IV THE NORTH AND WEST COAST 109 



as food for cattle. Besides putting up a few 

 wire or deadwiDod fences, burning is the only kind 

 of j[improvement 'attempted on this ' third-class ' 

 land which is sold at five shillings an acre. 



On arriving at the fishing grounds each man 

 takes his stand at some deep pool and lights 

 a fire at his back to keep off the flies and mos- 

 quitoes which would otherwise render fishing 

 impossible ; the best rod to use is a long Tea-tree 

 branch and a sinking line baited with worms, as 

 any more elaborate rod is too difficult to mani- 

 pulate among the densely overhanging branches 

 of native Honeysuckle, Wattle, Tea-tree, and Gum 

 saplings. At sundown and far into the night the 

 Black-fish go on biting, and the heavier fish afford 

 some amusement in landing ; meantime it has 

 grown pitch dark in the forest, but the fires that 

 have been lit during the day, and all along the 

 river as we pass from pool to pool, begin to blaze 

 fiercely and to spread, illuminating the forest 

 with a fierce glare and throwing the huge towering 

 spars of the Gum-trees into relief. Nothing can 

 be more beautiful than the forest when lit up 

 by bush fires in this manner. No sound is heard 

 beyond the crackling of the fires, the occasional 

 thumping of a Kangaroo, the hissing laughter 

 of an Opossum, or the raucous call of the More- 

 pork. 



Besides fishing with a line for Black-fish we 

 used to lower lobster-pots, baited with raw meat, 

 for the large freshwater Crayfishes (Astacopsis 



