be running only a few yards above. Blankets
were again required for the last two nights. I found my position here
to be in latitude 26 degrees 12', longitude 127 degrees 59' 0".

Leaving this encampment, we struck away for a new line of ranges. The
country was very peculiar, and different from any we had yet met; it
was open, covered with tall triodia, and consisted almost entirely of
limestone. At intervals, eucalyptus-trees of the mallee kind, and a
few of the pretty-looking bloodwood-trees and some native poplars were
seen; there was no grass for several miles, and we only found some
poor dry stuff for the horses in a patch of scrub, the ground all
round being stony and triodia-set. To-day we came upon three Lowans'
or native pheasants' nests. These birds, which somewhat resemble
guinea-fowl in appearance, build extraordinarily large nests of sand,
in which they deposit small sticks and leaves; here the female lays
about a dozen eggs, the decomposition of the vegetable matter
providing the warmth necessary to hatch them. These nests are found
only in thick scrubs. I have known them five to six feet high, of a
circular conical shape, and a hundred feet round the base. The first,
though of enormous size, produced only two eggs; the second, four, and
the third, six. We thanked Providence for supplying us with such
luxuries in such a wilderness. There are much easier feats to perform
than the carrying of Lowans' eggs, and for the benefit of any readers
who don't know what those eggs are like, I may mention that they are
larger than a goose egg, and of a more delicious flavour than any
other egg in the world. Their shell is beautifully pink tinted, and so
terribly fragile that, if a person is not careful in lifting them, the
fingers will crunch through the tinted shell in an instant. Therefore,
carrying a dozen of such eggs is no easy matter. I took upon myself
the responsibility of bringing our prize safe into camp, and I
accomplished the task by packing them in grass, tied up in a
handkerchief, and slung round my neck; a fine fardel hanging on my
chest, immediately under my chin. A photograph of a person with such
an appendage would scarcely lead to recognition. We used some of the
eggs in our tea as a substitute for milk. A few of the eggs proved to
possess some slight germs of vitality, the preliminary process being
the formation of eyes. But explorers in the field are not such
particular mortals as to stand upon such