SKETCH OF THE VEGETATION OF AUSTRALIA. 
213 
Avhen roasted, they liave been found to be a 
good substitute foi* coffee. Other trees, 
besides the gum-trees before mentioned, here 
produce a gum, valuable as an article of diet ; 
in particular one or two species of Ternii- 
nulia, whose gum is generally found to act as 
a slight purgative. Another preparation the 
natives have is to soak the flowers of the 
drooping tea-tree (3Ielaleuca sp. ?) in water, 
to which they impart a sweet and agreeable 
flavour, from the quantity of nectar which 
they contain ; a plan which the natives of the 
eastern coast adopt with the flowers of several 
species of Baiiksia. The natives draw a con- 
siderable supply of food i'rom the screw-pine 
{Pandanus spiralis), whose fruit are first 
roasted, then soaked in water, and the de- 
tached seed-vessels then again roasted, in 
order to obtain the kernels. When the per- 
fectly ripe fruit are treated in this manner, 
the nuts are very palatable. The seeds of a 
species of Cycas, which appears to be almost 
confined within the influence of salt water in 
the Gulf of Carpentaria, also affords an 
article of diet to the aborigines; the nuts are 
cut into thin slices, dried, soaked for several 
days, and then tied up in tea-tree (^Melaleuca) 
bark, to underge a peculiar species of fermen- 
tation, before they are fit for use. This 
species of cycas attains a height of from 
thirty to fifty feet, with a stem thick below, 
gradually tapering upwards, and occasionally 
separating into two or three branches. An- 
other plant, producing a seed valuable for its 
economical properties, is a species of Stercu- 
lia (S. heterophylla?), the slightly -roasted seeds 
of which, being pounded and boiled for a 
short time, form a good and nourishing dish. 
A further article of diet is afforded by the 
bull-rush (Typha latifvlia ?), the base of the 
young shoots of which are used by the natives 
of Australia, as well as by the Cossacks of 
the Don. The little gooseberry-tree {Conio- 
geton arhorescens) affords a fruit much 
esteemed by the natives ; it tastes something 
like a gooseberry, when ripe, and imparts an 
agreeable acidity to water when boiled in an 
unripe state. The aborigines of this part of 
Australia use the cabbage of at least three 
sorts of palm, as articles of food — Livistona 
inermis, Seaforthia sp., and Corypha sp., — 
whose forms so materially assist in giving a 
tropical cast to the vegetation of this part of 
New Holland, notwithstanding the predomi- 
nance of more southern and peculiar forms of 
plants in the same districts. Under the name ' 
of '' Allamurr" they also largely use the nut- 
like swelling, or tuber, of a sedge, which is 
very sweet, mealy, and nourishing. 
In addition to the native productions, at 
Port Essington, the cocoa-nut palm {Cocos 
nucifem) has been introduced, and succeeds 
remarkably well ; and nearly all the other 
chief vegetable productions of the tropics 
flourish in great perfection, as the cotton, the 
indigo, the banana, the arrow-root, the sweet 
potato, the bread-fruit, the jack-fruit, the 
sour-sop, the pine-apple, the mango, and the 
mangosteen ; and there appears little doubt 
that the swamps and low grounds lying along 
the banks of the numerous rivers, will be 
found well fitted for the extensive cultivation 
of rice. 
The vegetation of the north-west coast of 
Australia, with many peculiarities of species, 
still presents the same likeness to the general 
cliaracter of the flora of this extensive country 
which has been before mentioned. At Hano- 
ver Bay, the most striking object in the forest 
is a giant species of gum-tree {Kncalyptiis) 
with a bark resembling coarse white paj)er, 
and a drooping and graceful foliage. Beneath 
these Titans of the forest the scrub (in compa- 
rison) is chiefly composed of screw pines 
{Pandanus) and wild nutmeg {Myristica sp .), 
the intervals being filled up with various rich 
grasses and climbing plants. But the most 
singular production hereabouts is a gouty- 
stemmed tree {Capparis sp.?), almost identical 
in properties with the hottlti-tvee {Delabechea 
rupestris) of the east coast. This tree does 
not rise to a great height in proportion to the 
bulk of its stem, which often measures twenty- 
nine feet in circumference at a little distance 
from the ground. Below the spreading of 
the branches, the rnain stem contracts to 
about two-thirds the diameter of the gouty 
part below, and the branches are rather short, 
spreading, with a light and graceful foliage. 
The fruit is of an elliptical form, about the 
size of a cocoa-nut, with a rind similar to that 
of the almond, enclosing a shell, which con- 
tains a large quantity of almond-like seeds 
embedded in a white pulp. The bark of the 
tree on being wounded yields a small quantity 
of a nutritious white gum, resembling rcacca- 
roni in taste and appearance ; soaked in hot 
■water the bark yields an agreeable mucilngi- 
nous drink. This tree is an important object 
to the natives, who appear to use the nuts as 
a substitute for bread. 
To the south of Hanover Bay, on the rich 
lands near the Glenelg River, the vegetation 
is peculiarly luxuriant, with Casuarinas, Eu- 
calypti, and similar forms, mixed up with 
bamboos, and other more strictly tropical 
forms ; while in the more open country the 
grasses are of the most luxuriant description. 
Among them is one which has been called the 
Australian oat, a plant growing to the height 
of five or six feet, and bearing a general 
resemblance to the European oat, but that 
this sort has a beard resembling barley. The 
seeds are nutritious, and the plant often occurs 
