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.
CHAPTER XVI
BEVERAGES
Honey solution—Pandanus cider—Human blood.
Although, naturally, the principal and practically only drink of the various tribes is water, there are one or two special beverages deserving of notice. In central Australia, the Aluridja, Arunndta, and Wongapitcha collect many handfuls of Eremophila flowers, commonly called honeysuckle by the local white settlers, in their bark food-carriers, on to which they pour a quantity of water. The flowers are stirred around for a while with a stick and then skimmed off with a piece of bark or by hand. The drink is ready for consumption immediately after; it has a slightly sweetish taste, and is relished by young and old. Another source of nectar is the beautiful red flower of Brachysema Chambersii, which grows in abundance in the sandhills both north and south of the MacDonnell Ranges and is known by the Arunndta as “aumba.”
On the north coast of Australia, the wild-bee honey is upon occasions dissolved in water and drunk. This is nearly always done when the comb, obtained in the first place, is mixed with sand and grit, or when the honey is absorbed in the fibres of the collecting implement described above ([page 146]).
The Roper River tribes pick the large fruits of the corkscrew palm or pandanus, which are not unlike pineapples in appearance, but very hard and stringy, and, after bashing them between heavy stones, they keep them immersed in water for some time before they drink the solution. The water absorbs the sweetly stringent juice and produces a refreshing toddy. It being necessary to keep the fruit in water for some time to extract as much of the palatable ingredient as possible (it may be, for that matter, that the natives leave the solution behind in a cooleman, while they go on a hunting tour, returning for it in the course of some days’ time), opportunity is given for the solution to start fermenting; a mild pandanus-cider is the result. It actually happens that upon great festive occasions, when large quantities of this beverage have been made some time beforehand, the natives imbibe more than ordinarily, and thereby bring themselves into a condition of indubitable merriment. The Katherine and Victoria River tribes make a similar beverage, but do not store it for any length of time. This is the only instance I am aware of where Australian natives, intentionally or unintentionally, make an intoxicating drink.
When men are on a long-distance stage, as, for instance, during a drought, when water is scarce and the sun is relentlessly fierce, they are occasionally obliged to resort to the old tribal custom of drinking each other’s blood to escape perishing of thirst. They open a vein in the arm and collect the blood in a cooleman, or they allow one or more of their companions to drink straight from the wound. In certain cases of sickness blood is also given to the patient to drink.