or Nardu,
aboriginal word for the sporocarp of a plant, Marsilea quadrifolia,Linn., used as food by the aboriginals, and sometimes popularlycalled Clover-fern. The explorers Burke and Willsvainly sought the means of sustaining life by eating flour madefrom the spore-cases of nardoo. «Properly Ngardu in theCooper's Creek language (Yantruwunta).» (A. W. Howitt.)Cooper's Creek was the district where Burke and Wills perished.In South Australia Ardoo is said to be the correct form.
1861. `Diary of H. J. Wills, the Explorer,' quoted in BroughSmyth's `Aborigines of Victoria,' p. 216:
«I cannot understand this nardoo at all; it certainly willnot agree with me in any form. We are now reduced to it alone,and we manage to get from four to five pounds a day between us.. . . It seems to give us no nutriment. . . . Starvationon nardoo is by no means very unpleasant, but for the weaknessone feels and the utter inability to move oneself, for, as faras appetite is concerned, it gives me the greatestsatisfaction.»
1862. Andrew Jackson, `Burke and the Australian ExploringExpedition of 1860,' p. 186:
«The [wheaten] flour, fifty pounds of which I gave them, theyat once called `whitefellow nardoo,' and they explained thatthey understood that these things were given to them for havingfed King.»
1865. W. Howitt, `Discovery in Australia,' vol. ii. p. 247:
«They now began to inquire of the blacks after the nardoo seed,imagining it the produce of a tree; and received from thenatives some of their dried narcotic herbs, which they chew,called pitchery. They soon found the nardoo seed in abundance,on a flat, and congratulated themselves in the idea that onthis they could subsist in the wilderness, if all other foodfailed, a hope in which they were doomed to a greatdisappointment.»
1877. F. von Mueller, `Botanic Teachings,' p. 130:
«Of Marsiliaceae we have well known examples in thenardoo ( Marsilea quadrifolia, with many varieties),the foliage resembling that of a clover with four leaflets.»
1878. R. Brough Smyth, `Aborigines of Victoria,' p. 209:
«They seem to have been unacquainted generally with the use, asa food, of the clover-fern, Nardoo, though the natives of theNorth Western parts of Victoria must have had intercourse withthe tribes who use it, and could have obtained it, sparingly,from the lagoons in their own neighbourhood.»
1879. J. D. Wood, `Native Tribes of South Australia,' p. 288:
«Ardoo, often described by writers as Nardoo. A very hardseed, a flat oval of about the size of a pea. It is crushedfor food.»
1879 (about). `Queensland Bush Song':
«Hurrah for the Roma Railway!
Hurrah for Cobb and Co.!
Hurrah, hurrah for a good fat horse
To carry me Westward Ho!
To carry me Westward Ho! my boys;
That's where the cattle pay,
On the far Barcoo, where they eat nardoo,
A thousand miles away.»
1879. S. Gason, in `The Native Tribes of South Australia,'p. 288:
« Ardoo. Often described in news papers and by writersas Nardoo. A very hard seed, a flat oval of about the size ofa split pea; it is crushed or pounded, and the husk winnowed.In bad seasons this is the mainstay of the native sustenance,but it is the worst food possible, possessing very littlenourishment, and being difficult to digest.»
1882. Rev. J. E. Tenison-Woods, `Proceedings of the of theLinnaean Society of New South Wales,' p. 82 [Botanical Notes onQueensland]:
« Sesbania aculeata. The seeds of this plant are eatenby the natives. It grows in all warm or marshy places inQueensland. By many it is thought that this was the Nardoowhich Burke and Wills thought came from the spores of a Marsilea. It is hard to suppose that any nourishmentwould be obtained from the spore cases of the latter plant,or that the natives would use it. Besides this the spore-casesare so few in number.»
1890. E. D. Cleland, `White Kangaroo,' p. 113:
«The great thing with the blacks was nardoo. This is a plantwhich sends up slender stems several inches high; at the tip isa flower-like leaf, divided into four nearly equal parts. Itbears a fruit, or seed, and this is the part used for food. Itis pounded into meal between two stones, and is made up in theform of cakes, and baked in the ashes. It is said to benourishing when eaten with animal food, but taken alone toafford no support.»