232 THE PORT DARWIN DISTRICT 



multitude of the rats sometimes occupy these mounds, and 

 I suspect prey on the pupae. The rats I have found in 

 the hills comprise numbers of all the native species except 

 the large water-rat, and also the brown rat (M. decumanus). 

 Of lesser creatures, such as lizards, centipedes, and beetles, 

 the numbers in a hill frequently amount to thousands. 

 All these, without doubt, prey on the termites and their 

 pupae, and the termites seem to have no power of retalia- 

 tion. 



Those insects, invariably called ants by the colonists of 

 the districts where they abound, are one of the most 

 intolerable nuisances of the country. They undermine 

 everything that is constructed of wood, and houses have 

 been known to fall as the result of their burrowing habits, 

 while chairs, tables, and other articles of furniture are 

 often exhibited as curiosities, the arms, legs, etc., being 

 completely hollowed by these destructive insects, and the 

 whole article reduced to a shell scarcely thicker than 

 paper. Accidents often happen as a result of this hollow- 

 ing habit of the termite, for it is impossible to detect the 

 mischief done to beams, rafters, etc., until they give way. 



All the animals and birds mentioned in the last chapter, 

 with the exception of a few of the rarer kinds, were seen 

 in this district, most of them in increased numbers. They 

 do not require further mention here. 



Although we lost sight of the party of natives who 

 witnessed our start from the camp on the morning of the 

 20th, we heard others shouting and calling to each other 

 all day long, their cries being often intermingled with the 

 howling of native dogs which accompanied them. 



Towards night a tribe of about thirty men and women 

 with four young children came up to us quite fearlessly, 

 and with but very few weapons in their hands. They had 

 heard of my gifts to the tribe in the morning, and they 

 came to beg. They expressed great friendliness to me, 

 and begged that I would not go further into the interior, 

 as there were fierce tribes there who would certainly kill 

 me. These men, like those met with in the morning, were 

 not particularly friendly with the boys in my service, and 



