Shadowsblaze
Bluelighter
- Joined
- Aug 19, 2013
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I was curious do the tribes of Australia use any unusual plants associated with there "dream lives". I think that's what its called.
Our early European explorers in the Simpson Desert noticed the Aborigines chewing the leaves of the Pituri and discovered that it made them forget their thirst and hunger and made them happier. The leaves were moistened with saliva, roasted over a low fire then rolled to form a plug which they would carry behind the ear and used when necessary. The dried leaves were also mixed with ash of a certain Acacia and the mixture was believed to be more potent and as the ash had an alkaline effect, it released the active alkaloids in the plant so it could be absorbed more readily. The only member of the Burke & Wills expedition to survive, John King, admitted that it was chewing the Pituri that enabled him to survive. He said that by chewing the Pituri with the Aborigines he met, he became “perfectly indifferent to his miserable conditions”.
Besides being a reliever of hunger and thirst, the Pituri is also an hallucinogenic. Only the elders of a tribe were allowed to chew the leaves and this obviously helped them maintain their position within the tribe. Under the influence of Pituri, they claimed they could communicate with the spirits of their ancestors and were able to forecast the future. The plant does not grow in many areas of Australia and appears to be common in the south-west where Spinifex grows and is rare in the east so it became an important item of trade. Another way of use was to drill a small hole in the trunk, pour in some water, plug it and the following day it would become a strong liquor.
In 1841 the explorer George Grey published an account of his travels in Western Australia and reported that he'd seen seven species of fungi eaten by the Aborigines. He commented that "The different kinds of fungus are very good. In certain seasons of the year they are abundant, and the natives eat them greedily". The Tasmanian George Robinson wrote: "Various are the fungus which the natives eat, and all are known to them by different qualities which they possess, and all are known by different names".
Kalotas notes a Central Australian belief, as recorded by the anthropologists B Spencer and FJ Gillen at the beginning of the 20th century: "Falling stars appear to be associated with the idea of evil magic in many tribes. The Arunta believe that mushrooms and toadstools are fallen stars, and look upon them as being endowed with arungquiltha (evil magic) and therefore will not eat them." However, Kalotas comments that this cannot apply to all fungi, for a number are eaten by the central Australian people.