nd much practice are requisite to form this shape so that no cracks
shall appear, and when this is done the work is by no means over, for
the exact heat of the fire must be judged by the cook, otherwise he
will either burn up his dough, or it will come out a crude, sodden,
uneatable mass. A good wood fire that has been burning several days,
and has gained a quantity of ashes, is the best; but wood is plentiful
enough in the bush, and if you only know the right kind to use, you
find no difficulty in soon providing yourself with a glorious heap of
glowing embers. Scraping away a hole in the centre of the fire a
little larger than the disc, you gently drop it in with your hands,
strew it over with enough powdery white ash to prevent the embers
coming into actual contact with the dough, and then cover the whole
with the glowing coals. Only practice can enable the bushman to judge
the exact depth of this layer, which, of course, differs in every case,
according to the size of the damper. It is left in this fiery bed
until small cracks appear on the covering caused by the steam forcing
its way out. This is a sign that it is nearly done, confirmation of
which is sought by introducing a knife-blade through the ashes, and
sounding the crust. If this gives back a hard sound, the damper may be
considered cooked, and is then withdrawn, stood carefully 'on its
edge'--never forget this--and is ready to eat when cool.

As there was nothing very particular to do that afternoon, we watched
the troopers spearing fish, in which they were most skilful. There is
in some of the Australian rivers a splendid fish, called the
'Barrimundi', which not only much resembles the salmon in appearance,
but, like it, requires running water and access to the sea. Many a
time I have vainly tried to lure them from their watery depths, but no
bait would tempt them that I could ever hit on, though I have little
doubt that a fly or artificial minnow would prove killing. We could
see them in the Macalister, lying with their heads pointed up stream,
and seemingly motionless but for the slight waving of the tail that
retained them in their places. Having cut several slender switches,
not thicker than a tobacco-pipe stem, and sharpened one end with a
knife, the trooper Ferdinand, who was by far the most expert among his
brethren, grasped this apparently inoffensive little weapon between the
thumb and middle finger, whilst the blunt end rested against the