CH. ir.] A GRILLED SNAKE. 47 



On returning to the party, we received the agreeable intel- 

 ligence, that some very good water had been found in a deep 

 hole within a short distance of the tents. The supply, how- 

 ever, was not sufficient for the bullocks, which were conse- 

 quently restless, and seemed so much disposed to ramble 

 during the night, that two men placed in charge, found it 

 extremely difficult to keep them together. This difficulty 

 suggested the plan, which I on subsequent occasions adopted, 

 of confining these animals at night, within a temporary stock- 

 yard of ropes, tied between trees. 



Dec. 19. — We left the ground at six a.m. and in an hour 

 and half, arrived at the stream of the valley, which I now 

 named Maule's river. Here, leaving Mr. White with the 

 party to encamp, that the cattle might be watered and re- 

 freshed during the day, I proceeded with the native and two 

 men, to examine the mountains before us. 



As we advanced along a rising ground, the native disco- 

 A-ered a dog, and on following it to a little brook, we came 

 to a fire, with a large snake roasting uj^on it ; and a wooden 



— - ^ ''^ ''m'-'- - ^'•^-^■■•' --^ 



water-vessel on the ground beside it. The reptile was evidently 

 the intended breakfast of somebody, whom our approach had 



