114 FISHES I HAVE KNOWN 



square boulders, the opposite shore heavily timbered, 

 and the whole bearing some slight resemblance to 

 the scenery round Richmond Hill, though close 

 inspection of the scraggy gum-trees soon dispelled 

 that illusion. 



We had chartered a boat and taken with us a 

 black, well known as an expert fisherman; and we set 

 out. Joey was a genuine Murray River black, about 

 forty years old, well formed, with broad forehead, 

 big mouth, small but brilliant black eyes, flattened 

 nose, deep chest, thick black hair, and some- 

 what poorly developed legs. He remembered 

 the time when the blacks used to swim after the 

 cod and transfix them with a short spear, using 

 at night a frail canoe, with a bright fire burning 

 at the bow to attract the fish. Just under the 

 cliffs we moored the boat in deep water, and 

 Joey disappeared in the bush to obtain bait. He 

 returned sooner than we expected, with a kerosine 

 tin full of large lob-worms, the biggest I ever saw. 

 Heaven knows where he got them from ! He also 

 brought a supply of the huge white grubs, fat and 

 succulent, that are found on the bark of certain 

 trees in Australia, and are eaten uncooked by the 

 aborigines. 



These with some raw beef constituted our 

 ground-bait, and, it being warm, wc antici- 



