CHAPTER XVI 



CONTINUATION OF THE RAMBLES TO CHAMPION BAY 



Our journey was as monotonous as the country we 

 passed through. Few incidents occurred, and the ground 

 scarcely varied in character for several days. Several 

 more dry water-course beds were passed over, all of them 

 having water-holes, from which we obtained a supply for 

 our daily needs. The appearance of all these beds was 

 similar — they differed only in size. The banks were steep 

 and high, a kind of sandstone cropping out in many places, 

 and the beds were composed of tenacious mud covered 

 with a layer, several inches thick, of white sand. At this 

 time the mud was fully saturated with water, and it was 

 only necessary to scrape a shallow hole and wait a few 

 minutes and an abundant supply would collect, and this 

 water was so good that we rarely went out of our way to 

 look for a water-hole, especially as it was troublesome to 

 get the water from the latter, which had already begun to 

 shrink. 



The two kinds of wallaby described further back still 

 inhabited the country, the hare-wallaby being much the 

 more numerous. We shot several for our subsistence, and 

 also a few birds. Yet animal life was not abundant. 

 Wide stretches of the plain were sometimes crossed 

 without our seeing anything with life in it, except a hawk, 

 or a few small birds. Now and then an emu or two came 

 in sight, but never approached near to us, and sometimes 

 an entire day passed without our seeing a wallaby. 



On the 5th there were two showers of rain which 

 caused a delightful odour to rise from the aromatic 



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