on his Visit to Australia.



47



This route added ten miles further to our journey, but it was a

beautiful evening, and we knew that a few hours later the moon,

which was almost full, would be up, so we looked forward with

considerable pleasure to a long midnight drive. After an excel¬

lent dinner at the well-equipped hotel I joined some of the^hotel

visitors in a turn at “ diabolo,” until our buggy arrived.


We left Busseltou about eight o’clock, our two steeds pull¬

ing us along at a good pace in spite of their having already had a

twenty mile run the same day ; but it is extraordinary what these

Australian horses will do. The grass on all sides appeared to me

to be absolutely burnt up, hardly a green blade being anywhere

visible, yet its quality is such that sheep fatten wondrously upon

it, and horses, fed on nothing else, look sleek and fit, and will

accomplish journeys which very few English horses, though fed

on the best of corn, could approach.


We had not gone far before I noticed a large owl-like bird

hawking about in the gloaming, which, on our approach, flew on

to the top of a telegraph pole and there remained motionless,

neither did it move when we drove right past it, and I perceived

that it was a Frogmouth ( Podargus ), one of the most interesting

of Australian birds. Our driver, with the characteristic instinct

of the colonial, remarked that it was a pity we had not a gun with

us ! We had a small rifle in our baggage, but we did not tell him

so, and the bird, which I admit I wished I had been able to

capture alive, was left in peace. From the pasture land which

stretched away on either side of the road we heard the wee-loo

zvee-loo of the so-called Peewit, the Australian Stone Curlew or

Thick-knee Plover f. Burhinus grallarius), and the zno-poke of the

Boobook Owl was heard in the distance.


We reached the half-way house of our drive about 11.30

p.m. where we waited about twenty minutes to change horses.

Mr. Le Souef and I left the buggy and strolled into the precincts

of the accommodation house, where the barking of a dog roused

the attendant from his bed on the verandah. There was, of

course, no time to see the cave, neither could the attendant be

expected to show it to us at that time of night, though he told 11s

something of its wonders. I questioned him as to whether he

ever saw Black Cockatoos in the neighbourhood, and he assured



