The girls' favourite play, however, was Pericles, "Prince of Tyre." I took the part of the King, and when I called for my robes Yamba would bring some indescribable garments of emu skin, with a gravity that was comical in the extreme.

I, on my part, recited passages from the French classics--particularly the Fables of La Fontaine, in French; which language the girls knew fairly well.
And we had other amusements.

I made some fiddles out of that peculiar Australian wood which splits into thin strips.

The strings of the bow we made out of my own hair; whilst those for the instrument itself were obtained from the dried intestines of the native wild-cat.
We lined the hut with the bark of the paper-tree, which had the appearance of a reddish-brown drapery.
The native women made us mats out of the wild flax; and the girls themselves decorated their room daily with beautiful flowers, chiefly lilies.

They also busied themselves in making garments of various kinds from opossum skins.