Show l I k U LEEPWVINC PITURL I it i IN AUSTRALIA is FOUND A WONDERFUL NARCOTIC PLANT UNKNOWN TO MEDICAL PRACTICE IN THE CIVILIZED WORLD t WHICH r TOWEBFTTI YET HARMLESS IN ITS EFFECTSIT t MAY PROVE A BOON TO MANKIND TO BE AN ABSOLUTE f CUBE FOE INSOMNIA AND NEURALGIAFOR THIS PLANT THE NATIVE AUSTRALIANS WILL BETRAY TRIBAL SECRETS AND r EVEN SELL THEm VERY SOULS BY COLONEL JOHN F HOBBS The pituri Is the strangest narcotic plant known to man Strictly speaking science knows very little about it It knows nothing of its uses Some one writing in the Lancet a few years ago stated that the herb was a dangerous and poisonous one which should not be allowed to be used except under the strictest medical supervision While in the pituri country Australia afterward after-ward I disclosed this medical statement state-ment to a chief who spoke broken English En-glish and asked his opinion Many blurry fool was the stolid reply re-ply There is much in this answer for how can medical scIence regulate the beneficial use of a plant which it does not understand itself In its natural green state the pituri is dangerous poison After it has been properly roasted and treated by the Australian tribesmen it is not only perfectly harmless as a poison but the most soothing and beneficial auxiliary in its branch of medical practice Pituri after treatment by the natives na-tives gives perfect sleep Its influence softly steals away the senses until the whole nervous system is is naturally at dSotfnrg rest After the period of its I Influence Ion I-on the system is over the soothed senses bound back to new life There I are no after pains or aches and best of all no craving for the influence of the drug Pituri is thus a perfect antidote anti-dote to Insomnia and an absolute cure for neuralgia The writer is a chief in an adjacent tribe and is speaking from his own knowledge of the plant and its effect upon himself as well as that uuon the warriors Jts sleep is perfect and natural and its waking that of the I I Invigorating morning air in the bracing I mountains For this plant the wild I tribesmen will sell their souls It is known and used everywhere among I them though very few outside tribes I I know whence it comes to them That secret is left to the tribes about the Georgina I It is used in this way The black wgrks the pitura 4n its prepared state In a small piece of native flax so that it will hold together and not waste This flax is prepared in the form of a cord which Is carried about the neck When the wearer wishes rest or sleep after a hard fight or a long day of tiring tir-ing travel he takes the end of the hempen cord in his mouth and chews it until he falls off to sleep Then the cord drops out of his mouth and leaves him asleep He awakens from his sleep delightfully refreshel his old tired feeling feel-ing gone his whole nervous system toned and no illeffects from this artificial arti-ficial help He never has a craving for the drug He simply uses it when he needs it Neuralgia is entirely unknown un-known in those who use the pituri When the supply is short the owner of the pituri yoke hands it around to the I remainder of the tribe When he has finished and feels his own senses stealing steal-ing away he hangs the ends behind his ears for safe keeping Very few whites have seen the pituri shrub and its medicinal properties are entirely unknown to the science of AngloSaxon civilization As I have before stated the pituri country is about 150 miles long It runs from the back of Toko water hole on Linda creek west of the Georgina riveron the north to the back of Sandnngham station on the south And is CO miles wide This plant does not grow in any other country of the world and this is the only place I in which it is known to grow or can be grown in Australia It is not even known anywhere else in the world except ex-cept by a chance hearsay traveler From 1 to 1 opnces is the quantity needed for each dose or treatment It is highly prized by the wild blacks of Australia as is seen by the wide scope > of country it reaches through barter and trade The native prizes nothing higher than this herb He will do more for its possession than for any other earthly treasure In the Bora ceremony cere-mony It is indispensable to the medicine medi-cine man The elevation of the pituri country is > V fftw5 3 v 7 N > Natives Gathering Pituri and Scorching Shoots the Trunks Produce New I The pituri is a shrub or bush six to 12 feet high and found only on a ridge of barren sand hills 60 miles wIde by 100 to 150 miles long running in a north to south direction west of the