90 HORN EXPEDITION — NAKliATIVE. 



Olga .sto(Kl out ;i.s ;i pufjilc mass in strong r'clicf ;igaiiist tlu^ orange sky. It was a 

 scene perfectly typical of the Australian desert at sunset, and to cnniplete it as 

 we luolved down we saw a family of t.he native sandhill blacks making their way 

 round the base of the mountain towards our cam]). 



(Jn reaching the latter we found that our black boy iiacl come across the 

 family, which consisted of a man, two women and several younger ones, out in the 

 scrub and had brought them in. None of them had ever seen a white man before 

 and the women were in a state of great fright when they saw us, but tiie man soon 

 became accustomed to us and when the Hrst shyness had worn oil' jiroved to be the 

 most lotjuaeious individual I iiave ever met. Naturally lie could not realize that 

 his remarks were perfcictly unintelligible to us, but by aid of our black boy as 

 interj)reter we managed after a time to understand what he tukl us. Our provi- 

 sions were ou too limited a scale to allow of anything like extravagance, but a 

 little fat and sugar went a long way towards establishing what, had circumstances 

 peimitted of it, would Jiave been on his part a life-long friendship. They mad(! 

 their camp a little way fi-oni ours and we spent the evening after our notes were 

 written up in (|uestioniiig our newly found friend, whose name was Lungkarti- 

 tukukuna. 



Mount Olga. 



Early next morning we started oil' on horseback to visit Mount Olga, our 

 black friend accompanying us on foot. The country was dry and desolate in the 

 extreme, with alternating heavy sandy ground coverc^d with Poi'cupine grass and 

 tiense Mulga scrub. As we neai'txl the mountain it was seiMi to consist, as shown 

 ill the illusti'ation (Plate b), of a large number oi huge rounded masses arising 

 from an elevated base and separated from one another by deep ravines. 



We steered our course for the southern end, where there was apparently the 

 highest dome-shaped mass, and rounding this just at sunset we turned into a 

 niagniticent ravine the sides of which rose precipitously for a height of loOO feet.* 

 The rocks were quite bare and of the usual red colour with great streaks of black 

 looking just as if enormous cauldrons of molten tar had lieen emptied on to their 

 rountled summits and had tloweddown the sides. The black and red were relieved, 

 here and there, by large patches of green apparently due to lichens growing on the 

 surface. 



* More tlian 3000 fcut in all aliove sea level. 



