21 
there is great variation in the bark in the same species (over an interval of, say, 
2,000 miles), and we are reminded that examination of the bark, a most useful 
character, must be conducted with caution. The amount of rough bark on the 
trunk varies within wide limits ; sometimes it is almost absent. It is a matter of 
degree. 
Roth refers to the bark as used by the Queensland aborigines in the following 
terms, but it contains nothing of a poisonous nature, and the results are obtained 
through the astringent principle. There is no active principle which is contained in 
this bark which is not contained in the bark of very many other Eucalypts ; its use 
is simply a matter of local convenience by the blacks. 
In the North-west Central districts, especially in large water-holes, I have often watched the process 
(of fish-poisoning, or rather stupefying. J.H.M.). 
The whole camp may co-operate, and will start throwing the leafy boughs and branches in first thing 
of a morning. During the day the water becomes darker and darker and strongly smelling, until by the 
following morning at sunrise, when it is almost black, the fish all lie panting at the surface, and are easily 
caught. (&. Q. Ethnography, Bull. No. 3, Roth.) 
The inside bark is beaten up and used as a poultice for snake-bites, heated. Cloncurry, <fcc. (E. 
Palmer.) 
Timber. This wood is reddish-brown or reddish, and hard, heavy, and 
elastic. Mons. Thozet speaks of it with figure not unlike walnut, but darker, 
heavier, and closer grained. It is useful in building and for fencing purposes, being 
a generally useful timber, durable, though not of outstanding merit. It is almost 
impossible to split. " Piles made of the young trees have been used with advantage 
for the construction of the Great Northern Railway of Queensland." (Thozet.) 
A Water-yielding Tree. The late K. H. Bennett, who used to live in the 
Hay district, was particularly interested in this tree as a water yielder, and, at my 
request, wrote out the following account of it : 
It is a species of Gum, and its native name is "Tangoon.' ; It is our largest tree, often attaining a 
height of 70 or 80 feet, with a diameter in the trunk of 4 feet. It is peculiar [It ban a wider range. 
J.H.M.] to the arid and waterless country lying between the Lachlan and Darling Rivers, and is 
distribute*] in clumps and patches, and in greatest quantities on, and in the vicinity of, the low stony hills 
which intersect this country. In appearance it is somewhat like the Red Gum (E. roxtrata) ; the leaves 
are, however, much smaller and lighter coloured, and unlike the Red Gum. It is no indication of water, 
a.s it only grows on the driest soil, and never in the neighbourhood of wet or swampy ground. 
Although, as I haye said, these trees are no indication of water, either above or below the surface, 
still they themselves possess stores of this necessary element, and from the roots of this, and two or three 
other varieties of trees, the natives in bygone dry summers obtained their supply of water. The occupation 
of the country by whites, and the consequent construction of tanks and dams, has in a great measure done 
away with the necessity of their obtaining water by this means, but even now they are sometimes 
compelled to resort to it. The other trees from which water is procured are the glossy-leaved Box, 
Mallee, Currajong, and a species of Hakea ; but the natives prefer this Gum, as it yields the most of the 
precious fluid. In all cases the modug operandi is the same, which is as follows : The operator or 
operators commence by thrusting a sharp-pointed stick (generally the tops of their spears) into the earth 
at a distance of 15 or 20 feet from the tree; this is to find the roots, which generally are found at a depth 
varying from a few inches to a foot beneath the surface, and the reason for commencing at that distance 
from the trunk is thafc the root near the tree is too woody, and not sufficiently porous to contain water. 
Having struck the root, they quickly remove the soft superincumbent earth for a distance of 20 or 30 feet 
with their wooden shovels, and suiting the root off at each end remove it, and then cut it up into lengths 
of about 18 inches, knock the bark off, and putting one end into some vessel, and the other into the 
