l82 White, Expedition to Musgrave and Everard Ranges. [^^fXllrW 



and cook : and two l)lackboys, " Scoundrel Bob " and " Billie." 

 Our camels consisted of i6 cows and a riding camel, which was 

 shared by my collector and myself. Later on, Nicholls, one of 

 the prospectors, through the roughness of the trip, gave up and 

 returned. 



For the first 70 miles between Oodnadatta and the Alberga River 

 we passed through the well-known cattle run of Todmorden ; but 

 this country will be for ever famous simply because it has yielded 

 that long-lost bird of John Gould, Xerophila pedoralis. Leaving 

 the hospitable roof of Todmorden cattle station, whose owner, 

 Mr. J. A. Breaden. is an old explorer, having come through to 

 South Australia from Western Australia on two occasions, we 

 plunged into the dense mulga scrubs and soft sands that were 

 to be our surroundings for a long time to come. Our camels, 

 walking along one after the other, and twisting and turning to 

 avoid obstacles, looked in the distance like a huge centipede. 

 They averaged from 13 to 15 miles a day, our longest run being 

 22 miles. We followed uj) the Alberga for some days. As this dry 

 water-course trended somewhat to the north, we continued westerly, 

 and passed over high table-lands covered with gibber stones, which 

 made our camels very footsore. Arriving at the Yooiperlunna 

 Creek, we camped at a water-hole, called by the natives Allarinna. 

 This was the last water-hole in the bed of a creek we were to see 

 on the trip. 



Crossing over more table-lands, we at last descended on to flat, 

 soft country, covered with salt-bush and occasional clumps of 

 mulga {Acacia aneura). Our daily routine varied little. Up 

 soon after daylight, we breakfasted, placed a piece of damper and 

 meat in our pockets for lunch, struck camp, loaded camels as 

 soon as they came in, and the camel train moved off. My 

 assistant and I took our guns and bags and set off, one on either 

 flank. We walked till mid-day, when we came in to the camels 

 for a drink from our water-bags, and took an hour's spell on the 

 camel in turn. During this time we ate our lunch, then off again 

 in search of specimens. We came in about 5 p.m., when the 

 party camped for the night. After the camels were unloaded, 

 tents pitched, and supper partaken of, we both set to work skinning 

 birds. After this I packed away botanical specimens, insects, 

 and many other things, and wrote up my notes, which invariably 

 took me into the early morning. To continue with our journey : 

 We were passing through a much better country. A great deal 

 of salt-bush covered the flats, and clumps of mulga relieved the 

 monotony. Here and there a "cork tree" [Grevillea jiincifolia) 

 was met with in full bloom ; some of the blossoms measured 8 to 

 10 inches in length, and were full of honey, much appreciated by 

 the ants, which swarmed up the trees in thousands. Strange to 

 say, there were few honey-eating birds in this region. Reaching 

 a piece of low ground, called by the natives " Wanta Pella," to 

 which is added " swamp " by the white man, we found there 

 was not the slightest sign of moisture. Here we rested a day 



