Page:An Australian Parsonage.djvu/79

 There are several sorts of "poison" (as the colonial phrase always goes), but the three most common are, the "berry," the "box," and the "York-road" poison, the last so called from the quantity that grows on that highway, and which makes the utmost watchfulness necessary on the part of the shepherds when sheep are driven upon it. I remember that on one occasion eighty sheep out of one flock died of "poison" upon the York-road, in a journey of only forty miles; and a neighbour of ours lost seventy-four sheep upon his own run in the course of one fortnight. The "box" poison (one of the Gastralobrum tribe, I believe) takes its name from a fancied resemblance between the pernicious shrub and the well-known box-tree; and the "berry" poison receives its distinctive title on account of the vast quantities of berries that the plant produces.

The talent for discrimination possessed by pigs in "what to eat, drink, and avoid," enables them to lead, as it were, a charmed life amidst these baleful herbs; in the words of a native, whom I questioned on the subject, "pig smell poison." Neither are horses, speaking generally, affected by the plant, the exceptional cases being so few that they may be considered to prove the rule. On the other hand, cows are frequent victims, and I can recall an instance of eleven cows, the property of one person, being all fatally poisoned whilst grazing together on the same spot.

We had left the sheep under their acacia-tree some two miles behind us, when the scenery became more diversified. The ground now undulated considerably, and a great many white gum-trees, of fantastic shapes, grew on the