various occupations. The consequence was, that they were treated with
more than ordinary kindness; and Fraser, for his part, in order to
gratify these favoured guests, made great havoc among the feathered
race. He returned after a short ramble with a variety of game, among
which were a crow, a kite, and a laughing jackass (alcedo gigantea,) a
species of king's-fisher, a singular bird, found in every part of
Australia. Its cry, which resembles a chorus of wild spirits, is apt to
startle the traveller who may be in jeopardy, as if laughing and
mocking at his misfortune. It is a harmless bird, and I seldom allowed
them to be destroyed, as they were sure to rouse us with the earliest
dawn. To this list of Fraser's spoils, a duck and a tough old cockatoo,
must be added. The whole of these our friends threw on the fire without
the delay of plucking, and snatched them from that consuming element
ere they were well singed, and devoured them with uncommon relish.

DESERTED NATIVE VILLAGE.

We pitched our tents upon a flat of good and tenacious soil. A brush,
in which there was a new species of melaleuca, backed it, in the
thickest part of which we found a deserted native village. The spot was
evidently chosen for shelter. The huts were large and long, all facing
the same point of the compass, and in every way resembling the huts
occupied by the natives of the Darling. Large flocks of whistling
ducks, and other wild fowl, flew over our heads to the N.W., as if
making their way to some large or favourite waters. My observations
placed us in lat. 34 degrees 8 minutes 15 seconds south, and in east
long. 141 degrees 9 minutes 42 seconds or nearly so; and I was at a
loss to conceive what direction the river would ultimately take. We
were considerably to the N.W. of the point at which we had entered it,
and in referring to the chart, it appeared, that if the Darling had
kept a S.W. course from where the last expedition left its banks, we
ought ere this to have struck upon it, or have arrived at its junction
with the stream on which we were journeying.

CONVERSING BY SIGNS.

The natives, in attempting to answer my interrogatories, only perplexed
me more and more. They evidently wished to explain something, by
placing a number of sticks across each other as a kind of diagram of
the country. It was, however, impossible to arrive at their meaning.
They undoubtedly pointed to the westward, or rather to the south of
that point, as the f