We Had So Far Travelled 110 Miles From Cutmore's
Well, Only Some 250 In A Direct Line From Coolgardie And Were Already In
The Desert!
Wilderness perhaps would be a better name for this part; for
the sand now flat, now blown into dunes, is not bare, but overgrown by the
hateful spinifex and timbered pretty thickly with desert gums (EUCALYPTUS
EUDESMOIDES) and low acacia bushes.
I am told that the term "spinifex," though generally employed by those
who have the pleasure of the acquaintance of the plant, is wrongly used.
I do not know its right name, and have seen it described as "Spinifex,"
"Porcupine Grass," "TRIODIA," "TRIODIA PUNGENS," and "FESTUCA IRRITANS."
Why such a wretched, useless plant should have so many names I
cannot say. So often am I bound to refer to it that I might vary the
monotony by using each in turn. However, I will stick to the term I have
always heard used. "Spinifex" grows in round, isolated hummocks, one to
three feet high; these hummocks are a dense mass of needle-like prickles,
and from them grow tall blades of very coarse grass to a height of
sometimes six feet. Occasionally the hummocks are not round or isolated,
but grow in crescent form or almost complete rings, sometimes there is no
top growth - however it grows it is most accursed vegetation to walk
through, both for men and camels. Whatever form it takes it seems to be
so arranged that it cannot be stepped over or circumvented - one must in
consequence walk through it and be pricked, unpleasantly.
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