And a bandicoot, we might also have had a
large brown snake, but neither the boy nor I felt inclined to
experimentalise upon so uninviting an article of food; after all it was
probably mere prejudice, and the animal might have been as good eating as
an eel. We arrived at the water about noon, and the remainder of the day
afforded a grateful rest both to ourselves and to the horses.
January 13. - Our fire had gone out during the night, and all our matches
being wet, we could not relight it until noon, when the rays of a hot sun
had dried them again. Having eaten our slender dinner, I walked out to
water the horses, leaving the boy in charge of the camp. Upon my return I
found him comfortably seated between two of our friends the natives, who
had just returned from a hunting excursion, bringing with them the half
roasted carcass of a very fine kangaroo. They had already bestowed upon
the boy two very large pieces, and as soon as I made my appearance they
were equally liberal to me, getting up the moment I arrived at the camp,
and bringing it over to me of their own accord. The supply was a most
acceptable one, and we felt very grateful for it. Having received as much
of the kangaroo as would fully last for two days, I gave a knife in
return to the eldest of the men, with which he seemed highly delighted. I
would gladly have given one to the other also, but I had only one left,
and could not spare it. The natives remained in camp with us for the
night, and seemed a good deal surprised when they saw us re-roasting the
kangaroo; frequently intimating to us that it had already been cooked,
and evidently pitying the want of taste which prevented us from
appreciating their skill in the culinary art.
January 14. - Upon our leaving this morning the natives buried in the sand
the remains of their kangaroo, and accompanied us a mile or two on our
road, then turning in among the sand-hills they returned to renew their
feast. They had been eating almost incessantly ever since they arrived at
the water yesterday, and during the night they had repeatedly got up for
the same purpose. The appetites of these people know no restraint when
they have the means of gratifying them; they have no idea of temperance
or prudence, and are equally regardless of the evil resulting from excess
as they are improvident in preparing for the necessities of the
morrow - "sufficient (literally so to them) for the day is the evil
thereof."
In our route to-day instead of following round the sea-shore, we struck
across behind the sand-hills, from "Yeerkumban-kauwe" to the water we had
first found on the 7th of January, and in doing so we passed along a
large but shallow salt-water lake, which the natives had pointed to on
the evening of the 7th, when I made inquiries relative to the existence
of salt water inland.
