1484 Australian Natural History. 



more than one occasion in the water itself. This lizard, which attains 

 the length of five feet, is perfectly harmless, and is much prized as 

 food ; while with respect to the snakes, it is fortunate that compara- 

 ratively few are poisonous. One evening, while silently stealing along 

 the water's edge to get a shot at a white duck, I inadvertently put my 

 bare foot upon a small snake, which, instead of turning round upon 

 me and biting, instantly dashed into the water and escaped. 



After having afforded a morning meal to some thousands of hungry 

 mosquitos, we usually proceeded homewards, when the sun was rapidly 

 becoming too powerful for travelling under. Breakfast over, and our 

 pipes lit, we proceeded to skin the spoils of the morning, an operation 

 occasionally retarded by myriads of ants, attracted by the scraps of 

 flesh. The bill, legs, feet, eyelids, &c. required to be washed over 

 with a solution of corrosive sublimate, and it was also necessary that 

 the under surface of the wing at the carpal joint and the tarsus (except 

 in very small birds) should be slit up, the muscles and tendons remo- 

 ved, and arsenical soap applied. In the evening another visit was paid 

 to the lagoon, and some more specimens procured ; at sunset we 

 returned, packed up the skins which had been drying in the sun all 

 day, and adjourned to a huge fire upon the beach, around which was 

 usually assembled a large and motly party of whites and blacks, men, 

 women and children. The abundant supply of game and fish enabled 

 us to maintain a bountiful table, and numbers of aborigines frequented 

 our camp for a share of the good things. We took care to turn these 

 re-unions to some account, by extending our acquaintance with their 

 language, manners and customs. At an early hour we retired to rest 

 sub dio ; one slept in the boat anchored off shore thirty or forty yards, 

 the other in his blanket laid himself down by the fire, and gradually 

 fell asleep while concocting some ingenious plan for the extermination 

 of the whole genus Culex. 



And now having given you the bright side of the picture, the 

 reverse I leave to your own fertile imagination. 



John McGillivray. 





