S.W. and N.E. (as
in the vicinity of Empress Spring), and now sandhills heaped up without
regularity, alternate with mulga thickets, open plains of spinifex, and
flat, timbered country. The most noticeable vegetation is of course
spinifex; as well as that, however, are several shrubs which form good
camel feed, such as ACACIA SALICINA, with its pretty, scented flower like
a little golden powder-puff; the quondong (FUSANUS ACUMINATUS), or
"native peach tree," a graceful little black-stemmed tree, against whose
fresh, green leaves the fruit, about the size of a cherry and of a
brilliant red, shows out with appetising clearness. Alas! it is a fraud
and delusion, for the stone forms more than three-quarters of the fruit,
leaving only a rather tasteless thick skin, which is invariably perforated
by small worms.

Dotted over the open plains the native poplar (CODONOCARPUS) stands
sentry, its head, top-heavy from the mass of seeds, drooping gracefully
to the setting sun; the prevalent wind at the present day would seem to
be from the E.N.E. Here, too, an occasional grass tree or "black-boy"
may be seen, and at intervals little clumps of what is locally termed
"mustard bush," so named from the strong flavour of the leaf; camels eat
this with voracity, of which fact one becomes very sensible when they
chew their cuds.

This description hardly suits a "desert"; yet, in spite of the trees and
shrubs, it is one to all intent. All is sand, and throughout the region
no water is to be found, unless immediately after rain in the little
creeks, or in some hidden rock-hole. Even a heavy storm of rain would
leave no signs in such country; half an hour after the fall no water
would be seen, except on the rocky ground, which only occurs at very
long intervals. The greedy sand soaks up every drop of water, and from
the sand the trees derive their moisture. The winter rain causes such a
growth of herbage around the cliffs and on the sandhills--to die, alas!
in a few weeks' time--that one is inclined to wonder if by means of bores
this wilderness will be made of use to man. What artesian bores have done
for parts of Queensland and Algeria they may in the distant future do for
this, at present useless, interior, where all is still, and the desert
silence unbroken by any animal life, excepting always the ubiquitous
spinifex rat. A pretty little fellow this, as he hops along on his long
hind legs, bounding over the prickly stools like an animat