BARKING LIZARD 189 



it is pleasing to know that the whites of this side of the 

 continent seem to be on very good terms with the blacks. 

 In the townships, I may mention, there are many amiable 

 people who are most anxious to benefit and raise morally 

 the poor wanderers of the bush, not the least active of 

 whom are certain missionaries, who devote their whole 

 time to the attempted redemption of the savage, and who 

 deserve all the help and encouragement they get from 

 those placed in authority in the land. The great strength 

 of this particular tribe (for it is but rarely that as many 

 as fifty or sixty adult blacks are found in one party) was 

 quite possibly owing to the influence of some of these 

 gentlemen who may have induced them to spare their 

 aged members and young children, for infanticide is quite 

 common among them in seasons of adversity. 



The tribe remained with us nearly all day, and 

 explained, when we parted company, that they could 

 not go any further without trespassing on the territory 

 of another party, a thing that all the aborigines are very 

 careful to avoid. 



We travelled this day across a sandy plain where the 

 bush was very thick, but trees were again scarce, and we 

 found no water. We had sufficient, however, in our skin 

 bags to meet the requirements of the day ; and we passed 

 the night on a hill which, though probably not a hundred 

 and fifty feet high, had appeared to us for many hours 

 before reaching it as quite a mountain. From its summit 

 we could perceive many other elevations to the east- 

 ward, which gradually trended downwards to the north, 

 where they merged with the plain. 



At the foot of this hill we saw several "barking- 

 lizards," as the colonists call them, pretty little reptiles of 

 a bright black colour, with blue and purplish and green 

 reflections. They are only seven or eight inches long, 

 exclusive of the tail, and are remarkable for uttering the 

 sound of a cry. This, though not very loud, might easily 

 be mistaken for the barking of a toy-terrier or other 

 small dog, hence the popular name the colonists have 

 bestowed on it. 



