Page:Aboriginesofvictoria01.djvu/310

228 in a new unsettled country like Northern Queensland should stimulate to further exertion those who either by taste or accident have become acquainted with the practical resources of our flora.

The vegetable foods here referred to have been divided into three categories:—
 * 1) Those used without any preparation.
 * 2) Those which require baking only.
 * 3) Those which, being poisonous, require to go through a process of maceration, pounding, and desiccation.

The first category includes roots and bulbs, which, like the native yam and water-lily, are very plentiful, and available at any time. The fruits, though more numerous, do not offer advantages equal to the others, as they mature only at certain seasons of the year.

The second category includes the root of a bean and the tubers of a rush, which are also plentiful, and easily obtainable.

The last category is the most important, as it furnishes an inexhaustible supply. These plants, with the exception of Entada scandens, besides being abundant, are of wide distribution over the northern part of this continent.

Should the publication of these particulars be instrumental in affording relief to the suffering, or in saving the lives of any lost in the trackless forests of the interior, the writer will feel amply rewarded.

1. Hibiscus heterophyllus, Vent. Native sorrel. Aboriginal name, Batham.

2. Sterculia trichosiphon, Benth. Platan-leaved bottle-tree. Ketey.

3. Sterculia rupestris, Benth. Bottle-tree. Binkey.

4. Cissus opaca, F. Muell. Round yam. Yaloone (large), Wappoo-wappoo (small).