158 Hardy, The Mallee : Ovtyen to Pinnaroo. ^ vo\^'^:lyi. 



so firm in places as it looks, Mr. Scarce (Mr. Kenyon's 

 assistant in boring operations) has recently waded across 

 in several directions, finding it very shallow throughout, 

 but nearly came to grief when, at one place at the 

 northern end, the sub-aqueous salt-crust gave way, 

 and left him floundering in deep, dark, evil-smelling mud, 

 with the crust breaking under his weight like the edge of the 

 ice round a hole. Eventually a thicker layer or a more dense 

 substratum gave necessary support. These two lakes are 

 described, on maps of surveys since made, as Pink Lakes col- 

 lectively.* I now suggest the names Lake Kenyon (for the 

 largest) and Lake Crosbie (adjoining on the west), to commemorate 

 an engineer, whose work will always be associated with Mallee 

 history, and his lieutenant in exploratory work, who shared 

 with us the delight of discovering this beautiful feature in an 

 already charming landscape. In the neighbourhood of the Pink 

 Lakes, Cassvtha melantha was frequently seen on Heterodendron, 

 Hakea, and other shrubs. In one case four trees of Heteroden- 

 dron and two Hakea shrubs were linked together by this para- 

 site, which in the Mallee is called Mallee-vine, or simply vine. 



Riding reluctantly away from Pink Lakes, we passed through 

 fine savannah, well grassed and with a sprinkling of Eucalyptus 

 uncinata, &c. Here the quandong trees bore fruit in plenty, 

 and looked very ornamental. The quandong fruit is spheroidal, 

 and at maturity the pericarp, reddish-coloured on the outside, f 

 is semi-succulent and sweetish ± and f-inch thick, enclosing a 

 spherical nut with extremely hard, wrinkled, and pitted shell, of 

 about f-inch diameter. This is Fusanus {Santalum) acuminatus. 

 The Ming, Ming-Ouandong, or Bitter Quandong, F. persicarius,^ 

 differs in general appearance so slightly that it is difficult to dis- 

 criminate, especially as the two rarely grow in the same locality, 

 the Ming favouring poorer ground than the Quandong. The 

 chief differences appear to be in the palatability of the Quandong, 

 and its smaller and more wrinkled and pitted nut-shell, as 

 against the larger, smoother nut-shell of the Ming, coupled 

 with bitterness of the pericarp. Bushmen, however, can at 

 a distance identify either species, so there must be, to them, 

 some marked difference in general appearance. The leaves of both 

 are narrow lanceolate and more or less acuminate. The emu, 

 which is an agent in dispersal of the seed, shows no favour to 

 either species. 



* There are four in the group, two being much 55maller, as shown by 

 recent survey. 



f Not " blue," as in Morris's " Austral English " (1898). 



+ Not "thoroughly insipid," as in "Gum Boughs," by D. Mac- 

 donald (1888). 



§ Specially named in harmony with the vernacular " Native Peach." 



