376 TlMEHRI. 
before. The savannahs lay bare for considerable dis- 
tances, right away to the forest, and huge trees were 
burned nearly to their very summit, shewing the effe6t 
of the heat on their foliage. The fire at different 
points had crossed the creek, the sparks setting fire to 
the dry grass across a width of more than 15 rods. At 
the camp in the evening, the scene was most weird. 
The sun, setting behind a brilliant, almost a rich carmine, 
sky, seemed as though it were leaving a desolate and 
ruined world, for all around and as far as the eye could 
reach, the savannah lay bare but for its bed of ashes 
and the charred stumps and sticks which had survived ; 
and by the pale moonlight at night the scene became 
not only weird but solemn. 
On Sunday evening we reached the old camp at 
Whiroon ; but remembering the former miserable night 
in the low benab, I had my hammock slung in the bush 
some little distance back from the creek, whither the 
greater number of the men also made their beds. In 
the bush here, the goatsuckers (Caprimulgidae) ', kept 
up an apparently ceaseless cry. All through the night, 
whenever I woke, the plaintive cries sounded, "work, 
work, work to hell" in a deep guttural tone, while 
" whip, whip, whip, poor Will," came as a sort of shrill 
refrain, whether from the same kind of bird, but of a 
different sex, or from a different species, it was impos- 
sible to tell. Mingled with these, was the continual 
query "who are you ?" uttered, at times, so close and 
loud, that it seemed like a rude challenge of one's 
presence; while again, so low, that it came like a fearful 
whisper. It was out of the question, under the circum- 
stances,, to find out what species of goatsuckers gave 
