The Australian aboriginal

Whatever contributes towards the vegetable diet of a tribe is procured essentially by the women. Daily excursions are made by the women, young and old, collectively or in small groups, to lay in a stock for the family meal, which is prepared when the sire returns to camp. The articles which are collected are almost unlimited in variety, the time of the year usually determining which kind in particular is made the object of the day’s outing.

The children accompany their mother, and although they help in the general collecting, as decided by the mother, they find many little “luxuries,” like the seeds of the mistletoe and the nectar contained in the calyx of a flower, which they partake of as opportunity affords.

Throughout the central and west-central regions, one of the commonest vegetables, which is eaten in very large quantities, both raw and roasted, is the tunicated corm of the Cyperus rotundus, which grows in the sandy banks of practically all the river-courses in the area mentioned. These little bulbs grow not very deep below the surface, and, being covered by a comparatively loose sand or sandy loam, are easily obtained. The gins use “wanna” or yam-sticks which they mostly hold in the fist of one hand and apply the chisel-point to the ground like a pick, whilst the other hand scoops or scratches the sand out of the hole. As the bulbs come up, they are placed into the bark carrier (Plate XXI). The best time to dig for the bulbs is when the grass-like blades of the plant have dried off. When a tribe has been camped for a while near a favourable collecting ground, many acres of soil are turned over, giving one quite the impression of a cultivated field. The Arunndta call this bulb “yelka” or “irriakutta,” the Aluridja “dunnmördta.” The bulb is about the size of a field-pea. To eat it, all that is required to be done is to rub it between the palms of the two hands and then blow away the light shell, which peels off during the process. The natives usually take up five or six at a time and treat them thus, when they are to be eaten raw; children are especially fond of them raw. The bulbs have a sweetish, nutty flavour.

When “yelka” is to be roasted, the bulbs are laid for a short time on hot ashes, then taken up, rubbed between the hands, as described above, and eaten.

Of equal importance in this region is a little, fleshy-leaved plant, resembling a portulaca, which is known generally as “munyeroo,” and bears the botanic name of Claytonia. It springs up all over the sandhills of central Australia after a good rainfall. When on the march, the natives eat the leaves of this plant raw, both as nourishment and as a thirst-quencher; at times they are thrown on to hot ashes, and, after baking for a short time only, eaten hot. But by far the most important product of the munyeroo is its seed, which occurs as tiny jet-black grains enclosed within a capsule. Though to us it would seem most tedious work, it does not take the gins so very long to collect large quantities of the seed in their bark carriers or coolemans. Seen in bulk like this, the seed reminds one forcibly of gunpowder. With sufficient collected for a meal, they return to camp and clean the seed by “pouring” it from one carrier to another in the wind, when the dry shells will be blown away. If there is no wind available, the gin takes up a handful of the seed, and holding it over a cooleman, blows the husks away with her mouth. When tolerably clean, the seed is placed, little by little, upon a flat grinding stone and reduced to a mealy consistency with a pebble, which is worked by hand. Every now and again, a little water may be added to the mass, which, after a while, is scraped into a cooleman with the side of the hand. The paste may be eaten raw, but more frequently it is mixed with more meal to make a dough, and then baked in hot ashes. The Arunndta call this seed “ingwitega,” the Aluridja “waketo.”

On the eastern side of the great central region, especially along the Cooper Creek, the small plant commonly known as “nardoo” is economically the most important to the local tribes. Nardoo grows only on clayey flats, on which water has been stagnant for a while. It is not altogether unlike a small-leaved shamrock; and its scientific name is Marsilea quadrifolia. Forming a ring around the stem, just above the surface of the ground, each plant develops a bunch of spore cases, which, when matured, are gathered in great numbers by the tribes. Those of the readers who are familiar with the history of Australian exploration will recollect that the members of the ill-fated Burke and Wills expedition were for an appreciable time sustained by nardoo cakes, which were given them by the Yantowannta tribe on the Cooper Creek. The spore cases are flattish-oblong in shape, about the size of a small lentil, and extremely hard. The natives collect, grind, and prepare nardoo in precisely the same way as the other tribes mentioned treat the munyeroo. On account of the extensive use which is made of the stone hand-mill, in the Cooper Creek district, consisting of a large flat slab of stone, upon which a pebble is worked to and fro, the implement has earned for itself the name of nardoo-stone. The Arunndta refer to nardoo as “parapara,” the Dieri as “kalumba.”

