CHAPTER IV. 

 THE MALLEE COUNTRY 



YEARS ago the north-western corner of Victoria 

 was the Cinderella area of the State, now it is 

 rapidly becoming settled, and bids fair to rival 

 in cereal wealth regions that have long been famed for 

 wheat-growing. So rapidly is the country being 

 opened up, that naturalists are fearful that little of it 

 will be left in its original state, as sanctuary for the 

 many remarkable plants and animals that are natives 

 of the Mallee. Government boring parties have 

 penetrated to the most remote places, and tapped 

 hidden water; tanks and dams exist where formerly 

 Emus and Dingoes roamed athirst. 



On maps of the Mallee you see marked the 

 Northern, Central and Little Deserts. Most of the 

 country is wilderness or desert, with fertile areas. 



The Mallee, of course, is not confined by State 

 boundaries, but extends into New South Wales and 

 South Australia. I propose to deal only with Vic- 

 toria's share of this strange country, which occupies 

 about one-fifth of the State. 



Toll of human life has been taken by the wilder- 

 ness. Men have wandered into the lonely scrub and 

 never returned. More than one bleached skeleton has 

 been found, lying under a bush, with rotting swag and 

 battered billy beside it. Death from thirst and ex- 

 haustion is the fate of one who fails to find a way of 

 escape from the wilds. He might gather food, eggs 

 of the Mallee-Fowl, if fortunate, but search in vain 

 for water. I was lost once in the Gippsland bush, but 

 I travelled all day in the shade of tall gum trees, 

 and with a little creek for company. In the Mallee 



