Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1907-08-17
AUSTRALIAN TROPICAL BUSH.
A Sportsman's Paradise That Has Sc
rious Drawbacks

A Sportsman's Paradise That Has Sc
rious Drawbacks.
The country around Port Darwin in
which Engineer Commander Silk of H.
NJ. s. Pyramus was lost for five DAYS
was well known to me nineteen years
ago, and there has been very little
change in the northern territory since
that time. The mangrove swamps, that
sometimes stretch unbroken by cliffs or
beach for miles, are to the eye low, dull
green wall rising from the sea. Thou
sands of oysters cling to the fantastic
roots and branches of the mangroves
that are laved by the tidewaters, and ON
the bottom lie prawns, crabs and other
shellhsh of enormous size. SwOrdfish and
sharks often play sad havoc with the
| nets, as also do the numerous aIligators
that wallow in the black slime brought
down by the creeks which trickle
through the dense wilderness of closely
knitted boughs and leaves.
Each evening at sunset tiocks of flying
foxes in search of food stream from
their haunts in the mangroves toward
the open country; so black, eerie and
mysterious do they appear in the glori-
Gus red and golden light as their heavy
webbed wings flap slowly in their flight
that to the Imagination of any wanderer
/ III lllG ItlSllbDIuOOu Nlit9 DtGOiIlc HHfDln-
gers Of i'll omened fate. Where the
stretches of dazzling white beach APP
proach the swamp one frequently comes
on a quicksanG, and | remember my hor-
rOr when | rode unconscious of its exist
cnce into the one at Fannie bay: | felt
my horses feet sink over the fetlocks
just as my companions shout brought
us back to firm ground.
The territory has been often described
.N- 4
of the year the organized shooting par.
ties find around the lagoons and iuneles
about 10 miles from Port Darwin myri-
ads of different species of wild duck and
geese, as well as ibis, native companions
various kinds of pigeons, cockatoos and
parrots and emu and kangaroo. Black
boys generally accompany the parties to
retrieve from the tangle of lilies and
other beautiful plants, by which the
surface of the shallow waters are thick
ly covered, the birds that fall to the
guns.
The thick belts of jungle are choked
by an underground of parasitic creepers
that have flung their ropes around the
trunks and into the branches Of the
great trees, to droOp thence in a maze
Of tangled Loops into which it is impos-
sible to penetrate far without cutting
a way. Clusters of white, starry flowers
shine graclCpsly among the green of
fern and moss; a blaze of scarlet blossom
clings around the tall pillar of ban
yam: and the soft illumination of hello
trope orchids lights the diverse under
growth that is only half revealed in the
tender brooding twilight.
a friend relating an experience of the
jungle described the soft dank heat ana
intense silence. the rare shafts of sun
light breaking through the canopy of the
treetops, and the feeling of reverence
and awe inspired in himqhe4he beautiful
GOthiclike arches and tracery; and told
of his rude awakening when turning his
head to the right he saw suspended from
branch an enormous python, swaying
stealthily as it loosened its coils and
slowly advanced its head toward him.
The sight of the serpent in this glimpse
of Eden, and one so muscular and of
such evil intent, so terrified him that
with shout he rushed from the jungle
to the open without even firing a shot
Maury Eyre in Pail Mall Gazette.