digious height
of a hundred and fifty feet; others were of enormous girth, many from
thirty to forty feet round; and several, hollowed by age, were large
enough to admit the whole of our party. Except for size, they cannot be
called handsome, as the colour of the leaf is harsh and unsightly, owing
to its margin being presented towards the stem, both surfaces having
thus the same relation to light. In the hollows we met with superb
ferns growing on stems some twenty feet in height, and about the
thickness of a boat-oar. It then throws out a number of leaves in every
direction, four or five feet in length, very similar in appearance to
the common fern. Another curious tree had a stem sixteen feet long;
after which it branched out in long spiral leaves which hung down on all
sides, resembling those of the larger kinds of grass. From the centre
of the leaves sprang a foot-stalk twenty feet in length, exactly like
the sugar-cane, and terminating in a spiral spike resembling an ear of
wheat. It yielded a fragrant-scented yellow resin.

Pullingo having lost two of his spears, with which he had attempted to
kill a big forester kangaroo, and which made off with them sticking in
its back, he climbed to the top of several of these trees and cut down
this upper stem. He then hardened them in the fire. On comparing the
new spears with his old ones, we found that they were all of the same
material. We before had been puzzled to know how he had obtained such
straight and slender rods.

Though we believed that Pullingo was attached to us, we were still very
doubtful of the temper of his countrymen, and therefore, when on the
march we kept close together, to be ready to resist any sudden attack.
When we halted at mid-day to rest, we took care not to range to any
great distance in search of game unless we had him with us. We seldom
went more than a couple of days without killing a kangaroo or a wombat,
while we obtained an ample supply of birds,--either cockatoos or parrots
and parakeets, several varieties of pigeons, as also of doves, and now
and then a bustard, or native turkey, a large bird weighing sixteen or
eighteen pounds. Frequently, as we were marching on, we were saluted by
a sound so like the crack of a whip, that Tommy and Pierce declared that
some black boy near at hand must be amusing himself with one; and it was
some time before we discovered that the sound was produced by a small
bird either over our heads or