head 

 and broad leaves, about two feet high. Found on Cloncurry 

 plains. The seed-top breaks off when dry, and is driven by 

 wind across the plains. Has a fine yellow seed, like lucerne- 

 seed, which is gathered when the seed is just opened from the 

 sheath." 



"It is winnowed and ground between two stones, mixed with 

 water into a kind of paste or thick gruel, and poured inio the 

 hot ashes, making it into a sort of damp bread; veiy nourishing 

 and satisfying." 



The seeds of grasses must be very valuable articles of food, 

 particularly those that require little or no preparation to remove 

 their husks. 



Of this kind are the seeds of the various species of Sporo- 

 bolus, on the close spikes of which the shintng minute gi-ains 

 may be easily observed, " cast out" of their chatt' naturally. In 

 1881, the late Mr. Ridler sent me a large packet of these seeds, 

 used by the Burnett blacks. 



The Burnett settlers call it "Wire-grass," and the aborigines 

 say the eating of it makes them " warry." In their estimation, 

 it is an aphrodisiac. 



The wild rice of the Carpentaria swamps (Onjza .'^ativa Linn) , 

 however, needs to be carefully cleaned from its spiny (?hafl", 

 which may be done by rubbing in wooden troughs. This must 

 be the most important grass-food in Australia, being little 

 inferior to cultivated rice. The plant grows six feet high, and 

 produces a good crop even in the latitude of Brisbane. The 