Mulligan river In northwestern Queensland Australia The nearest civilized point to the pituri district is on the gulf of Carpentaria which is 600 miles north of i It It grows on the immediate crest of the sand hills It wIll not grow on their sides nor on the slopes ot the lowlands and it has never been found in the valleys between these low barren ridges The tree does not grow in large yo bodies but in small patches of from three to eicht plants The stem is small Some of them grow as large as three inches at the butt and 12 or so I feet tall These large ones are rare however The average shrub is four to six feet with trunks about two inches thick It is similar in appearance to the sandal wood brush but the leaf Is more elongated and of a waxy light grayish tinge The stems of the young shoots have a reddish tinge of color Abcut a month or so after the tropical I trop-ical rains have fallen the aborigines I make pilgrimages to this section and pluck the young shoots These run I from six inches to a foot in length The sprigs make their first growth in winter I win-ter then receiving the full benefit of I forth the warm tropical rains shoot I youngand luxuriant tendrils After the blacks have gathered these they line themselves out in skirmishing I order and set fire to the spinlfex a sort of porcupine or turpentine grass I which being lightly charged with native na-tive volatile matter burns no matter how green it Is This firing serves two I purposes One of these purposes is to i hunt out the game which takes shelter on the sand hills the other and far I more important purpose served is the I scorching of the trunks and limbs of I the pituri shrub This causes shoots to spring from the roots and butts for I the next years crop After the sprigs or shoots have been pulled and collected col-lected large fires are made on I the deeD sands of the lowlands near their camps When the brushwood of these fires is burnt into a coal these and the ashes are mixed with the I sand the newly gathered pituri is 1 distributed regularly and placed in abed a-bed of this sand made for that pur pope It is then covered over with the mixture of hot sand and ashes This serves two purposes also The one is to dry the pituri so that it is easily carried the other to cook it and retain re-tain its virtue as in drying tea The herb is then ready for use in trade The virtue of the plant is In the cooked leaves and the tender portion of the stem The blacks then start away with it for tribal use and barter and T It finds its way thrQugh the nomadic II tribes hundreds of miles away over western Australia and to the Darling river in New So th Wales which is nearly 1000 roUts from where it fs i gathered All along the Paroo War rego tributaries of the Darling and on the Buller and Barcoe in Queensland Queens-land I found the tribesmen using and trafficking in this sleepgiving drug of the Pituri tribes of North Queensland I have onl > spoken of its preparation for commercial purposes I The ingenious race prepare it further fur-ther for private use in the following I manner The leaves and tendrils are I broken Into minute pieces by the blacks with their fingers and then put 1 into their mouths to be dampened < After wetting as above the particles are placed on a clean stone specially prepared for that purpose The leaves of the gidyah a species of acacia or those of any species of the mamosa are taken and dried In hot ashes then put in the flames of a firean ordinary ordi-nary fire made from any substanceto light them As these gidyah or ma mosa leaves burn they are held over the wet pituri on the stone so that the white ashes of the burning leaves fall on the dampened stuff beneath This process finished these ashes and the nituri are well mixed together by violent rubbing The strange drug is then ready for I use t k 0 I about 600 to 400 feet above the sea It is a dreary waste of sand but the Wahki and Pituri tribes have shed tons of blood through the ages defending this odd clime and its precious plant from the hordes of invading blacks who have hunted it out and surged down upon them to conquer this country Years of fighting and constant training made the myall of the sand climes invincible to his ancient foe and a terror ter-ror to the slow encroachments of our civilization The writer has lived ana I fought with these people he has slept I many times the restful piturl sleep and feels that he does his race a service II serv-ice fa divulging this medicinal secret of his own tribe This strange plant cannot be transplanted All efforts to I do so have failed I |