Page:Australian Emigrant 1854.djvu/82

 in the Westernport district) and whose bright little eyes and restless behaviour gave him the appearance of a small black dog on the qui vive over the treasures in the bag.

On reaching the opposite side of the Yarra, they found themselves amongst brick kilns and deep pits from whence clay had been dug; many of these pits were half full of stagnant water, and the bull frogs in them were keeping up a continual croaking. Little hovels rose here and there in which dwelt whole families, who were commencing their daily labour of making bricks. The party picked their way through the unhealthy territory, over which hung heavily a cloud of a leaden color, partly vapour and partly smoke, and pregnant with sickness and fever; on emerging from this swamp, the sun shone through a pure atmosphere, and a fresh breeze which was blowing, fanned the travellers as they moved onwards at a good pace, considering the unusual load each carried. Occasionally, after examining minutely the bark of a tree, Benbo would cast aside his cloak and weapons, with the exception of the tomahawk, and cutting notches in the bark, would mount and in a short time would be seen walking about upon the larger branches, prying into the decayed limbs in the hope of finding the opossum which his observation below had induced him to believe was an inhabitant of the tree. It was not often he was disappointed; and when having detected small portions of fur at the entrance of a cavity, he would insert a long twig, and hearing the opossum scrambling about inside, his merry laugh was worth listening to. He would then cut a hole at the extremity of the hollow part, all the time keeping up a continual chattering, addressing himself to the opossum, as yet unseen.—"Eigh! eigh! old 'possum (chop—chop—chop), you dere eh? (chop, &c.,) berry good; you wait a lilly bit (chop, &c). Ah! Ah! me see him back (chop, &c.)—me make him door (chop, &c). Now den,