238 THE PORT DARWIN DISTRICT 



snakes, some of the latter being exceedingly poisonous. 

 I killed about thirty of them, as they were so numerous 

 that I feared to walk about among the trees. 



During the day I saw no fewer than seven columns of 

 smoke, which must have arisen from native fires kindled 

 probably for signalling purposes, as the savages of this 

 country generally covered their cooking fires with great 

 cunning and skill, often making them in hollow-trees or 

 in the midst of woods, where the smoke disperses before 

 it can rise in a visible column. 



For two days I was kept a prisoner on this hill, the 

 quantity of water lying on the surface of the land being so 

 great that it was quite unsafe to attempt to ride through 

 it, as, had the horse floundered into a hollow or among 

 submerged bushes, my fate would have been inevitable. 



During this time I obtained plenty of meat from the 

 birds and animals I killed ; but there was so little herbage 

 among the trees, that I was compelled to give nearly all 

 my stock of biscuits to the horse. At first he refused to eat 

 a thick dough made of flour and water, but on the second 

 day was very glad to do so. 



Although I had not previously seen a bandicoot in 

 this district, several hundreds of them had taken refuge 

 from the flood on the hill where I was prisoner. They 

 were of two species, neither of which I can now record. 

 These animals are very destructive — quite as much so as 

 the most mischievous of European rats ; and although 

 they are marsupials, they are omnivorous in their diet. 

 They, like the brown rat, will gnaw and eat anything and 

 everything. 



On the morning of the 29th the water had sunk away so 

 much that I could see a tolerably good route to the south, 

 and I once more resumed my ride in that direction. The 

 country was simply awful to ride over. The horse sank in 

 up to his fetlocks, and sometimes almost to the saddle- 

 band. It was killing work for the poor animal, and 

 wherever it was possible I dismounted and led him. By 

 the time he was knocked-up, I had not proceeded more 

 than eight miles from the hill of refuge; and we passed 



