n for the mere pleasure of killing, and all the months we lived in the
district we did not see more than twenty.

I have before spoken of the number of snakes that were everywhere to be
seen in the vicinity of the water, particularly about pools with a reedy
margin. Scarcely a week passed without our killing three or four, and
we were always careful in bathing to do so in very shallow water, where
there was a clear sandy bottom. There were three kinds of water-snakes,
one of which was of a dull blue colour, and these the blacks said were
"bad fellow," _i.e._, venomous. They seldom grew over two feet and
a half in length, and on a bright day one might see several of these
reptiles swimming across from one bank to the other. Of the common brown
snake--the kind we most dreaded--and the black-necked tiger snake, we
killed numbers with our guns and with sticks, and one day, when crossing
some red ironstone ridges on the Ravenswood road, we despatched two
death-adders which were lying asleep on the bare, hot road. They were
of a dull reddish brown, the same hue as the ground in the ironstone
country, just as they are a yellowish brown in a sandstone region.

One great pest to us when fishing were the number of mud turtles, greedy
little creatures which persistently swallowed our hooks, which could
only be recovered by placing one's foot on their backs, drawing out
their long snaky necks to the utmost tension, and cutting off their
heads; the other pests were the hideous flabby water iguanas (I do not
know their proper name), which, although they never interfered with our
lines, sickened us even to look at them. They were always to be seen
lying on a log or snag in the water. As you approached they either
crawled down like an octopus, or dropped, in a boneless, inert mass,
without a splash. Their slimy, scaleless skins were a muddy yellow, and
in general they resembled an eel with legs. Even the blacks looked on
them with disgust, though they are particularly fond of the ordinary
iguana.

The time passed somewhat wearily to us when heavy rains and flooded
country kept us indoors for days together. Then one night after
the weather had begun to get cooler and clearer, we heard, far, far
overhead, the _honk, honk_ of the wild geese, flying southwards to
distant lagoons, and Hansen reminded me that in another week our term of
service came to an end.

"What made you think of it?" I asked.

"The cry of the wild geese going Sout