As thin as a gum-tree rail;
At the horrid sight of my hideous plight
Each settler's face turned pale:
"And as I travelled the mulga scrubs,
And forced a passage through
I scared the soul of the native black
A gathering his 'nardoo.'
"On snake or lizard I'd fain have fed,
But piteous was my plight,
And the whole of the brute creation fled