Grass And Other
Herbage And Bushes Grow In A Narrow Belt Around The Foot Of The Cliffs,
But Everywhere Else Is Spinifex.
The hills present a most desolate appearance, though somewhat remarkable;
sheer cliffs stand on steep slopes of broken slabs and boulders of
sandstone, reminding one of a quarry dump; from the flat summit of the
cliffs rise conical peaks and round hills of most peculiar shape.
The
whole is covered with spinifex, a plant which seems to thrive in any kind
of soil; this rock-spinifex, I noticed, contains much more resinous
matter than the sand-spinifex, every spine being covered with a sticky
juice. From our camp I walked up the valley between the first and second
head, and, ascending the latter, which is crowned with cliffs some thirty
feet high, sat down and examined the hills with my glasses. Two black
objects moving about caught my eye, and as they approached I saw them to
be two fine bucks decked out in most extravagant manner. From my point of
vantage some three hundred feet above them, I could watch them, myself
unseen. Each carried a sheaf of spears, woommera, and shield, and in
their girdle of string a number of short throwing-sticks. Round their
waists were hanging sporrans formed from tufts of hair, probably similar
to those we found at Family Well that were made from the tufts from the
ends of bandicoots' tails; their bodies were painted in fantastic
patterns with white. Their hair was arranged in a bunch on the top of
their heads, and in it were stuck bunches of emu feathers.
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