The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-10-23
A barometer of Snakes.

over with my stick when NamDa caiIeu
out to me excitedly not to modest them
A barometer of Snakes.
They then began to climb the tree, and
she explained to me that this clearly indi-
Gated the advent of the wet season. Il did
not wish you to kill the snakes she said,
because l wanted TO see if they would
take refuge in the trees from the coming
floods"
Up to this time, however there had not
been the slightest indication of any great
change in the weather. Many months must
have elapsed since rain had last fallen
in these regions, for the river was eX-
tremely low between It's extraordinarily
high banks and the country all round was
dry and parched; but even as we worked
a remarkable phenomenon occurred which
told of impending changes. / was Cypress
ed with sense of coming evil. listened
intently when Yamba drew my attention
but al first all l could hear was curious
rumbling sound, far away in the distance.
This noise gradually increased in volume,
and came nearer and nearer, but Sun l
was utterly unable to account for 1t. L also
noticed that the river was becoming
strangely agitated, and was swirling along
at ever-increasing speed. Suddenly an
enormous mass of water came rushing
down with a frightful roar, in one SOLID
wave. and then it dawned upon me that 1t
must have already commenced raining
among the hills, and that the tributaries
of the river were now sending down their
floods into the main stream which was rls-
ing with astonishing rapidly. In the course
of a couple of hours it had risen between
80 and 40 feet. Yamba seemed little anX-
ious, and she approached me with a sug-
gestion that we had Ketter build hut on
some high ground and remain secure In
that locality, without attempting to con-
tinue our march while the rains lasted;
and it was evident that they were now
upon us.
The Coming DeIuge.
We therefore set to work to construct
a comfortable little shelter of bark fast
ened TO a framework of poles by means
of creepers and climbing plants Thus,
by the time the deluge was fairly upon
us we were snugly ensconced in our little
hut We did not, however, remain in
doors throughout the whole of the day, but
went in and out, hunting for food and
catching game just as usual, the torren-
tial rain which beat down upon our naked
bodies being rather pleasant than other
wise At this time we had a welcome ad-
dition to our food in the form of cab
bage palms and wild honey. We also
started building a substantial catamaran,
with which to navigate the river (Which L
afterward learned was the Roper when
the floods had subsidized. My versatile
companion procured a few trunks of very
light timber, and we fastened these logs
together by means of long pins of hard
wood and then knitted them still more
firmly together with strips of kangaroo
hide. We also collected stock of provis-
ions to take with us-kangaroo and opos-
sum- of course; but principally wild honey,
cabbage palm, and roots of various kinds.
These preparations occupied US Tor several
days and by the time we had arranged
everything for our journey the weather
had become settled once more. Yamba
remarked to me that If we simply drifted
down the Roper river we should be carried
to the open sea nor would the time neces-
sary be very long, since the swollen cur
rent was now running like a millrace. Our
catamaran. of course, afforded no shelter
of any kind. but we carried some sheets
of bark to form seats for ourselves and
the dog.
on at Last.
At length we pushed off on our eventful