By the same process the seed of many acacias, which is collected in considerable quantities, is made into cakes. A peculiar ingredient is added to the flour by the Victoria Desert tribes in the form of white ants, which they knead into the dough and bake with it.

On the north coast, from King Sound east to the Gulf of Carpentaria, quite a variety of grass seeds, also those of the lotus lily, are ground and baked.

One of the regular articles of vegetable diet in the tropics is the tuber of the water-lily, which is gathered by the score and roasted in ashes; it tastes almost like a potato, with perhaps a distinctive flavour about it resembling that of the Jerusalem artichoke. In the Northern Kimberleys, the species most frequently eaten is the beautiful Nymphaea stellata, which is variously known as “kapa,” “kadje,” or “toki.” But perhaps the most popular dish in the tuber line in the Northern Territories is the yam. A great variety of these is available, but it often requires the genius of an aboriginal to locate them, especially when there are no leaves showing on the surface. It is not every yam, however, which is esculent; and some are so “hot” that even the smallest portion of one applied to the mouth will severely blister the mucous membranes. Here again the expert knowledge of the native is of inestimable service to the inexperienced, for it is he who can at a glance tell which is fit for consumption and which is not; and it is he who can treat some of the peppery varieties in such a way as to eliminate the objectionable taste. Some kinds he discards entirely because he knows that, if he ate them, they would cause a painful “fire in the anus.”

Within a somewhat restricted area, extending from north of the Musgrave Ranges eastwards to the Depôt Sandhills, a fungus exists, which is known to the Aluridja and Wongapitcha as “widida,” and to the Arunndta as “oridja.” In general appearance it is much like the European truffle, and, like it, grows mostly below the surface of the ground; indeed it is difficult for the untrained eye to detect a widida, except under the direction of an aboriginal. At times one finds old sweetish juice. The inner layer of the shell is white, soft, and specimens showing above the ground, which have been exposed by wind or rain, but when this is the case, the fungus is not really fit for consumption, because its richness will have attracted many blowflies, and it will, in consequence, be teeming with maggots. A few specimens of this interesting fungus were collected by me and submitted to Mr. A. Grant, of Sydney, who determined it to be a species of Scleroderma. The widida may be eaten raw, but more commonly they are cooked in hot ashes.

In the mulga country of the Flinders Ranges, and all over central Australia, a species known as Marsdenia Leichhardti is rather common. It is a creeper with slender stalk and smallish, elongate leaves, and bears a pear-shaped fruit, consisting of a thin green skin, which encloses a mass of silky seeds. When broken the plant exudes a thick milky sap. The fruit, stalks, and leaves of the plant are eaten; they have quite an agreeable, sweetish taste. The Wongapitcha call the plant “päuya,” the Arunndta “langu,” whilst in the Flinders Ranges the recognized name for it is “kaula.” On account of the shape of its fruit, this plant is referred to by the settlers as “native pear.”

Gall nuts and excrescences, when obtainable, are also on the daily menu. The most popular is one which is found on the twigs of the mulga. It is usually referred to by the settlers as “mulga apple,” and grows up to the size of a walnut. The whole of the growth, with the exception of a small kernel-like structure, containing the insect, is edible. The taste, though slightly eucalyptine, might be compared with that of a “tasteless apple.” The Wongapitcha call the mulga apple “jarrulge,” and the Arunndta “takul.”

Another variety of gall nut is found on the smaller branches of the Bloodwood (Eucalyptus corymbosa), and is, in consequence, spoken of as the “bloodwood apple.” It is a nodular, warty, and woody growth, about the size of a billiard ball, the inside of which is hollow and contains, besides the parasite, a sweetish juice. The inner layer of the shell is white, soft, and edible; the whole reminding one of a miniature cocoanut.