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The Dragon: Darling

That harmless snakes of from twelve to fourteen feet in length occur abundantly in Northern Australia is generally known; but it is only of late years that I have been made acquainted with a firm belief, entertained by the natives in the interior, of the existence near the junction of the Darling and Murray, south of the centre of the continent, of a serpent of great magnitude.

I learn from Mr. G. R. Moffat that on the Lower Murray, between Swan Hill and the Darling junction at the time of his acquaintance with the district (about 1857 to 1867)— the black fellows had numerous stories of the existence of a large serpent in the Mallee scrub. It was conspicuous for its size, thirty to forty feet in length, and especially for its great girth, swiftness, and intensely disgusting odour; this latter, in fact, constituted the great protection from it, insomuch * La Chine Illustré, d'Athase Keichere, chap. x. p. 272. Amsterdam, CIO ICO LXX. † Vol. i. p. 601. as it would be impossible to approach without recognising its presence.