244 NATURAL HISTOEY SKETCHES. 



The Australian eel runs to a large size, is blacker in 

 colour than the British eel, and fatter and richer to the 

 taste. They abound in all the swamps when they are 

 full of water, and as the water runs off they get into the 

 creeks and water-holes, where they remain during the 

 summer, and early in autumn they draw down to the 

 sea. I cannot say whether they go there for the pur- 

 pose of spawning, but I know these migrations are very 

 regular, and thousands are caught about the end of 

 March and beginning of April, at the mouths of the 

 creeks, as they travel out. When they come back I 

 don't know, but they do not appear to remain long in the 

 sea, for I used to see the Blacks spearing them on the 

 swamps as soon as ever they filled and the creeks began 

 to run fresh-water. During the winter all the creeks 

 that have outlets to the sea are fresh, and the water in 

 the bay at their mouths is only brackish for a long way 

 out to sea ; whereas, in the summer, the water in these 

 creeks is salt for a long way up. In many places the 

 eels here don't care.to take a bait, but where they do a 

 large worm on a night line always answers. It is a 

 singular fact that earth-worms are very rare in Australia. 

 The Blacks are very expert at spearing eels on the 

 swamps with a single long-pointed spear ; I have known 

 two of them to catch 1 cwt. in a day, and sell them for 

 a bottle of grog. The wholesale price here is generally 

 3d. per Ib. I never saw a real good eel-gleave out here 

 the very thing for these swamps and creeks. 



The black-fish is found in most creeks, and appears to be 



