We Burnt The Flats As We Rode Down,
And Made A Smoke Which Was Noticed Between Fifty And Sixty Miles Off.
I
have seen no grander sight than the fire upon a country which has never
before been burnt, and on which there is a large quantity of Irishman.
The sun soon loses all brightness, and looks as though seen through
smoked glass.
The volumes of smoke are something that must be seen to
be appreciated. The flames roar, and the grass crackles, and every now
and then a glorious lurid flare marks the ignition of an Irishman; his
dry thorns blaze fiercely for a minute or so, and then the fire leaves
him, charred and blackened for ever. A year or two hence, a stiff nor'-
wester will blow him over, and he will lie there and rot, and fatten the
surrounding grass; often, however, he shoots out again from the roots,
and then he is a considerable nuisance. On the plains Irishman is but a
small shrub, that hardly rises higher than the tussocks; it is only in
the back country that it attains any considerable size: there its trunk
is often as thick as a man's body.
We got back about an hour after sundown, just as heavy rain was coming
on, and were very glad not to be again camping out, for it rained
furiously and incessantly the whole night long. Next day we returned to
the lower station belonging to my companion, which was as replete with
European comforts as the upper was devoid of them; yet, for my part, I
could live very comfortably at either.
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