of the Old World. 171 



reconnoitre, accompanied by Googooloo, the Mul- 

 liarry, and two villagers who knew the bears' caves. 



Although the hill was not more than 800 feet in 

 height it was very steep, and the ascent was the more 

 difficult on account of numberless rocky crags which 

 were entwined with thick bush. At last we managed 

 to climb up the dry bed of a watercourse, in which 

 we noticed the fresh traces of bears in many places, 

 and after a good deal of scrambling and climbing up 

 ledges of rock, we arrived at the summit, which was a 

 small table-land covered with tufts of coarse grass and 

 large boulders of rock. 



As we were going along Googooloo suddenly 

 stopped, gave his usual grunt to attract attention, and 

 tapping me on the shoulder, pointed me out two 

 bears at the foot of the hill. With the aid of my 

 glass I could see they were very busily engaged in 

 digging up the earth; so, setting the Mulliarry to 

 watch their movements, I went on to the caves, and, 

 after a careful examination, found seven entrances, 

 five of which bore marks of being inhabited by bears. 



I sent one of the villagers and Googooloo to bring 

 up the rest of the party as quietly as possible, so 

 as not to disturb the game we knew was afoot, and 

 by the time they arrived, I and the other villagers 

 had managed to block up the two smallest entrances 

 (which did not seem to have been frequented of late) 

 with stones and pieces of rock. 



