THE BARQUE DUNDONALD.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume LVIII, Issue 8945, 20 December 1907, Page 2

THE BARQUE DUNDONALD.

THE CASTAWAYS' ONLY

VEGETABLE,

Mr Crosby Smith has shown the Southland Times a growing specimen of the plant Stilbocarpa polaris, which the Dundonald castaways used as a vegetable during their soujoru on Disappointment Island. The leaves of the plant are large, smooth, and pale green in colour, but not in any way remarkable. What is remarkable about the plant is the long stalk or root on which the leaves grow. The specimen which Mr Smith has in his possession has a stem nearly 2ft long, and in diameter. This Mr Smith describes as a small plant, aud he says that the stem is not thick as a man's arm. It is this MR stalk which the unfortunate sailors turned to account as a vegetable, cooking it in the only way possible under the circumstances—by roasting it on an open fire. In appearance and texture the "vegetable" is something between a cabbage stalk and a parsnip. It is said to be very nutriious, and an excellent preventive of such skin diseases as men living almost entirely on flesh might be expected to suffer from. It is probable that the Dundonald castaways owe their practical immunity from any such disease during the seven months which they spent on this island to their use of this plant for food.