24 THE RIVERINE DISTRICT 



thirst, but I did from hunger, the fern-roots not being 

 of much more value as food for a white man than so much 

 hay. I ate a few berries which I found growing on the 

 plain, but these made me sick. Soon after I resumed my 

 journey I saw the river on my right hand almost due 

 north of the course I was taking. Much surprised, I 

 supposed I had inadvertently taken the wrong direction, 

 and I was thankful to know I should now have a sure 

 land-mark to follow. Yet I was puzzled — the river seemed 

 to be so broad, and there was a thick wood of trees which 

 I had not previously seen or heard of This was disquiet- 

 ing, as it seemed to indicate that I had wandered very 

 much out of my way ; and my fears much increased when, 

 after some hours of laborious walking, I found that the 

 river seemed as far off as when first sighted, and I realised 

 that I had been pursuing a mirage, and again turned my 

 feet westward. 



Soon the mirage was shining on all sides of me, 

 showing a glaring white contrast to the deep green of 

 the plains. These phenomena are much more prevalent 

 in summer when the ground is bare than in the winter 

 season, when they are exceptional. The effect is often 

 most extraordinary and puzzling, for not only does water 

 seem to lie in large and numerous pools close to the 

 traveller, but there are also beautiful woods and groves 

 where no trees exist perhaps for a distance of twenty or 

 thirty miles. The bleakest desert is thus often turned 

 into the appearance of a terrestrial paradise. Trees hang 

 over the waters, or rise from the bosom of a bright-surfaced 

 lake in graceful clumps. Not infrequently mountains and 

 large islands appear, and the astonished traveller has these 

 visions before his eyes, apparently within a half-hour's ride, 

 while he journeys for days across an absolutely flat plain 

 of the most sterile and monotonous type — a plain which 

 does not seem capable in summer-time of supporting a 

 mouse. Yet there is always a numerous population of 

 wallaby, kangaroos, and birds here, besides millions of 

 sheep and rabbits. How do these creatures live ? Entirely 

 on the roots of the grass and herbage which want but a 



