Miscellaneous papers relating to Aborigines, ca. 1839-1871 - Page 113
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country as well as the concentration of all necessary supplies. I have endeared in relation to W. Australia to effect this to the 1st place the Kangaroo emu & opossum altho by no means plentiful are occasionally to be met with - the rivers, lakes, & lagoons [afford?] in abundance effect [????turtle]. The marshy lands produce abundantly a [indecipherable] plant or [bulrush?] containing at its root a quantity of gluten [which?] exactly resembles wheaten flour It is called [Balyan?] by the natives & according to Major Mitchell so abundant as to be the stuff of life to whole tribes - that [officer?] found the plant on the [Kalare?] so abundant & [tasting?] so much gluten that one of his party in a short time succeded in collecting sufficient to make some cakes which seemed to Major Mitchell lighter & sweeter than any those made of common flour The [ mature?] mode of preparing it is by peeling off the outer rind, laying it a [little?] before the fire, twisting & loosening the fibres & then the [rhizoma?] is easily shaken out