138 COLLECTOR'S KAMBLES 



distance, when it would suddenly shoot up into the air, 

 and come scaling down toward the place whence it 

 started. There seemed to be no limit to the number 

 of curious antics this thin, bent piece of hard wood 

 could be made to perform. I gave them the promised 

 shilling, and then purchased the nulla-nulla and boom- 

 erang. On the way back to the house, I tried my 

 hand at throwing the latter weapon. It seemed rather 

 perverse, for when I wanted it to go up, it dived into 

 the ground ; and when I tried to hurl it at a tree, it 

 astonished me by shooting up into the air. It was 

 well there was no one with me, or he might have been 

 scalped. 



While at Towomba, I at one time barely escaped 

 being bitten by a poisonous snake. Just as I was 

 about to climb over a fence, a black snake, " quick as 

 thought," sprang at my hand from his place of conceal- 

 ment on the top rail. I drew back, but not before the 

 disgusting reptile had fastened his fangs in my coat- 

 sleeve. He dropped off in the grass, and glided off 

 before I had sufficiently recovered from my fright to 

 use my gun. 



The Australians are great smokers ; and this is true 

 not only of the natives, but of the European popula- 

 tion also. In this matter they utterly disregard the 

 feelings of others, and one cannot ride in car or stage- 

 coach, or sit in a hotel reading-room or parlor, without 

 having to literally fight for one's right to breathe pure 



