ce. At
length, however, the native kills a cockatoo, which had been wounded
by a shot; and this bird, with a spoonful of flour to each man, and a
tolerable abundance of liquid mud, becomes the means of saving the lives
of the party.

[7] See Mitchell's Three Expeditions in Australia, vol. i. p. 38.

[8] An expedient used by the natives in Torres Strait, on the
northern coast of Australia, for getting water, may here be noticed,
both for its simplicity and cleverness. "Long slips of bark are tied
round the smooth stems of a tree called the _pandanus_, and the loose
ends are led into the shells of a huge sort of cockle, which are placed
beneath. By these slips the rain which runs down the branches and stem
of the tree is conducted into the shells, each of which will contain
two or three pints; thus, forty or fifty placed under different trees
will supply a good number of men."--FLINDERS' _Voyage to Terra
Australis_, vol. ii. p. 114.

A different plan for improving the water that is hot and muddy, is thus
detailed by Major Mitchell. To obtain a cool and clean draught the
blacks scratched a hole in the soft sand beside the pool, thus making a
filter, in which the water rose cooled, but muddy. Some tufts of long
grass were then thrown in, through which they sucked the cooler water,
purified from the sand or gravel. I was glad to follow their example,
and found the sweet fragrance of the grass an agreeable addition to the
luxury of drinking.

Such is the picture, taken from life, of some of the privations
undergone, during dry seasons, in certain portions of the bush, and we
must, at the risk of being tedious, repeat again the witness of a
military man, of one who has seen much of the world, respecting the best
source of comfort and support under these distressing trials. At such
times, upon halting, when the others of the party would lie wearily
down, and brood over their melancholy state, Captain Grey would keep his
journal, (a most useful repository of facts,) and this duty being done,
he would open a small New Testament, his companion through all his
wanderings, from which book he drank in such deep draughts of comfort,
that his spirits were always good. And on another occasion, he shared
the last remaining portion of provision with his native servant; after
which he actually felt glad that it was gone, and that he no longer had
to struggle with the pangs of hunger, and put off ea