[176] See _Proceedings_ of Royal Society of Tasmania, September 13, 1880. Mr. C. M. Officer states--"With reference to the Mindi or Mallee snake, it has often been described to me as a formidable creature of at least thirty feet in length, which confined itself to the Mallee scrub. No one, however, has ever seen one, for the simple reason that to see it is to die, so fierce it is, and so great its power of destruction. Like the Bunyip, I believe the Mindi to be a myth, a mere tradition." [177] Pinkerton's _Voyages_, vol. xiv. p. 247. [178] _Ibid._, vol. xiv. p. 514. [179] It is interesting to compare this belief with stories given elsewhere, by Pliny, Book viii. chap. xiv., and Ælian, Book ii. chap. xxi., of the power of the serpents or dragons of the river Rhyndacus to attract birds by inhalation. [180] Pinkerton's _Voyages_, vol. xiv. p. 713. [181] Herodotus, Book iii. chap. cvii., cviii. [182] Herodotus, Book iii. chap. cviii. [183] Herodotus, Book ii., chap. lxxv. [184] _Ibid._, Book ii., chap. lxxvi. [185] _Ibid._, Book i., chap. v. [186] _Antiquities of the Jews_, Book ii., chap. x. [187] Book viii. chap. xxxv. [188] _Pharsalia_, Book ix. [189] Herodotus, Book iv. chap. cv. [190] Book iii. chap. xx. [191] "It may be some comfort to graziers and selectors who are struggling, under many discouragements, to suppress the rabbit plague in Victoria, to learn that our condition, bad as it is, is certainly less serious than that of New Zealand. There, not only is an immense area of good country being abandoned in consequence of the inability of lessees to bear the great expense of clearing the land of rabbits, but, owing to the increase of the pest, the number of sheep depastured is decreasing at a serious rate. Three years ago the number exceeded thirteen millions; but it is estimated that they have since been diminished by two millions, while the exports of the colony have, in consequence, fallen off to the extent of £500,000 per annum. A Rabbit Nuisance Act has been in existence for some time, but it is obviously inefficient, and it is now proposed to make its provisions more stringent, and applicable alike to the Government as well as to private landowners. A select committee of both Houses of the Legislature, which has recently taken a large amount of evidence upon this subject, reports in the most emphatic terms its conviction that unless immediate and energetic action is taken to arrest the further extension of, and to suppress the plague, the result will be ruinous to the colony. A perusal of the evidence adduced decidedly supports this opinion. Many of the squatters cannot be accused of apathy. Some of them have employed scores of men, and spent thousands of pounds a year in ineffectual efforts to eradicate the rabbits from their runs. One firm last year is believed to have killed no less than 500,000; but the following spring their run was in as bad a state as if they had never put any poison down. Similar