sthetics. During the operations that follow, the men dance
and yell round the fires but the women may not be witnesses of the
ceremony. Tribes from all neighbouring districts meet at such times and
hold high revel. Evidently Queen Victoria Spring is a favourite
meeting-place. I regret that I never had the chance of being present at
such a gathering--few white men have. For except in thickly populated
districts the ceremonies are rare; the natives are very ready to resent
any prying into their mysteries, and Luck only managed it at some risk to
himself. Whilst camped at the Spring we made one or two short excursions
to the southward, but met with little encouragement. On turning our
attention to the opposite direction we found that nearly two hundred miles
due north a tract of auriferous country was marked on the map of the Elder
Expedition. Between us and that point, the country was unmapped and
untrodden except by black-fellows, and it seemed reasonable to suppose
that since the belts of country run more or less north and south we had
a fair chance of finding gold-bearing country extending southward. We
should be getting a long way from Coolgardie, but if a rich company could
not afford to open up the country, who could? To the east we knew that
desert existed, to the south the country was known, and to return the way
we had come would be only a waste of time. So we decided on the northern
course, and chose Mount Shenton, near which a soakage was marked, as our
objective point. We were not well equipped for a long march in new
country, since we had few camels and scanty facilities for carrying water.
By setting to work with the needle we soon had two canvas water-bags made;
Luck, who had served in the French navy, like all sailors, was a very
handy man in a camp, and could of course sew well, and gave me useful
lessons in the handling of a sail-needle.

CHAPTER II

IN UNKNOWN COUNTRY

On April 22nd we left the spring, steering due north--carrying in all
thirty-five gallons of water, though this supply was very perceptibly
reduced by evening, owing to the canvas being new; loss by evaporation was
lessened by covering the bags with a fly (a sheet of coarse calico). The
class of country we encountered the first and second day can stand for the
rest of the march. Spinifex plains, undulating sand-plains, rolling
sandhills, steep sand-ridges, mallee scrubs, desert-gum forests, and dense
thickets of mulga. The l