aised. These curious ornaments are formed by
cutting gashes in the flesh three-quarters of an inch long, and
stuffing the wound with mud, which prevents the edges from adhering,
and when the skin grows over, leaves a lump like an almond. The
number, proximity, and pattern of these adornments are according to the
peculiar tastes of the family, and vary considerably, but the breast,
back, shoulders, and arms are usually pretty thickly sown, giving the
appearance of a number of fresh graves, placed close together in a
black soil field.

[ILLUSTRATION--"NATIVE AUSTRALIAN."]

Abiram's question was one of those lucky inspirations that sometimes
strike one, changing, as by magic, obscurity into distinctness, and
pouring in a flood of light where no ray could be seen before.

"My word!"--cried Lizzie, her whole face lighting up with eagerness and
joy--"my word, close up mine been forget. Mine know one fellow bora
ground, plenty black fellow sit down there, mine believe. My word,
plenty d--d fooly me!"

We could see from the girl's face that we were now on the right scent,
and having ascertained that she could take us to the "bora ground" by
the following evening, we finished our pipes, and lay down to sleep,
thankful for what promised a possible solution of the mystery.

The Cleveland Bay party consisted of seven white men and two black
boys, so we now mustered a strong force. Lizzie would hardly allow us
time to swallow our breakfast, so impatient was she to be under weigh;
and one wretched man, lingering for a moment later than the rest of us,
over a slice of beef and damper, found himself the object of general
attention, when our little guide stamped her foot, and, trembling with
indignation, said--

"Plenty big bingey (belly) that fellow. Baal he been fill 'em like 'it
sundown!"

The travelling was worse than ever now; up and down steep ravines in
which the tangled scrub grew so thickly that progress was almost
impossible, and we were compelled to wade along the bed of the creek;
now tripping over a sharp ledge of rock, now floundering up to the
waistbelt in a treacherous hole; past the base of a beautiful
waterfall, where the action of the torrent had worn a hollow basin in
the rock, in which it sparkled, cool, transparent, and prismatic, in
the rays of the burning sun, and where the view, so unlike the
generality of Australian scenery, was perfectly bewitching; on, through
more scrub, through swamps, and ov