med afraid
to sleep or lie down, and remained crouching together in their little
hollows in the sand until morning. To break the force of the wind, which
blew rather chilly, they had set up the usual spinifex fence, and between
each little hollow a small fire burnt. The stillness of the night was
only broken by the occasional cry of the baby, and this was immediately
suppressed by the mother in a novel manner, viz., by biting the infant's
ear--a remedy followed by almost immediate success. I beg to recommend
this exceedingly effective plan to any of my lady readers whose night's
rest is troubled by a teething child--doubtless the husband's bite would
have an equally good effect, but the poor baby's ears might suffer from a
combination of a strong jaw and a ruffled temper.

What a strange sound--that little picaninny's cry; surrounded as we were
by a boundless sea of sand, it made one think how small a speck our party
was on the face of the earth; it somehow took one's thoughts back to
civilisation and crowded cities, and one felt that it was not just very
certain if one would see such things again; and how little it would take
to wipe us out, like gnats squashed on a vast window-pane! In the morning
we sent the able-bodied man away to hunt, but his interest in us soon
overcame his desire for game, and he returned, and presently made himself
useful by carrying roots of bushes for our fire, for wood was hard to
get, and the nearest tree hardly in sight. I presented the buck with an
old pyjama jacket, and a great swell he thought himself too, strutting
about and showing himself off to the others. In exchange for numerous
articles they gave us, we attached coins round their necks, and on a
small round plate, which I cut out of a meat-tin, I stamped my initial
and the date, C. 1896. This I fixed on a light nickel chain and hung
round the neck of the good-looking young gin, to her intense
gratification. It will be interesting to know if ever this ornament is
seen again. I only hope some envious tribesman will not be tempted to
knock the poor thing on the head to possess himself of this shining
necklace.

Amongst their treasures which they carried, wrapped up in bundles of bark
and hair, one of the most curious was a pearl oyster-shell, which was
worn by the buck as a sporran. Now this shell (which I have in my
possession) could only have come from the coast, a distance of nearly
five hundred miles, and must have been passed