164 THE SWAN RIVER DISTRICT 



an extensive stretch of country, so that it is not easy to 

 obtain a heavy bag of these animals. 



The other species was the short-tailed wallaby (Macropus 

 brachyurus), of which only two small herds, numbering 

 thirteen or fourteen each, were seen. Those were even 

 wilder than the hare-wallabies, and only a single specimen 

 was shot with a rifle at a distance of two hundred yards. 

 Probably these animals are much harassed by the blacks, 

 several of whose old fire-places we passed. 



We could find no water ; and the impatient " cooes " of 

 the two blackboys warning us that they were alarmed at 

 our prolonged absence, we turned towards the distant 

 glimmering fires. It was then just getting dusk, the sun 

 having sunk behind a cloud of deep, lowering purple and 

 red, lying under a bank of intense black. This peculiar 

 appearance caused Hamblin to predict that we should have 

 a heavy rain before morning ; nor was he mistaken. As we 

 neared the camp a bustard was seen solemnly trotting 

 across the plain at a very leisurely pace. Both Hamblin 

 and I fired our rifles at it on an off-chance of getting an 

 acceptable supper, but it was not hit. The raging thirst 

 from which we both suffered prevented our eating much, 

 but the blacks ate heartily, they having sucked the blood 

 from a couple of wallabies we shot earlier in the day 



I have much wondered how the natives find sufficient 

 fluid to sustain life in the parched deserts of Australia : 

 for they are often seen in the most arid parts of it, and I 

 believe they frequently drink the blood of such animals as 

 they kill. Both Chuckabe and Whiteboy confessed that 

 this was the case among the West-Australian natives ; 

 and I have no doubt it is also among those of other parts 

 of the continent. In all parts of the country, but especially 

 in the west, they dig shallow wells with great labour. 

 They cannot reach the water if it lies at a greater depth 

 than eight or nine feet. 



Regarding the fanciful and ridiculous names of my 

 two servants, I may mention that it is the custom of the 

 stockmen and squatters in all parts of the country to 

 bestow upon the station-blacks the most absurd names 



