were Manx-dogs, if such a word may be coined!  Closer inspection showed that they were not as nature made them.  For the tails of the dingoes the Government pays five shillings apiece; as their destructive habits amongst sheep make them better liked dead than alive.  A black fellow’s dog is much the same as a dingo—­in fact must have descended from the wild dog—­and has the same value in his owner’s eyes with or without a tail.  A stick of tobacco is fair payment for a dog’s tail.  Thus all parties are satisfied except the dog; and the Government is content to pay, not dreaming that “dog-stiffeners” (i.e., men who make a living by poisoning dingoes) carry on so base a trade as bartering tobacco for live dogs’ tails!

Our cavalcade still further increased by women and dogs, we proceeded on our way, until choosing a high sandy bank overlooking the estuary of the small lake on the South, the creek to the North-West, and a backwater to the North, we halted and prepared to make camp.  This was attended by some difficulty, for our native friends, now in considerable numbers, evidently wished to look upon it as their camp too.  They soon became so tiresome that I had to tell them through Tiger, as interpreter, that unless they retired forthwith and kept to the other side of the creek, we should take strong measures to remove them.  Before long they had all done as they were bid, and made their camp about a mile away across the water—­and the bulk of them we did not see again.  Small parties were continually visiting us, and we were the best of friends.

Our camp was in lat. 20 degrees 11 minutes long. 127 degrees 31 minutes, and here we stayed five days to give our stock a final rest, and regale on luscious food and abundant water, before tackling the dreary country that we knew to be before us.  For our own sakes we were by no means keen on leaving this delightful spot; the very thought of those sand-ridges seemed to make one’s heart sink to one’s boots!  Our camp consisted of a bough-shade, and mosquito-nets, of course.  Barring the constant torment of flies and the extreme heat, we had a most enjoyable time.  The lakes and creek abounded in wild-fowl of all kinds, and fish by the hundred could be caught below our camp.  Seen from our camp the estuary had so much the appearance of a low-lying arm of the sea, with the tide out, that we could easily understand why Gregory called it a “sea” rather than a lake.  Numerous sandspits stand out in the middle, on which, in early morning, so dense was the crowd of shags, pelicans, snipe, small gulls, whistling duck, teal, and other birds, that to say that there was acre upon acre of wild-fowl would not be wide of the mark; but in spite of their abundance they were not easily shot; for not only did their numbers insure the watchfulness of some of the flocks, but after the first shot the whole lot rose in a cloud and settled away out in the middle of the lake, beyond reach.