water-hole to be startled by a sudden
sting, and when they emerge from the water, to find half a dozen
hungry leeches hanging on to their skin. For leeches are plentiful in
Australia, and even form an article of considerable export to England.

We afterwards went out to Perry's harvest dance and supper, with which
the gathering in of the crops is usually celebrated, as at home. The
wheat had by this time all been sold and cleared out of the barn, and
it was now rigged up as a ball-room. We had a good long spell of
dancing, to the music of a violin and a bush piano. Perhaps you don't
know what a bush piano is? It consists of a number of strings arranged
on a board, tightened up and tuned, upon which the player beats with a
padded hammer, bringing out sounds by no means unmusical. At all
events, the bush piano served to eke out the music of our solitary
violin.

After the dance there was the usual bounteous supper, with plenty to
eat and drink for all; and then our horses were brought out and we
rode homeward. It was the end of harvest, just the time of the year
when, though the days were still warm, the nights were beginning to be
cool and sharp, as they are about the beginning of October in England.
One night there was a most splendid Aurora, one of the finest, it is
said, that had been seen, even in Australia. A huge rose-coloured
curtain seemed to be let down across half the sky, striped with bright
golden colour, shaded off with a deeper yellow. Beneath the red
curtain, close to the horizon, was a small semicircle of bright
greenish yellow, just as if the sun were about to rise; and bright
gleams of light shot up from it far into the sky, making the
rose-coloured clouds glow again. The brilliancy extended upwards
almost to the zenith, the stars glimmering through the darker or less
bright part of the sky. Though I have mentioned "clouds," there was
not a cloud to be seen; the clouds I name were really masses of
brilliant light, obscuring the deep blue beyond. I feel the utter
powerlessness of words to describe the magnificence of the scene.

The weather-wise people predicted a change of weather; and sure enough
a change shortly followed. We had had no rain for weeks; but early on
the second morning after the appearance of the Aurora, I was awakened
by the noise of heavy rain falling upon our slight iron roof. I found
a tremendous storm raging and the rain falling in masses. Our large
iron tank was completely fill