mound is
thus entirely stripped of every blade of grass, or fallen leaf. In
process of time, the heap partially decomposes, and when the female
judges that enough heat has been engendered to serve her purpose, she
proceeds to lay her eggs. These are enormous when compared with the
size of the bird, and are not simply deposited and covered over, but
buried at a depth of eighteen or twenty inches, each egg nearly a foot
from its neighbour, and standing on end, with the larger half
uppermost. Thus they remain until hatched, though how the bird manages
to plant them with such dexterity has, I believe, never been
ascertained; no one yet having been sufficiently lucky to witness the
proceeding. Directly the little birds chip the shell, they run about
with the greatest agility, and their capture is exceedingly difficult.
A nest with freshly-laid eggs is a glorious find, for several dozen are
frequently extracted, and are most delicious eating.

The evening was fast approaching, when we camped for the night by the
side of a nice clear water-hole in a sequestered valley, and, after
bathing and having tea, we tried our luck at fishing, for these holes
are sometimes full of eels. We prospered, and soon had several fine
fellows on the bank, from whence they were speedily transferred to the
hot ashes, and roasted in their integrity; they were thus spared the
skinning, to which, it is averred, custom has habituated them.
Ferdinand and Cato were collecting firewood for the night, for, in the
position we had selected, we were not afraid of making a good blaze,
and we were sitting and lounging round the fire, conjecturing what had
become of all the blacks, and how soon we should fall in with the other
party, when Lizzie--who had accompanied the troopers--came rushing
back, and said:--

"One fellow snake been bit 'em Cato; plenty that fellow go bong (dead)
by-and-by, mine believe."

We all jumped up, and sure enough, poor Cato came slowly towards us,
looking the ashy-grey colour to which fear turns the black, and
followed by Ferdinand, who dragged after him a large black snake, the
author of the mischief.

If Australia is exempt from wild beasts, the number of venomous
reptiles with which it is cursed make it as dangerous to the traveller
as other tropical countries in which ferocious animals abound. Hardly
a tree or a shrub can be found that does not contain or conceal some
stinging abomination. The whole of these are not,