Several Birds Help In This Operation, And When Finished Lay Their
Eggs On A Layer Of Leaves At The Bottom; They Then Fill In The Hole To
The Surface With Small Twigs And More Leaves.
Presumably the eggs are
hatched by spontaneous heat, the green twigs and leaves producing a
slightly moist warmth, similar to that of the bird's feathers.
I have
seen numbers of these nests, never with eggs in, but often with the
shells from recently hatched birds lying about. How the little ones force
their way through the sticks I do not understand, but Warri and many
others who have found the eggs assure me that they do so.
Towards evening we neared a prominent bluff that we had sighted the day
before, and got a further insight into the habits of the wild dog. A
dingo - a female, and possibly our friend with the pups - had followed us
persistently all day. Godfrey, who was walking behind the camels, opened
the acquaintance by practising his revolver-shooting upon her. His poor
aim seemed to give her confidence, and before long she started to play
with Val. By nightfall we had petted and fed her out of our hands, and
given her a small drop of water from our fast diminishing supply - this at
the earnest request of Godfrey, who offered to give her some of his
share; and indeed it seemed rather cruel to refuse a poor famished beast
that had come to us in her distress. We all agreed how nice it was to have
won the affections of a real wild dog. By daybreak our feelings of love
had somewhat abated, as our friend prowled about all night, poking her
nose into pots and pans, chewing saddles, pack-bags, straps, and even our
blankets as we lay in them, and cared no more for blows than for the
violent oaths that were wasted upon her. This strange creature accompanied
us for two more days, trotting along ahead of the camels, with an
occasional look behind to see if she was on the right course, and then
falling at full length in the shade of some bush with her head on her
paws, waiting for us to pass. Eventually my irritability got the better
of my indulgence, and a shrewd whack over the nose put an end to our
acquaintanceship.
Near the bluff were many low, stony hills, with the usual small
watercourses; in them we hunted high and low for water until darkness
overtook us. To the North other similar hills could be seen, by my
reckoning a part of the Ernest Giles Range (Wells, 1892). No doubt from
the distance these hills would look more imposing. Our camp was in lat.
27 degrees 9 minutes, long. 123 degrees 59 minutes. August 6th.
On August 7th we continued to search the hills, but had to leave them
without finding water. We had now been since July 29th without seeing
any, and in consequence of the ease with which we had, up to that date,
found water had not husbanded our supply as carefully as we might have
done, and now had to put ourselves on a very short allowance indeed. The
further we advanced the worse the country became, and the greater the
increase in temperature. Shortly after leaving the hills we came again on
to sandhills. About midday my hopes were high, as I cut the fresh tracks
of two black-fellows.
Warri, after a short examination, said, "Yesterday track water that way,"
pointing in the direction in which they were travelling; not that he could
possibly tell which way the water lay, and for all we knew they might have
just left it. However, we decided that better success would probably
attend us if we followed them forward. Soon several equally fresh tracks
joined the first ones, and not one of us doubted but that our present
discomforts would shortly be over.
"There must be water at the end of them," was the general opinion, and so
on we went gaily; Warri leading, and Charlie, who was an almost equally
good tracker, backing him up. After much twisting and turning, crossing
and recrossing of our own tracks, the footprints at last took a definite
direction, and a pad, beaten by perhaps a dozen feet, led away North-West
for two miles and never deviated. Any doubts as to Warri's correct
interpretation were now dispelled, and on we hurried, looking forward to
at least water for ourselves, and perhaps a drink for the camels. At full
speed through mulga scrub, over sand and stones, on which the tracks were
hardly visible, we came suddenly to an open patch of rock on the side of
a low ridge, and there in the centre of the flat rock lay before us a
fair-sized rock-hole - dry as a bone! - and all our visions of luxury for
our beasts and ourselves were ended.
Not only were we baulked of our water, but nothing but dead scrub
surrounded the rock, affording no feed for the camels, who had therefore
to be tied down. Leaving the rest to dig out the hole on the chance of
getting a drop, though it was evident that the natives had cleaned it out
nearly to the bottom, Warri and I started off to follow the tracks yet
further. Taking a handful of dried peaches to chew, which give a little
moisture, for we were very dry, we walked until darkness overtook us. The
tracks (a man, two women, and a child) led us back towards the West;
we could see their camps, one close to the namma-hole, another four miles
away, with crushed seed lying about, and a few roots pulled up. Warri
said they were "tired fella" from the way they walked. All this made
us doubtful if they knew where the next water was. In any case we could
make no further search that night, and made our best way back through
the scrub, to the camp.
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