A
Portuguese sailor in the service of Spain, Ferdinand Magellan
and his crew are the first people known to have circumnavigated
(sailed around) the globe. The expedition set sail in 1519 with
five ships. Magellan himself was killed in the Philippines in
1521, and just one ship under captain Sebastian del Cano survived
the voyage arriving back in Spain in 1522. The second circumnavigation
was more than 50 years later by the Englishman, Francis Drake,
in 1577-1580.
The Dutch captain, Abel Tasman, between 1642 and 1644, charted
Tasmania, New Zealand, New Guinea, and the northwest coast of
Australia. He had missed the more temperate part of the continent
to the southeast, and saw only rain forest and desert. This
probably delayed European settlement of Australia for 150 years.
Chemical warfare! One of the many different plants used by Australia's
Aboriginals to catch fish is the austral indigo. These were
crushed and put into pools to kill or stun fish so that they
could be easily caught. Among other plants used in different
parts of Australia were the leaves and bark of several wattles
and gum-trees, and the wild indigo. Spears made from a kind
of acacia tree also acted as a tranquillizer for hunting bigger
animals. The wood itself has a mild poison, and while it is
not fast acting, a kangaroo, for example, wounded by such a
spear would eventually be slowed down enough by the poison that
it could be trapped and killed.
The cumbungi, a kind of bulrush, was among the most important
plants for the Aboriginals. A multi-purpose plant, it was the
'staff of life' along the Murray-Darling river system and in
south-western Australia. The underground horizontal 'roots'
(rhizomes) were eaten: steamed in an earth oven, the outer layer
was stripped off, and the starchy fibrous inner part was tied
in a simple knot. This was then chewed to remove the starch,
which tastes like potato. The remaining fibre was dried, soaked,
scraped with mussel shells, and then rolled on the thigh to
give very strong string for making large nets which were used
to catch ducks and fish. Finer string was made from the leaves.
The young shoots which appear in early summer were eaten raw.
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