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266 sufficient to bewilder the pedestrian in such a landscape, and a poor maid-servant, in undertaking a similar commission, got so completely astray as to be recovered only after a lengthened search that knocked up both men and horses. She owed her life to the perseverance of one of the party, who, when the others were for turning back and renouncing further search as useless, insisted, as a last chance, on exploring a little valley which they had not yet examined, and was rewarded by a faint answer to his loud coo-ee as he rode down the hollow. On entering the house the poor girl swooned away immediately, and the recollection of what she had undergone was so terrible, especially of the horror of the lonely nights, that her mistress told me she seldom summoned courage, after the first recital, to speak upon the subject.

Travellers are sometimes benighted on a road which they know well in daylight only; there is then nothing for it but to come to a stand-still, and to wait patiently for morning. It might naturally be supposed that a horse which was familiar with the way could be trusted to follow it; but his choosing to do so may possibly depend on the comparison that he draws in his own mind between the supper he is likely to get at his master's stable, and the one he can provide for himself in the bush. Under these circumstances an acquaintance of ours was much mortified at being compelled to spend the night under a tree, although his horse knew every inch of ground round about. With the reins thrown on his neck that he might follow the right course towards home, the animal elected to remain where he already felt himself completely so, and where he could enjoy the grass till daylight.