these favoured guests, made great havoc among the feathered race. He
returned after a short ramble with a variety of game, among which were a
crow, a kite, and a laughing jackass (alcedo gigantea,) a species of
king's-fisher, a singular bird, found in every part of Australia. Its cry,
which resembles a chorus of wild spirits, is apt to startle the traveller
who may be in jeopardy, as if laughing and mocking at his misfortune.
It is a harmless bird, and I seldom allowed them to be destroyed, as they
were sure to rouse us with the earliest dawn. To this list of Fraser's
spoils, a duck and a tough old cockatoo, must be added. The whole of these
our friends threw on the fire without the delay of plucking, and snatched
them from that consuming element ere they were well singed, and devoured
them with uncommon relish.

DESERTED NATIVE VILLAGE.

We pitched our tents upon a flat of good and tenacious soil. A brush, in
which there was a new species of melaleuca, backed it, in the thickest
part of which we found a deserted native village. The spot was evidently
chosen for shelter. The huts were large and long, all facing the same
point of the compass, and in every way resembling the huts occupied by the
natives of the Darling. Large flocks of whistling ducks, and other wild
fowl, flew over our heads to the N.W., as if making their way to some
large or favourite waters. My observations placed us in lat. 34 degrees
8 minutes 15 seconds south, and in east long. 141 degrees 9 minutes
42 seconds or nearly so; and I was at a loss to conceive what direction
the river would ultimately take. We were considerably to the N.W. of the
point at which we had entered it, and in referring to the chart, it
appeared, that if the Darling had kept a S.W. course from where the last
expedition left its banks, we ought ere this to have struck upon it,
or have arrived at its junction with the stream on which we were