CHAPTER VII 



IN TIME) OF DROUGHT 



THE prosperity of pastoral Australia depends 

 upon the rainfall, and as the dying autumn 

 ushers in the rainy season, the squatter waits 

 with anxiety for the first signs of the change of 

 seasons. The average annual rainfall of the 

 greater part of pastoral Australia is no more than 

 twenty inches, although in some districts a much 

 greater amount of moisture may be expected. 

 When the long-expected rains come, there is a 

 succession of heavy, drenching showers, which 

 fill the lagoons and water-holes, and convert the 

 trickling creek beds and dry water-courses into 

 foaming yellow rivers. Afterwards comes the 

 sun, causing the grass to shoot up bravely, and 

 every shrub and herb to sprout vigorously, cover- 

 ing the whole face of the land in a mantle of 

 smiling green. 



Should the season prove an exceptionally 

 favourable one, the showers are repeated at in- 

 tervals during the winter and early spring, and 

 the pastoralist sees the wattles bloom with the 

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