I20 Kershaw, A Naturalist in Northern Queensland. [voL xxxi. 



camp just before dark, where we found Mr. Alf. Mohr, a friend 

 of Mr. M'Lennan's, expecting us, and, as we had fasted since 

 early morning, we were soon enjoying a hearty meal. 



The next morning, the remainder of our baggage having been 

 brought up the river from the cutter, we soon had our ad- 

 ditional tents erected, and everything put in order for our 

 lengthened stay. We had now an opportunity to examine 

 our surroundings. Our camp was pitched on a .low hill 

 adjacent to and overlooking the river. The surrounding 

 country consisted of open forest, with numerous small hills, 

 extensive open, grassy fiats, and great tea-tree swamps. 

 Bordering the river and the numerous gullies and streams 

 running into it are extensive tropical scrubs, extending for 

 many miles in all directions. These consist of dense masses 

 of vegetation and enormous trees, so intermixed with lawyer 

 and other vines and creepers as to make it very difficult to 

 travel through them. The open flats are covered with a thick 

 growth of coarse grass, often up to four feet high, among which 

 are scattered groups of Screw Palms, Pandamts, and in many 

 places termites' mounds. Our camp consisted of a large tent, 

 10 feet by 14 feet, two smaller ones (one of which was used 

 for storing some of our collecting material), and a large rooniy 

 fly, raised well off the ground and open at either end, in 

 which our mosquito-proof camp beds were placed. Close by was 

 erected a good-sized dining and cooking place, which consisted 

 simply of a roof of saplings thickly covered with great palm 

 leaves gathered on the river, with fixed table and seats, making 

 a cool and very comfortable shelter. Here we had our meals, 

 and at the end of each day's work wrote up our notes and 

 sorted and attended to our specimens, surrounded with 

 several smoke fires to keep off the mosquitos. As the river 

 was subject to tidal influence for some distance above our 

 camp, it was necessary to obtain our fresh water about two 

 miles 'further up stream. We had as a camp pet a very young 

 Cassowary, nicknamed " Casey," which Mr. M'Lennan found 

 just recently hatched from the egg, and which was reared for 

 some time on bread, meat, and native fruits. It became 

 exceeding tame and playful, and we often had much difficulty 

 in preventing it from following us on our excursions. After 

 rearing it for five or six weeks, however, it was, much to our 

 sorrow, accidentally killed. 



The practical work of our Uip now began. Mr. Mohr, who 

 had accompanied Mr. M'Lennan from the north with the object 

 of prospecting the country, undertook the management of the 

 camp, so that we were able to devote the whole of our time 

 to collecting and exploring the country and attending to our 

 specimens. Every hour of the day was fully occupied. We 



