room was given to water-carrying appliances, so that we could carry in all about one hundred gallons.  Had it not been for my former plans I should not have taken horses; but they are animals easier to buy than to sell, and would certainly be most useful if only we could find food and water to keep them alive.  With sorrow and regret I had to part with Val, for only a few days before our departure she gave birth to a litter of pups, and had of course to be left behind.  However, the Warden, to whom I gave her, promised to be kind to her, as indeed I am sure he has been—­nevertheless it was a sad wrench.  In her place I took a small mongrel which belonged to the Warden, an “Italian greyhound,” as some one suggested, though I never saw a like breed!  He rejoiced in the name of “Devil-devil,” because, I suppose, he was quite black.

I made no attempt to replace poor Charlie Stansmore, since there were no men willing to come whom I should have cared to take.  I cannot say enough in gratitude for the hospitality that we met with at Hall’s Creek, from the Warden, whose guests we were the whole time, and every member of the small community.  I shall look back with pleasure to our stay in that faraway spot.

APPENDIX TO PART V

SOME NATIVE WEAPONS AND CEREMONIAL IMPLEMENTS

[Refer to list of illustrations at the beginning of the text, (illustrations not included in text).  Letters (A to O) refer to the illustrations]

1.  Spears.—­A.  Of Desert native; B. Of Kimberley native; C. Method of throwing.

A. The spear of the desert man is either sharp pointed, spatulate pointed, or barbed.  They vary in length from 8 feet to 10 feet, and in diameter, at the head (the thickest portion), from 1/2 inch to 1 inch.  As a rule, a man carries a sheaf of half a dozen or more.

B. In the Kimberley District the spears are of superior manufacture and much more deadly.  The heads are made of quartz, or glass, or insulators from the telegraph line.  Before the advent of the white man quartz only was used, and from it most delicately shaped spear-heads were made, the stone being either chipped or pressed.  I fancy the former method is the one employed—­so I have been told, though I never saw any spear-heads in process of manufacture.

Since the white man has settled a portion of Kimberley, glass bottles have come into great request amongst the natives, and most deadly weapons are made—­spears that, I am told, will penetrate right through a cattle-beast, and which are themselves unimpaired unless they strike on a bone.  When first the telegraph line from Derby to Hall’s Creek and thence to Wyndham was constructed, constant damage used to be done to it by the natives who climbed the poles and smashed the insulators for spear-head making.  So great a nuisance did this become that the Warden actually recommended the Government to place heaps of broken bottles at the foot of each pole, hoping by this means to save the insulators by supplying the natives with glass!