648 
PKOCEEDINGS OF SECTION F. 
permits. The lesson is learned from our aborigines, who live, and love, 
and roam, and hunt, and pass away in their waterless wilds (waterless 
to the untaught white man). 
The Australian aborigine, dwelling, as he does, in realms where 
water is scarce, has, through the long ages during which he has roamed 
his desert wilds, stored up much valuable knowledge on water supply. 
This knowledge has passed down from generation to generation ; and 
having come, the white man, too, has inherited much of the treasured 
lore. Unfortunately, however, of this knowledge many bushmen are 
still ignorant, and to many ignorance has meant death. 
Men in Australia have lain down under a “ Water- tree,” and died 
from thirst whilst the water they so terribly needed lay only two or 
three inches under the scorching sand, and beneath their outstretched 
finger-tips. Sad, but true ! And the pity of it was thev did not know 
that the water was there. The aborigine knows better. Trees, 
animals, birds, insects, and rocks, all yield up to the aboriginal of these 
wilds their rich secret of water supply. Of these this paper will treat 
in detail. Water-favoured Australia lies outside the scope of this 
writing. Hence what follows refers specially to arid Australia. 
Briefly, let us pass in review the guides to water above enumerated, 
but including also the aboriginal. 
TREES. 
The mallee, needle-bush, currajong, Camay ina, mulga, Acacia , 
and young growth of gum are the best of the water-trees, storing up 
supplies in root and stem, the root being most often the source of 
supply in our arid regions. 
These trees grow usually in a loose, soft, dry sandy or loamy soil. 
The Mallee. — The mallee scrub of our arid regions consists 
mostly of Eucalyptus Eumosa, E. gracilis , E. incrassaia , E. oleosa , 
E. microtheca , E. panic id a fa, E. popidi folia, and E. uncinata. 
Of these the “Water- trees” (or “ Water Mallees”) are: Eucalyptus 
microtheca , E incrassaia , E. oleosa , E paniculata , E. popidi folia. 
Eucalyptus microtheca is ho named from the extreme smallness 
of its fruit. Called also “ Water Box.” Large specimens reach SO 
feet in height ; stem, 4 feet diameter. Named bv natives of River ina 
“Tangoon”; of Murchison, Western Australia, u Callable” or 
“ Vathoo” ; of Western Queensland, “Coalybah.” 
Eucalyptus incrassaia.. — Blowers from growth of 4 feet high; 
grows up to 30 feet; bark smooth, outside whitish or reddish in 
colour ; the bark seceding, so rendering the surface smooth ; seed 
vessel “ribbed.” 
Eucalyptus oleosa. — The leaves are oil-bearing; tall bushes; 
branched from the root ; height 15 feet ; bark of young tree smooth 
and pale. The roots of these water mallees are of incalculable value 
to the natives, as it is through their thorough reliableness, as yielding 
abundance of water for their needs, that the aborigines are enabled to 
go far out into arid wilds, there to roam and hunt and gather food 
with the utmost liberty and confidence. Seed vessel has a pistil 
similar to the clapper of a bell. 
The roots of these water-trees run out from the stem for 40 feet to 
80 feet, lying at a depth only from two inches to nine inches below the 
surface. They are frequently marked by a “ rise” or “ bulge” of 
