NATIVE WELLS 167 



with here and there a deep gully with a considerable depth 

 of water at the bottom. 



Early in the morning we came to the bed of a river 

 with sandy banks nearly seventy feet high. Water had 

 been recently running in the bed, for it was still muddy, 

 but it only remained in any quantity in deep holes. Some 

 of these holes had twenty feet of water in them, and most 

 of them at least twelve feet; so that there was no 

 immediate fear of our again running short of this 

 necessary. 



The downward course of this river was toward the 

 north-east ; but just above where we struck it, it trended 

 almost due east, indicating that its head was somewhere in 

 the central desert. I therefore determined to follow its 

 upward course. This, however, soon proved to be very 

 tortuous, though the water-holes were found at frequent 

 intervals, some of them a hundred yards long, about twenty 

 broad, and twelve or more feet deep, with remarkably pure 

 and sweet water. Gradually these water-holes became less 

 frequent and were smaller, some containing scarcely any 

 water and some being mere mud-wells. By and by we 

 found some holes which had been widened by stockmen or 

 other whites and the sides revetted with hurdles made of 

 brush-wood to prevent the weight of cattle breaking them 

 down. 



Soon after, on the plain near the river, we found the 

 remains of stock-yard railings enclosing large areas of 

 ground. Some of the paddocks were hundreds of acres in 

 extent, most of the rails still standing, though there were 

 gaps caused by decay ; and the natives seemed to have 

 been there and done some mischief. Probably they had 

 carried away the boards of several huts, the sites of which 

 were plainly marked on the ground. 



Here, no doubt, had formerly lived an out-lying 

 settler ; but Hamblin and the boys knew nothing of this 

 part of the country, and had not heard of any squatter in 

 this far-away spot. What had led the lonely adventurer 

 to forsake his desert home can only be conjectured. 

 Possibly a year of exceptional drought had ruined him 



