noon
As I walked my horse slowly over the sand under the fringing oaks , I made the unpleasant discovery that snakes were very plentiful -- not only the harmless carpet snake , but the deadly brown and black-necked tiger variety ; though against this were a corresponding number of iguanas , both of the tree-climbing and water-haunting species . The latter , to which I shall again allude , is a particularly shuddersome reptile . I had never before seen these repulsive creatures , and , indeed , had never heard of them . I returned to the hut at noon , and to my surprise found a party of thirty or more blacks camped under some Leichhardt trees . They seemed a fairly healthy lot of savages , and were not alarmed when they saw I was carrying a gun . I rode quietly up to them , and shook hands with two or three of the bucks , who spoke a little English . They were , they told me , from the Ravenswood district , which they had left some weeks ago , and were now travelling towards the Burdekin , hunting as they went .