84 
MYOLA 
CHAP. 
which was slightly dug out ; there was a low wall 
a few inches high, of earth all round it, and two small 
openings. Although the natives will tell you of other 
customs, no persuasion will induce them to say one word 
on this subject, and no European, to my knowledge, has 
ever witnessed this rite, which is practised, I believe, in 
all parts of Australia. 
The Australian natives are the keenest trackers in 
existence, and even on horseback will follow the indi- 
cations at a gallop, where a white man walking would 
distinguish nothing. They will track the hoof of 
one beast among a hundred others ; their sense of 
hearing and of sight is extraordinary, and they are 
very quick to hear and carry news ; nothing escapes 
them. They have no particular homes, and wander 
where their food is most plentiful. If there is a death 
among them they generally, for a time, leave that part 
of the district. Like all dark races, they are very 
superstitious, and if a strong man, or chief, dies, they 
think that by eating a portion of his flesh they partake 
of some of his strength. The temptation to kill is so 
strong in them, that a black boy that my father once 
had for a good many years begged him not to walk 
in front of him alone, as the wish to knock him on the 
head was too great for him. They cannot be trusted, 
and the idea of gratitude is unknown to them. These 
last sentences apply to all the Australian races. 
At certain times of the year, about here the lagoons, 
they say, teem with wild duck, cranes, geese, pelicans, 
and other birds. In the heart of the town the flies and 
mosquitoes were unbearable, everything was smothered 
with flies, and my arms got tired with flicking them 
off, and my patience became exhausted with the 
swarms of them that followed us even when we 
drove out. The country around looked very burnt 
