ROOTS EATEN BY NATIVES.  EDIBLE ROOTS AND SEEDS.

The roots eaten by the natives belong to the following genera: 

Dioscorea, two species. 
Haemadorum, several species, as the Mene, Ngool-ya, Mudja, etc. etc. 
Geranium, several species. 
Boerhaavia, two species. 
Typha, two species. 
Orchis, several species.

RULES FOR GATHERING ROOTS AND PLANTS.

Some of these are in season in every period of the year and the natives regulate their visits to the different districts accordingly.  Those plants which grow in a stiff soil cannot be dug up by their implements without great difficulty in the heat of the dry season, but those which grow in a loose sandy soil can be obtained at all times.  The natives have however a law that no plant bearing seeds is to be dug up after it has flowered; they then call them (for example) the mother of Bohn, the mother of Mudja, etc.; and so strict are they in their observance of this rule that I have never seen a native violate it unless requested by an European, and even then they betray a great dislike to do so.

The abundance of these roots varies, of course, with the nature of the soil, etc., but when there is a scarcity of any one of them this is amply provided for by the abundance of others.  In the Province of Victoria, as already stated, I have seen tracts of land, several square miles in extent, so thickly studded with holes where the natives had been digging up yams (Dioscorea) that it was difficult to walk across it.  Again, in the sandy desert country which surrounds for many miles the town of Perth, in Western Australia, the different species of Haemadorum are very plentiful.

GATHERING AND COOKING ROOTS.  MODE OF COOKING AND PREPARING THEM.

It is generally considered the province of women to dig roots, and for this purpose they carry a long pointed stick which is held in the right hand and driven firmly into the ground, where it is shaken so as to loosen the earth, which is scooped up and thrown out with the fingers of the left hand, and in this manner they dig with great rapidity.  But the labour in proportion to the amount obtained is great.  To get a yam about half an inch in circumference and a foot in length they have to dig a hole above a foot square and two feet in depth; a considerable portion of the time of the women and children is therefore passed in this employment.  If the men are absent upon any expedition the females are left in charge of one who is old or sick; and in traversing the bush you often stumble on a large party of them, scattered about in the forest, digging roots, and collecting the different species of fungus.