Water-Bearing Trees.

Kaipara and Waitemata Echo, 20 November 1914, Page 4

Water-Bearing Trees.

ABORIGINES "injSJI CRAFT. A SIMPLE LIFE SAVER. i The method, of obtaining water ': from eucalyptus roots as practised by the natives of the country he- ; ;ween the Eac-idan and Darling Rivers, war; described by the late ! i\. H. Bennett :si> years ago in a '■ paper road before tin: Einnean So- '. c-iety. He then stated that there ' were several kinds 01 trees irom ; which water was obtained, including ; three species of eucalyptus, a spe- ' cies of nakia (needle-bus!-,), and \ kurrajong. The eucalypti consisted > of a gum (the largest of tho back j country trees), a box, and malice, j The first-named was the most {.'referred, as yielding the greatest (man- i tity, and as the method was the ' same in all cases, this one will serve ' for a description of the modus ope- I randi. This tree, which somewhat, resembles the red gum in appearance—the leu.v-es being-narrow and of a silvery colour—grows chiefly on sandy or light loamy soil, and throws out numerous lateral roots at a depth of from (iin. to ;l2in. from the surface of the ground. The native, having ascertained the position of one or more of these roots uy repeatedly jobbing the point of ■Ji the tree, quickly removes the superincumbent soil with -his wooden shovel for 20ft to 00ft., and cuti'v.\p; the root off at each end, lifts X out of the trench, and cuts it up into lengths of about 18in, or 2ft. knocks off the bark, and stands the severed portions on end in some receptacle to contain the water (in former times a water-bag made of the entire skin of a male wallaby). As soon as these pieces are placed on end, the water commences to drip, and when the whole of the root or roots are cut up and placed on end, the native beginning at the first-placed, puts the end in his mouth, and, by a vigorous iHiff, expels the remaining water. The roots chosen are—with the bark on—about the size ola man's wris on —about the size of a wian's wrist; the larger ones bein.g more woody and less porous contain little or no ,viter. The; water is beautifully clear, cool, and free from any un■;e.a :;,!:■. iasle or smell. An ir.st and- of how i Ids fat i\ c knowledge was turned to good account is told by V.i-. W. li. rietkens ("Ooldea Water" region, S.A.), ■he tree in this instance being the :ie.sert oak. "Travelling once with v suia.]1! native boy of about 1.0 years of ag-e," he says., "and towards the close of a dreadful day, the waterbag lonp; wince emptied and t lie boy gasping for water, -.md myself no better (the boy was riding a very unu3Ja!)y tall camel, we still had 15 miles more to travel), all at once a cry broke from him, and with owe bound he was oil thai camel and running towards an oak tree, •.veil four chains distant at least. "I stopped the camels and went up

to him. Jfe y. •::; claw •:■ ,• ■; aivay at the hot, sandy yoil, and at, lastsnap. A root Hin. thick was brokcii, a hard pull, and about Sft of root was exposed, lifting the soil as it was raised. About 2ft. was ; broken off and upended into thn j mouth, and a c>ld drink the result, j Hut not sullicient ; another and an- i other length was broken on' till we i had sufß-i'Mii. We did not take-any i more than one root, and 1 think! there were eight or ten more such ; roots —enough in abundance for a dozen men. . . The water so obtained was cool, quite cool, colorless, and refreshing ; but I have noticed thai, upon exposure to the air j for a few hours it becomes a pale, i brown colour, such as would be no- i ticed in water into which a piece i of bark has been dropped." -Mr. j Tietkens also records how in another occasion he obtained nearly a bucket of water from a Central Aus- 1 tralian bloodwood tree at the Kaw- | linson Mange. Some of the native fauna, too, apparently have this same water insinct. An instance of this is given! by Mr. G. A. Koartland in "Notes, on the Zoology of the Great Desert i of Xorth-west Australia : "Here I shot several chestnut-coloured wallabies—an adult male which only weighed about Mlb. —and two species of bandicoots. Mow they obtained water was at first a mystery but on wandering near camp I found a quantity of the water-bearing mallee, and in many case the animals had scratched the sand from the roots, and then, after gnawing through the wood, had sucked the precious ffluid. I took up one of these roots (about 2ft. long), cut the ends with a sharp axe, and stood it in a pannikin. In ten minutes I had about an egg-cupful of water." In the coastal districts the Vitis -(native vine) has a number of species which have thick . lianes or stems, which hang pendent i'rom the trees, at times as thick as a man's leg. Mr. Maiden mentions that the earliest reference he can find to these is where the late Dr. George Konn'ett records that the life of >'r. liidwell (director of the Sydney .Botanic Gardens in 18 17, and who died in 18."5o) was save-1 when he | was lost in the bush by the water ihe was able to procure by incising one of these vines. Mr. Sidney W. .Jackson also furnishes Mr. Maiden with a photograph, in which he is seen taking a drink from such a '>inc. He slates that he got. ninny | drinks daily in this way in the brushes. flis mtl'nod is to cut tho vine almost through, and again j about :')!'!:. up from the drip, to admit the air.—"Daily Telegraph."