78 THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 



to the Gulf of Carpentaria, was only i,ooo feet. We have thus 

 to the north of the Macdonnell Ranges a great inland basin, 

 bounded eastwards and northwards by the coastal ranges. 



In the Amadean basin there are practically no streams other 

 than very short ones, which soon become lost in the sandhills and 

 flats. In the northern inland parts there are only a few com- 

 paratively small streams, the most important being represented by 

 an irregular series of watercourses, draining during flood time into 

 the so-called Lake Woods, which is really only the overflow of 

 Newcastle Waters. In the Lake Eyre basin the streams are larger, 

 and we have definite watercourses, draining, as in the case of the 

 Warburton, Barcoo, Macumba, and Finke Rivers, a very wide 

 extent of country, but these streams only actually flow at rare 

 intervals, such water as they contain being met with, under 

 ordinary conditions, in scattered waterholes, which, in dry 

 seasons, may be very few and far between, or practically absent. 



Leaving Oodnadaita, we travelled slowly northwards, gradually 

 rising over the step^^es into the central districts of the continent, 

 across flat and stony country ; but in the rainy season this part 

 becomes so covered with herbage that one wonders where it all 

 comes from. Here and there are low-lying, flat-topped hills, 

 composed of sandstone with a thin capping of hard quartzite, the 

 breaking down of which gives rise to the stones which cover the 

 surface of the stony plains. Further north the country consists of 

 flat, open, thinly-grassed plains, where the flies are often a great 

 nuisance. They are very troublesome, to the eyes especially, 

 and their bites often cause the eyelids to swell to a great size, 

 giving rise to what is locally known by the expressive term of 

 '* bung-eye." So great a nuisance were they that we had to make 

 smoke-fires to keep them away while we loaded the horses, who 

 at times were nearly driven mad by their pertinacity. 



Travelling north for about 200 miles we came to the Charlotte 

 Waters telegraph station. Here, during the greater part of the 

 year, the country is barren, but during the rainy season it has a 

 slight growth of herbage. 



Getting towards the Finke River there are a few picturesque 

 spots, where the rocks have weathered into fantastic shapes, 

 resembling ruined castles, &c., or stand out above the sur- 

 rounding sandhills in column form. At last we reached the river, 

 which in its course has cut through the distant Macdonnell 

 Ranges. The banks are lined with gum-trees, and the country, 

 which in the dry season is almost impassable for want of water, is 

 at rare intervals almost as impassable on account of floods ; for 

 the waters rise very rapidly among the ranges in the centre, and 

 come down in tremendous quantities, spreading far and wide over 

 the low-lying lands. 



The animal life here is very interesting, on account of its methods 



