nORN FA'PKDITION — NARRATIVR. 3 



Expodifcion ni;iy be said to Iiave made an examination of the great Finke Basin, 

 whicli, adapting the native name of the river, may be spoken of as Larapinta 

 Land. 



In judging of tlie results of the Expedition it is oidy fair to remember that 

 some two tiiousand miles* had to be traversed slowly, for the most part on caniel- 

 Ijack, and that out of a total of one hundred and twenty-five days spent in the 

 lieid, less than twenty were available for actually "spelling" in camp; that is, 

 whilst during each of more than one hundred days an odd hour or two were 

 available for collecting, the time during which we were really free to make 

 anything like a searching investigation was of necessity very limited indeed. 



In such a district as Central Australia it is not always possiljle to stop just 

 when and where you want to; waterholes during the dry .season — tliat is, tlie 

 winter months — are few and far between, and certain stages h.ive to be made to 

 reach them. In tlic scrub-covered country, it must also be remend»ered that 

 travelling is often slow and tedious and from a collector's point of view a camel 

 is the most unsatisfactory of beasts. 



Perched Iiigh up between heaven and earth, you may often see, say, a lizard 

 or an insect whi.ih you are anxious to secure, but long before you can persuade 

 your camel to sit down the animal is far away and safely hidden. The chances 

 are, too, that you return from a fruitless search to find that your camel, which 

 above all things dislikes to be left behind its companions, has trotted away. 

 Anyone who has attempted the task knows well the difficulty of persuading 

 the beast to sit down when it does not want to do so, and will sympathise with 

 the feelings of an unexper-t rider who attempts to safely mount a camel which is 

 anxious to be up and olf after its fellows. 



A camel has a peculiar way of its own of getting up, which is had enough 

 when done slowly ; but when it is in a hurry, then you have to l)e very careful 

 not to get an ugly bump or fall. The moment you are in your seat behind the 

 hump, or perhaps before you are there, he lises with a jerk half way up on his 

 hinder legs, throwing you forwards ; before you have time to recover your 

 balance up go the front legs half way, then it rises completely on its hind 

 legs and finally on its front logs — a fourfold movement of a most disagreeable 

 nature. To m.ake it sit down, the magic word " husht " nmst be repeated until it 

 kneels down on its front legs ; then it swings backward half way down on its 

 hind legs, then completely down on its front legs, and, lastly, completely down on 

 its hind legs. 



* That is, tlie distance traveiseJ after leaving Oodnatlatta, the he.acl of the railway line, which itself lies more 

 than fiOO miles iiortli nf Adelaide. 



