Leaving The Range The Country To The East
Underwent A Distinct Change For The Worse; And Midday Of July 31st Found
Us On The Borders Of An Unmistakable Desert, The North-West Corner Of The
Great Victoria Desert.
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. Camels and
horses suffer rather severely sometimes, the constant pricking causing
sores on their legs. So long, however, as a camel does not drag his hind
legs he will be no worse treated than by having all the hair worn off his
shins. The side of the foot is an easily affected spot, and a raw there,
gives them great pain and is hard to cure.
There are two varieties of spinifex known to bushmen - "spinifex" and
"buck" (or "old man") spinifex. The latter is stronger in the prickle
and practically impossible to get through, though it may be avoided by
twists and turns. There are a few uses for this horrible plant; for
example, it forms a shelter and its roots make food for the kangaroo, or
spinifex, rat, from its spikes the natives (in the northern districts)
make a very serviceable gum, it burns freely, serves in a measure to bind
the sand and protect it from being moved by the wind, and makes a good
mattress when dug up and turned over. I should advise no one to try and
sleep on the plant as it grows, for "He who sitteth on a thistle riseth
up quickly." But the thistle has one advantage, viz., that it does not
leave its points in its victim's flesh.
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