It was wonderful to see the dexterity with which they would light a fire and erect a bush-hut. They were all cooks; Private Crayton, super-excellent. He had been a London butcher, and was sharp and intelligent. Among them was Hutchings, a huge fellow. He used to prefer going alone, and never returned empty-handed; more generally hung round with game,--fifteen or twenty geese, a whole flock of ducks, a native companion or two as long as himself, two or three kangaroos, and a handkerchief full of small birds (specimens of natural history), the only part of him visible being his great red face, besmeared with perspiration and blood. At the time of our visit these extensive swamps were, with the exception of occasional patches and a few holes, quite dry, and covered over with a crust of land clay sufficiently strong to bear our weight, but not that of our horses; the latter were nearly bogged on more than one occasion. It was late the first day when we arrived on our ground, and we had only time to light fires and pitch our tents on the banks of a stream when the sun went down. While we were preparing for supper, an iguana about two feet long ran past me, and at the same pace mounted a tree. I pointed out the disgusting animal to one of our natives. In less time than it takes me to write, he was caught by the tail, split up the back, spread out with skewers, roasted, and eaten. Long before the break of day we heard that peculiar noise occasioned by the wings of wild-fowl: then came the low, distant cackle of geese, and the strange noise of the whistling-duck passing overhead. I believe we were all alike in a state of excitement. Daylight came at last, but with it an excitement of another kind. No one experiencing what we did, could ever forget the myriads of flies. Everything was black with them--the ground, the air, our food. They clung to our clothes, they stuck to our faces. To rid ourselves of them, we stripped and rushed into the water, diving to get clear--but no! they would hover about and swarm on any part of our bodies that appeared above the surface. We were not entirely free for one moment, until we left them and our sport together. Never before had I fully understood the curse of that particular plague of Egypt. However, by spreading a silk handkerchief over the head, and keeping it in its place with a light straw hat, we succeeded in protecting our necks and faces from the thickest of them; and as there was just sufficient wind to keep the corners of the head-dress flapping about, we thus partially disappointed our tormentors. With the exception of this one drawback, better sport we could not have had. There was room for any number of guns. The geese have one peculiarity--they perch upon trees, so that an unskilful sportsman may have, in his way, as much amusement as the man who brings down his geese right and left from a considerable height.