r)4 lIOliN EXPKOITIUN — NAHUATIVK. 



allicil Ijuriuwiiig luai'supial, or possibly search aiuongst Tertiary rocks, may lead to 

 the discovery of allied extinct forms. 



After leaving idracowra we travelled westwards, crossing and recrdssing the 

 lied of the Finke all day long as it meandered about, until at- night we camped not 

 far from the Johnston llango, which forms ;i, bold escarpment of red sandstone with 

 the usual level capping of Desert Sandstone. 



Hei'e we picked up a young black boy, who went on with us clothed with a 

 thin hail- girdle round his waist and a head-band. Of all the black boys with 

 whom w(! met, this youth was perhaps the most lotjuacious and anxious to iuipart 

 information. Having been recently admitted tc» the }iri\ileges of manhood, there 

 was little he did not profess to know with regard to the habits and customs of his 

 tribe, but as such knowledge is oidy to be gained from the eldei's, his inforiiiation, 

 all the UKjre freely volunteered because it was the result of, foi' a, blackfelk)W, a 

 somewhat vivid imagination, was accepted with considerable reservations. 



Crossing the junction of the Palmer and Fiidce, we reached the outlying 

 station of Henbury, and were most kindly received by Messrs. Parks. The 

 station lies by the side of a deep water hole in the Finke, wliere a bar of rock 

 crosses the stream and so has caused the formation of a deep pool which is full of 

 water and in which, by means of a net, we caught hundreds of specimens of a tish 

 which is known locally as the "bony bream." It is the connnonest fish along the 

 liver, and proves to be a new species which has been described by Mr. Zietz under 

 the name of Cha/ocssits honn. It lias much the general apjiearance of a bream, with 

 bi-jght silvery scales and somewhat ilattened body. The largest specimen secured 

 weighed upwards of a pound, but after cooking them we found that the name 

 " bony " was most suitable, and though it is the most abundant of all the Finke 

 tislies, it is not really of much use as food wIk^i anything else is obtainable. 



At the time of our visit there was a splendid supply of water in the deep 

 pool, but yet even such an apparently per'manent waterdiole as the Henlnuy one 

 is liable to be destroyed by a moderate rainfall, which will fill the river and so, 

 bring down saud enough to (ill the pool. So long as a real Hood of water comes 

 down the becl of the river, the Ijand of rock causes a suilicient scouring out to 

 ensure the formation of a deep pool behind the rock, but if only a moderate 

 amount of water comes down the river, then the rock may simply act as a barrier 

 behind which the sand grains may accumulate ajid till uj) what is now a deep pool, 

 in which cas(! the water will disappear from the surface and find its way round, 

 uiKJcugiound, at some spot where the rock lies lower beneath the surface. 



