rn ROUGH CENTRAL AUSTRALIA 
67 
together the seed of a grass closely allied to the Flinders grass 
with a tiny black seed called “ Miinyeza,” and bake dampers 
therefrom, one of which I was fortunately able to obtain. 
Of animal life there was not much to be seen. The great 
“ eagle-hawks ” (Wedge-tailed Eagle, Urocetus audax) were very 
plentiful, but considerable tracts of country were too dry and 
desolate even for them. The most plentiful tracks on the sand 
were those of a large centipede which leaves little parallel rows 
of holes resembling the mark of a cogged wheel. Curiously 
enough one of the great enemies of the overland telegraph 
line is the common green frog (probably Hyla eu’ingii). In 
order to sav’e the insulators from being broken by the lightning 
they are provided with wire “ droppers ” leading round them at 
a little distance to conduct on to the iron pole in case of need. 
The frogs climb the poles and find the insulators cool and 
pleasant to their bodies, and fancy that the “dropper” is put 
there to furnish them with a back-seat. After a nap they yawn 
and stretch out a leg until it touches the pole — result, sudden 
death of the frog, and as the body continues to conduct the 
current to earth we have a paragraph in the papers to the effect 
that “in consequence of an interruption to the lines probably 
caused by a cyclonic disturbance in the interior, we are 
unable to present our readers with the usual cables from 
England ! ” 
The flies are a pest beyond all conception, for although it 
was winter they swarmed in myriads and made life a burden. 
I was obliged to sketch or write with one hand and fight them 
all the time Avith the other. Often on arriving in camp we were 
obliged to creep under a mosquito-net and wait for sunset before 
we were able to do anything at all. 
The blacks use the pure dingoes as dogs. I saAV one 
carrying a bandicoot {Perameles) in its mouth for its master, Avho 
wishing to show it to me, pinched the dingo’s hind leg, causing 
him to turn and drop his burden almost at his master’s feet. 
Dingoes never bark, although half-bred dogs do. 
]\Iagnificent rugs are made from the skins of the “ Euro,” a 
kind of kangaroo found near Alice Springs. 
The central country is subject to fearful droughts, and the 
track of the overland telegraph is marked by the graves of men 
Avho have died of thirst, often having passed close to water 
without knowing it. I suggested to the South Australian 
Government the desirability of putting up iron direction boards 
on the telegraph poles. These would save many lives. 
When I passed Lake Woods it was a grand sheet of water 
ninety miles in circumference and covered with wild fowl, but 
for five years previously it had been dry, and one of my party 
had seen it a mass of flame from the burning grass. When 
Sturt first discovered it he did not suspect that it was a lake, 
and it was entered in the maps as a plain. When the trial 
survey for the telegraph line reached it they were in extremity 
