Evening star., 1898-10-22

miles or so of our trip. At last, however,
amba, myself and the faithful dog were
ie1t TO continue our wanderings alone. The
reliance L PLACED upon this woman, by the
way, was absolute and unques tioning. l
knew that alone l could not live day in
the awful wilderness through which we
We're TO pass, nor could any solitary white
man. BY this time, however, l had had in
Vulnerable demonstrations of Yamba's al
most miraculous powers in the way of pro-
V'ding food and water when, to the ordi-
nary eye, neither We're forthcoming. 1
ought to mention that before leaving my
black people l had provided myself with
what may term a native passport-a kind
of Masonic mystic stick, inscribed with
certain cabalistic characters. Every chief
carried one of these sticks, stuck through
his nose; l, however, invariably carried the
passport in my long, luxuriant hair, which
l wore bun fashion, held in a net of
oIossum hair. This passport stick proved
invaluable as a means of putting us on good
terms with the different tribes We en-
countered. The chiefs of the blacks never
ventured out of their own country without
one of these mysterious sticks and l am
sure l should not have been able to travel
far without mine.
1 Present My Card.
Whenever l encountered a strange tribe
along the line of march l always asked to
be taken before the chief, and when in his
presence l presented my little stick. He
would at once manifest the greatest friend
illness. and would offer US food and drink.
Then, before / took my departure, he also
would inscribe his sign upon it, handing 1t
back to me. and probably sending me on to
another tribe with an escort. 1t often hap
paned, however, that l was personally in
troduced to another tribe. whose frontier
Joined that of my late hosts, and in such
cases my passport was unnecessary
At first the country through which our
lillV and well wood
ed, the trees being particularly fine, many
Of them towering to a height of $50 feet or
2D feet Our principal food consisted of
roots. rats, snakes, Opossum and kangaroo.
The physical conditions of the country were
constantly changing as We moved farther
eastward, and Iambd's s ingenuity was often
soreIy taxed to detect the whereabouts of
the various roots necessary for food 1t
was obviously unfair to expect her to be
familiar with the fora and fauna of every
part OF the great Australian continent.
Sometimes she was absolutely nonpluSSed.
and had to stay a few days with tribe
until the women initiated her into the best
methods of cooking the roots found in that
part of the country. And often we could
not understand the language In such cases,
though, when spoken words We're unlike
those uttered in Yamba's country we re-
sorted TO wonderful sign language which
appears to be general among the Australian
blacks. All that Yamba carried by the
way. was basket made of bark sung
over Her SnOulder and containing q variety
of useful things, including some bone nee
dies, grinding stones, etc. Day after day
We walked steadily on in an easterly direc-
ton, guiding ourselves in the daytime by
the sun and in the evening by the attitude
of the ant hills, which are always built
facing the east. We crossed many creeks
and rivers, sometimes Wading and at other
times swimming them.
Desert of Red Sand.
Gradually we left the hiIly country be-
hind US and at length got into an extraordi-
nary desert of red sand, which gave off a
dust from our very tracks that nearly suf-
focated US. Each water hole we came
across now began to contain less and less
of the precious liquid and our daily menu
grew more and more SCanty until at length
We were compelled to live on practica Ily
nothing but a few roots and stray rats.
Still We plodded on and on, finally strk-
ing terrible spiuifex country which was
inconceiVably worse than anything we had
hitherto encountered. Not only was the
water all but unobtainable here but our
skin was torn with thorns at almost every
step. Gamba was terribly troubled when
She found she could no longer provide for
my wants. Fortunately the dew fell heav-
lily at night and sufficient quantity would
collect on the foliage and more particu-
Iar!y on the steel blade of my tomahawk