[103] The atmosphere, sultry on the plain below, was cold upon this mountain, although the sun shone brilliantly. I was told, that last year, in December, (one of the summer months in the colony,) some snow fell, in a small quantity, at this place. [104] The “Walbun,” or “Culibun,” is usually made from one of the knotty protuberances so commonly seen upon the trunks of the large Eucalypti trees. [105] When the natives about the Murrumbidgee river heard, on my return, that I had visited the “Bugong Mountain,” they expressed great delight, and wished to see what I had collected. On showing them the few insects I had, they recognized them instantly; but I thought there was a feeling of disappointment at their curiosity only, not appetites, being gratified by my little entomological collection. [106] The spears are six to twelve feet long; the shorter are made of reed pointed with hard wood; the longer are rude sticks sharpened at the extremity. They use a throwing-stick, similar to the one seen among the natives in the vicinity of Sydney and other parts of the colony. [107] According to Spix and Martius, “The Coroados Indians in the interior of Brazil have their language, in respect to numbers, very imperfect. They generally count only by the joints of the finger, consequently only to three; every greater number they express by the word ‘many.’ Their calculation of time is equally simple—merely according to the returning season of the ripening of the fruits, or according to the phases of the moon,—of which latter, however, they can express in words only the appearance, without any reference to the cause.”—_Travels in Brazil_, 8vo. Eng. Transl. vol. ii. p. 255. [108] The natives name the kangaroo “Bundar and Wumbuen,” but have separate names for each species. At Goulburn Plains the red species is called “Eran and Warru;” and, although the language of the different tribes vary in other respects, there is often a similarity of the names of animals among them, each having two or three distinctive appellations, which may have been the cause of so much confusion existing among this genus of the mammalia; for Mr. Ogilby, who devoted much time and research to the marsupial quadrupeds of Australia, correctly observes respecting the kangaroos, “They are at present involved in the greatest confusion, and are mentioned in catalogues in the most vague and general, as often incorrect terms, without any distinguishing marks. No department of Australian mammalogy has given me so much trouble as the history of the kangaroos; in none have I arrived at a less satisfactory conclusion.” I only regret that the brief sojourn made in Australia, would not permit me to investigate the subject to the extent I desired. From what I observed there does not appear so much difficulty to ascertain the different species, as has been supposed. [109] I was informed that a white kangaroo had been seen; it was an Albino, with the usual pink eyes, and is extremely rare.