It is almost a work of supererogation to make many further remarks on the character of this region—­I mean, of course, since we left the Finke.  I might, at a word, condemn it as a useless desert.  I will, however, scarcely use so sweeping a term.  I can truly say it is dry, stony, scrubby, and barren, and this in my former remarks any one who runs can read.  I saw very few living creatures, but it is occasionally visited by its native owners, to whom I do not grudge the possession of it.  Occasionally the howls of the native dog (Canis familiaris)—­or dingo as he is usually called—­were heard, and their footprints in sandy places seen.  A small species of kangaroo, known as the scrub wallaby, were sometimes seen, and startled from their pursuit of nibbling at the roots of plants, upon which they exist; but the scrubs being so dense, and their movements so rapid, it was utterly impossible to get a shot at them.  Their greatest enemy—­besides the wild black man and the dingo—­is the large eagle-hawk, which, though flying at an enormous height, is always on the watch; but it is only when the wallaby lets itself out, on to the stony open, that the enemy can swoop down upon it.  The eagle trusses it with his talons, smashes its head with its beak to quiet it, and, finally, if a female, flies away with the victim to its nest for food for its young, or if a male bird, to some lonely rock or secluded tarn, to gorge its fill alone.  I have frequently seen these eagles swoop on to one, and, while struggling with its prey, have galloped up and secured it myself, before the dazed wallaby could collect its senses.  Other birds of prey, such as sparrow-hawks, owls, and mopokes (a kind of owl), inhabit this region, but they are not numerous.  Dull-coloured, small birds, that exist entirely without water, are found in the scrubs; and in the mornings they are sometimes noisy, but not melodious, when there is a likelihood of rain; and the smallest of Australian ornithology, the diamond bird (Amadina) of Gould, is met with at almost every watering place.  Reptiles and insects, as I have said, are scarce, on account of the continual fires the natives use in their perpetual hunt for food.

CHAPTER 1.5.  FROM 1ST TO 15TH OCTOBER, 1872.

A bluff hill. 
Quandong trees. 
The mulga tree. 
Travel South-south-east. 
Mare left behind. 
Native peaches. 
Short of water. 
Large tree. 
Timbered ridges. 
Horses suffer from thirst. 
Pine-trees. 
Native encampments. 
Native paintings in caves. 
Peculiar crevice. 
A rock tarn. 
A liquid prize. 
Caverns and caves. 
A pretty oasis. 
Ripe figs. 
Recover the mare. 
Thunder and lightning. 
Ornamented caves. 
Hands of glory. 
A snake in a hole. 
Heavy dew. 
Natives burning the country. 
A rocky eminence. 
Waterless region. 
Cheerless view. 
A race of Salamanders.