Page:Narrative of a survey of the intertropical and western coasts of Australia, Volume 2.djvu/207

 SURVEY 01  INTER'ritOPlCAL � sacrifice to the apparent long. protracted droughtof J- the.season ;'but it was impossible, amidst the sail languer of vegetation .nbt to admire .the lusuriant and healthy habit ofan unclescribed species ofp/- tolx'm, (ole/folium, Curre. MS.), which formed a :.small robust tree ten feet high, laden with ripe fruit. We conld perceive no traces either of remains of fires, or otherwise of natives, in the whole length of our wallr along the edge of the eliifs or the plains, but we saw two snakes of very distinct kinds, each exceedin five feet ia length; the one black with a yellow belly, the other green and black, but they quickly  irm) holes, leaving , serpentine impression of their bodies upon the sand. These marks were seen and remarked near the edge of all the hole, 'which were very numerous upon the surface of � the kland, before I discovered that they were tl tracks of reptiles, from which it may be inferred that these arfims are very abundant. The only bird seen was a solitary species of �10/, but upon a steep ledge of rocks I observed one of those nests of which frequent mention has been already made': I examined and found it built upon the pinnacle of some large rocks, very strongly eonstructed of*long sticks; it was about five feet high, and exceeded four feet in diameter, with a ve T .tight cavity

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