31 HORN EXPEDITION — NAIJKATIVE. 



Oil tho flats suri'oiindiiii; tho rivors weic low lyin^■ shrulis and clumps of 

 Rpiiiiff'x* grass. Tn thf' debris wci'c a tew lieotlrs aiul the dead shells of \arious 

 land and water snails cari'ied down by the Hood from their li\iiig places amongst 

 the ranges of the Higher Steppes. 



All these rivei-s in the central area are liable to sudden Hoods. A great 

 downpour will perhaps occur in the ranges ; fiom the smooth rocks and the hard- 

 baked ground the water rushes in torrents into the river channels and descends at 

 times witli scai'cely any warning from the higldands in the cf^ntre on to the plains 

 to tlic south. For a short time the ri\-er channel is fai- too small to cai-iy away 

 the great mass of water, which spreads over all the flats along the bank. (Jlreat 

 stretches of country previously impassable because of lack of water now become 

 impassable from flood. Very rapidly, witli the cessation of the downpour, the 

 water is withdrawn within tiie limits of the iiv(M- channel, where it is soon 

 absorbed ))y the sand and all that is left are heaps of dch-is, new channels i-ut 

 through the scrub and scattered water-holes. A rich crop of grass springs up and 

 for perhaps a few months the wilderness is habitable, but sooner or later evei'y- 

 thing becomes as parched and dry as l^efore. 



At Ci'own Point, where we received much kindness from Mr. and Mrs. Ross, 

 who live there in charge of the station, we spelled for a few days, collecting, 

 photographing, and spending some time amongst a camp of blacks. There were a 

 considerable number of them camped on the opposite side of the liver to ourselves. 

 The main camp was made up of a great number of smaller ones, the centre of each 

 being, of course, a small lire. By way of habitation these blacks make at most a 

 small wurley of branches, but as the weather was warm and line they had not 

 troubled to do this. Unlike those of many other parts of Australia, they never 

 appear to make or wear any clothing, which is all the more strange as wallaby 

 and kangaroos can often be caught, and the nights in winter are bitterly cold. 

 The men tie a girdle, made from the hair of their mother-in law, round the wa.ist, 

 and have their own well pulled back and usually cut away from the forehead, over 

 which runs a band often made of opossum fur-string whitened with calcined 

 gypsum. The hair behind is matted together with grease and red ochre and tied 

 lound with opossum fur string. Round the neck and arm may l)e worn an armlet 

 or necklet, also made of hair and smooth with grease and red ochre, and a " lig- 

 leaf," often made of the white tips of the tails of the rabbit-bandicoot (Pcra^tr/c 

 /a<^n/!s) or of ctpossum fur-string, is worn as an ornament, wdiilst (he septum of the 



* That is tlio tnic Spinifex ^'lass (Spinifrx 2>fi>'«iJ'>3:ii>i) ami not the Poroupiiic irrass (Ti-iodia sp.) wliirh is oftfn, 

 but on'Oiionii-ily, s|)nkcii of .as Sjiiiiifc^;. 



