ed hard to live. As I drew near
the hut I saw that the flock of spur-winged plover were still standing
or running about the margin of the newly-formed pool. They took not the
slightest notice of my approach, and I was careful not to alarm them,
knowing that as long as the water remained they would continue to haunt
the vicinity of the pool, and, besides that, I already had three plump
ducks, which would last me at least till the following morning.

After breakfast I set out to make a detailed examination of the creek
for a distance of three or four miles towards its source. I was glad to
find some very extensive water-holes at intervals of a few hundred yards,
then would come a stretch of sand from bank to bank, for owing to the
want of rain the water had fallen very low, though it was still flowing
by percolation through the sand. Yet, in time of flood, the whole of the
flat country was submerged, and some of the large gum-trees growing on
the banks held in their forks, thirty-five feet from the ground, great
piles of dead wood and tangled debris that had been deposited there in a
great flood of two years before.

I was not long in making a very pleasing discovery--all the pools
contained fish, some of which were of good size, for the water was so
clear that I could see them swimming about, and I remembered now with
satisfaction that among the stores coming on in the dray was a bundle of
fishing-tackle which I had bought in Townsville. Bird life all along the
creek was plentiful; but this was to be expected, as the long drought
had naturally driven game of all sort towards the water. I saw two or
three small kangaroos, and everywhere along the margin were bandicoot
holes, where the little pig-like creatures had been digging for roots.

Two miles from the hut I came across a well-constructed native
fish-weir, and near by found the site of a camp; evidently a party of
blacks had been enjoying themselves quite recently, fishing and cattle
killing, for under some scrub I found the head and foreleg of a young
steer.

As I walked my horse slowly over the sand under the fringing oaks, I
made the unpleasant discovery that snakes were very plentiful--not only
the harmless carpet snake, but the deadly brown and black-necked tiger
variety; though against this were a corresponding number of iguanas,
both of the tree-climbing and water-haunting species. The latter, to
which I shall again allude, is a particularly shuddersome rep