248 THE PORT DARWIN DISTRICT 



Partly to avoid country which I knew to be inhabited 

 by hostile blacks, but chiefly that I might view as wide an 

 area of country as possible, I returned by a route lying 

 much further to the east than that I had come by, thus 

 entailing a journey of more than two hundred miles 

 further than I need have travelled to rejoin my followers. 

 But as I knew that Anderson would not expect my return 

 for at least another week, and as I had no difficulty in 

 finding grass for my horse, and could live myself for so 

 short a time on kangaroo meat and birds, I felt no 

 anxiety in thus prolonging my rambles. My horse was 

 actually in better condition than when I started, and 

 though it was certainly trying to be deprived of biscuit 

 and flour food, I felt I could endure a week of such depriva- 

 tion, especially as I was not altogether without vegetable 

 food. Several fruits were growing in the country I have 

 just described, though the gouty-stemmed tree was only 

 beginning to burst into blossom. Flowers, I should 

 have mentioned, though not very conspicuous, were 

 blooming in considerable variety. 



One of the best fruits of this district is a strange, 

 plum-like berry, growing in clusters on a leafless tree. 

 Each berry is as large as a thrush's egg, and of a similar 

 shape, and the taste, though unlike that of any European 

 fruit I have eaten, is a pleasant one. These berries, and 

 another smaller kind growing on a kind of creeping 

 bramble, were abundant, and afforded a very agreeable 

 variation of my meat diet. Of the latter food I had as 

 much as I required, for not a day passed in which I did 

 not have the opportunity of shooting a kangaroo or 

 wallaby. 



Sleeping on the ground in dry weather, and with a 

 good fire and blanket at one's command, is an experience 

 that no good bushman would think a hardship, or, indeed, 

 worth a second thought ; and in such a country as this I 

 am describing, in which water and fodder were procurable 

 every day, the one danger and inconvenience arose from 

 the uncertain temper of the aborigines. And these 

 strange people are, in all parts of the country, exceedingly 



