The Project Gutenberg EBook of Spinifex and Sand, by David W Carnegie

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Title: Spinifex and Sand
Five Years' Pioneering and Exploration in Western Australia

Author: David W Carnegie

Release Date: August 18, 2004 [EBook #4975]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SPINIFEX AND SAND ***

Produced by Col Choat and Colin Beck

Production Notes: --Words in italics have been capitalised.
--45 illustrations appeared in the original text,
published in 1898. They have not been reproduced
in this etext. (See below for list)
--A HTML version of this etext is available from Project
Gutenberg which includes many of the illustrations

SPINIFEX AND SAND by DAVID W CARNEGIE (1871-1900)

A NARRATIVE OF FIVE YEARS' PIONEERING AND EXPLORATION
IN WESTERN AUSTRALIA

TO
MY MOTHER

INTRODUCTION

"An honest tale speeds best, being plainly told."

The following pages profess to be no more than a faithful narrative of
five years spent on the goldfields and in the far interior of Western
Australia. Any one looking for stirring adventures, hairbreadth escapes
from wild animals and men, will be disappointed. In the Australian Bush
the traveller has only Nature to war against--over him hangs always the
chance of death from thirst, and sometimes from the attacks of hostile
aboriginals; he has no spice of adventure, no record heads of rare game,
no exciting escapades with dangerous beasts, to spur him on; no beautiful
scenery, broad lakes, or winding rivers to make life pleasant for him.
The unbroken monotony of an arid, uninteresting country has to be faced.
Nature everywhere demands his toil. Unless he has within him impulses that
give him courage to go on, he will soon return; for he will find nothing
in his surroundings to act as an incentive to tempt him further.

I trust my readers will be able to glean a little knowledge of the
hardships and dangers that beset the paths of Australian pioneers, and
will learn something of the trials and difficulties encountered by a
prospector, recognising th