CHAPTER VI.

Bed of a river.-Native women.-Captain Spencer finds water by digging. Diamond birds.-Charlie frightens birds away.-Captain Spencer takes yams from women.-Gives a horse-shoe in exchange. Conduct of the natives with the horse-shoe.-Kangaroo.-Howling of native dogs.-Captain Spencer eats a dog.— Holes of dirty water.-Gipsy falls into one of them.-Comes out covered with mud.-Birds driven away by Charlie.—Snake under saddle.-A cry of distress.-Finds the native, whose arm had been broken, lamed by a thorn in the foot.-Captain Spencer saves him.- Kinchela, name of native. - Speaks Malay.— Tells his history. Conversation between the Englishman and Australian.Captain Spencer goes to a well. Kinchela cooks.- Discourse about Boyl-ya's.-Kinchela afraid of Tiger.—Opinion of Captain Spencer among natives.-Kinchela ignorant of way to Perth.Promises to take Captain Spencer to white men. Asks so earnestly to go with him that no refusal can be given.—Grubs in Grass-tree. Frogs.-Charlie interferes with Kinchela's lesson in English.-Scarcity of clothes.

THE bed of a noble river, which had once watered a fertile plain, presented itself to the eyes of Captain Spencer; how long it had ceased to flow he could not tell, but he thought if, in their necessity they followed it towards its source, they should find water, and be able to return to their proper path; for, in spite of his uncertainties, the traveller tenaciously persisted in following the compass towards the spot in which he imagined Perth to be situated. They descended the tableland, and perceived some women and children seated in

the channel of the stream, and with hands and sticks scraping a hole, as if for the purpose of procuring water. He watched them for some time, and seeing them kneel down, and put their mouths to the hole which they had made, he exclaimed, "Thank God, there is relief for us, and with a lightened heart he proceeded towards the spot. The river, when full, must have been of considerable breadth, and had, perhaps, even within a few months overflowed much of the luxuriant valley through which it ran, for there were many signs of former torrents, such as fallen trees which had been brought from a distance, (nothing like them existing in the neighbourhood,) masses of soil, &c. "How I should like," said the traveller, "to follow the track of this river, and see the forest whence that noble timber came; so much larger than any I have yet encountered. In spite of my thankfulness for having hitherto found enough to subsist upon, I get weary of occupying my whole existence in procuring the wherewithal to eat and drink, and thinking each day of the appetite of the morrow."

On arriving at the shining white sand of the watercourse, some little distance from the natives, he began to dig with his shovel, and was not a little surprised to see some beautiful little birds* fly in numbers around him, and even perch upon his spade, as if they knew what he was seeking, and were determined to have the first drink. He could not bear to take any of them for food, when they placed such confidence in him, and when the water rose in the hole, which it soon did, he suffered them to satisfy themselves; but Tiger, who seemed to smell the liquid, without waiting to be unloaded, rushed to the

* Diamond Birds, or Amandina.

spot, and kneeling down, put them to flight, and himself luxuriated in a long draught. Gipsy followed his example, with whom Captain Spencer was a sharer, and then the little creatures again assembled, only to be again dispersed by Charlie, who dashed in among them, screaming out, "Rogues! scoundrels!" as he always did to his feathered brethren, and helping himself, screeched and flapped his wings, as if he were the tyrant king of plumed creatures.

Having been hitherto so unsuccessful with the men of the native tribes, Captain Spencer thought this would be an excellent opportunity of trying to conciliate the women; but as soon as he directed his steps towards them, they all uttered a clamorous cry, and ran away. In their haste they abandoned some yams which they had with them, and he took some of them for himself. By way of payment, however, he laid one of Tiger's old shoes in their place. He then retired to a distance, and with his glass watched their movements. After some time they cautiously returned to the spot they had left, turned the horse-shoe over and over again with a stick, then they struck it, and at last, as if convinced that it was harmless, one of them took it up, examined it, and looked through the holes where the nails had been. The others imitated her, and seemed to think it incomprehensible. At last, running back to a man. who now advanced towards them, and who walked as if he were lame, they, with many energetic gestures, appeared to relate all their adventures to him. He gravely inspected the horse-shoe, looked also through the holes, and then, one of the women giving him a piece of cord out of a bag which she carried upon her back, he, by means of it, fastened it round his neck,

and then they all disappeared, probably to their dwelling place. It was for some little time a subject of debate with the traveller, whether he should go after them, and try to improve any good impression which he might have made, or pursue his way. At last the uncertainty of being successful, deterred him from straying in that direction, and filling his cans, &c., he in the evening departed. He passed over many low hills, which were fatiguing from their rugged nature, but at the foot of which he was still able to find water by digging.

Leaving the hills behind them, they the next morning entered a Hakea scrub, which Hakea is a Proteaceous bush, much matted together, and having large prickly leaves. There Gipsy killed and dragged to her master an animal which was much too large for her to carry, and which proved to be a smaller kind of Kangaroo than he had yet seen. She laid her game at her master's feet, sat down, wagged her tail, looked in his face, and seemed so earnestly to implore him to cook it, that he halted a little sooner than usual; and making a rude imitation of a native oven, contrived to bake it, for he could not afford water for the preparation of his food. He always made a quantity of cakes whenever he filled his cans, not knowing when he should be able to mix the meal again. He cut the Kangaroo in pieces after skinning it, and wrapped it in some of the young twigs of the scrub, covered it well with clods of earth and bushes, and was tolerably successful, finding this a much more nutritious method than boiling. There were probably numbers of the same animal in that part of the country; for at night the native dogs kept up such a screeching and howling, "such a row," as Charlie grumbled to himself, that Captain Spencer could only compare the noise

to the yellings of infernal spirits, congregated there to forbid him to advance. The next morning, he, without any compunction, shot one of them which he saw crossing the scrub, and carrying it with him, cooked it as he had done the Kangaroo. To his taste it was very good eating, but Gipsy would not touch what perhaps she thought was one of her own kind.

Holes with dirty water, evidently dug by the natives, were occasionally met with, but no signs of streams saluted the thirsty mouths of the travellers, and even these holes appeared to have been filled with the drainings of the surrounding soil. Gipsy and Tiger did not hesitate to drink from them, but it was some time before their master could prevail on himself to follow their example. He saw Gipsy slip into one, and as she kicked and struggled he thought she must be choking, and went to her relief. He pulled her out by the hind legs, and could not help laughing at her appearance. Half her body was covered with thick mud; she sneezed, tried to get it off with her paws, but they were also encased in mud, and she then ran into the scrub, and by dint of rubbing and rolling, managed to get rid of the greater portion. Her master hoped by enlarging the hole, to make the water run more freely into it, but nothing came, except mud; and therefore taking two handkerchiefs, he filled them with it, and placing each on the top of a can, he filtered enough for Tiger and himself; Charlie, by dipping his bill into the hole, procured enough for his moderate desires. Captain Spencer found an unexpected advantage in the hole for as soon as he left it, Pigeons, a beautiful Falco hypoleucus, very like the Gyr Falcon of Europe, some of the Swallow tribe, Finches, Honeyeaters, and others