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Of vegetable food there was not much varity. Miss Petrie has
given an account of what was used by the Brisbane natives, which applies,
I believe, in every particular, to the tribes here treated of. She also
gives a list of the botanical names, which I shall not repeat.

Yams, fern-roots, the root of the cunjevoi, the core of the top of
the cabbage-palm, and a few wild fruits, such as the quandong, the native
plum, and the native lime, were the most common. It was recognised duty
of the women to dig the yams (Dioscorea Transversa) for family use. They
were regularly provided with the yam-stick for this purpose, a staff about
five feet long, the thickness of a stout walking-stick, and pointed at
both ends. It served another purpose equally well, being the women's
fighting weapon. They used it like a single-stick with great deftness in
their feminine encounters. The cunjevoi (Alocasia Macrorhiza) grew
luxuriantly in the Kabi country, about the beds of the creeks. It has a
large, broad, glossy leaf, with stalks set close together in a big bunch,
and closely resembles the Arum lily. The juice, being poisonous, had to
be expressed from the roots, which were then roasted before being eaten.

But for the Kabi people especially, the most esteemed vegetable
food was the product of the beautiful bunya tree (Araucaria Bidwillii).
The top towers aloft like a graceful dome above the surrounding foliage
of the scrub. So far as my experience went, it seemed to bear annually,
but it is said to be most prolific every third year. The cone sometimes
attains a great size, the maximum diameters being as large as 16 ins. by
9 ins. The seeds are an inch to an inch and a half long and half an
inch thick at the thicker end. Their tissue is like that of a potato.
When the seed is young, it is juicy and soft and it is eaten entire and
raw. As it matures the embryo assumes a more definite form and is rejected-
the surrounding tissue, at the same time, becomes drier and less palatable.
Before being roasted, each seed is partially bruised with a stone. When
it has been in the fire for a minute or two it gives a crack, the signal
that it is cooked. They sometimes pounded the roasted seed into a kind of
meal, which they call nyangu. They showed exceptional foresight in
laying up a store of bunyas. They picked the seeds out of the cone,
leaving untouched the tough envelope with which they are covered, then
they put them into netted bags and buried them about the beds of the creeks
to be ready for future consumption. Bunyas thus stored came to have a very
offensive smell, which they imparted to all that came into contact with
them. Still the natives ate them with great relish, although they made
their breath smell much worse than if they had eaten raw onions. The ripe
seeds have a resinous flavour when roasted, which is more decided when
they are boiled. The best evidence of their value as a nutritious food
was the way the natives throve upon them. In the bunya season they became
visibly fat. Certain trees were claimed by individuals. The local natives
were proud of their bunya tree and very fond of the fruit. At the prospect
of an abundant yield, tribes would gather from a distance of upwards of a
hundred miles to feast upon the bunya. The visit usually terminated with a
battle.

Cannibalism had been practised, but after the prejudices of the whites
became known, it was very rarely indulged in. Apparently, human beings
were not killed for the express purpose of being eaten, but portions of
deceased persons not emaciated, and the flesh of those killed in fighting,
were consumed as food. Individuals were unwilling to own to cannibalism
themselves, but would admit that others were given to it.

When not moving among the white people, the natives were content with
Nature's livery for clothing and were not ashamed. The possum rug was
worn like a shawl about the shoulders in cold weather and formed a covering
at night. The papery bark of the tea tree (nambur nambur), had at a former
time been similarly used. Other clothing they had none, but they adorned
themselves with a few ornaments. Thier[sic] girdle, made of hair twine or other
cord, was a convenient receptacle for the tomahawk or other implement.
The head-band, also of plaited cord, or of the skin of the dingo's tail,
was more for adornment than utility. I have seen those made of cord
coloured with pipeclay. On special occasions white feathers would be stuck
in front. Both sexes would wear a piece of mother-of-pearl shell suspended
by a string from the neck; this was known as a dulin. Another kind of
dulin worn by the women was a piece of native dogskin cut in the posterior.
The women wore long necklaces of beads made of a yellow reed, and the men
had the septum of the nose perforated to hold a thin piece of bone or wood.

(over)