174 RAMBLES IN THE DESERT 



and keep the ground moist for longer than four or five 

 hours. 



I cannot satisfactorily account for the formation of so 

 many holes in the beds of Australian rivers. These holes, 

 which are not of the nature of " pot-holes," are not found 

 so frequently in large rivers like the Murray and Darling, 

 which have always some water in their beds. But in some 

 of the rivers on this eastern side of the continent there are 

 hundreds of these holes, large and small. Some which are 

 only a few yards in length and breadth are more than 

 twenty feet deep, and one on this river was as much as fifty 

 feet deep, though only forty yards long and about half 

 that measurement in breadth. How could such holes be 

 formed ? I suspect subsidence, the result of the under- 

 ground action of water. 



What river this could be I know not. It was probably 

 a channel rather than a river, and never possessed of a 

 surface current except after heavy rains. It cannot have 

 an independent outlet on the sea-coast, and is probably 

 lost in one of the great lakes or marshes in the neighbour- 

 hood of Lake Moore, or perhaps it takes a due north course 

 to the great inland marsh of Austin. North-east of my 

 position on ist May, the map indicated that there are 

 many large lakes or marshes, nearly all of which are salt, 

 and probably, like the rivers, only wet during the preva- 

 lence of rains. I myself saw enough of the country to 

 convince me that there is a very considerable stretch of 

 marsh land in this direction. In summer-time it is either 

 quite dry or a succession of mud-ponds ; but I am convinced 

 that, the right time of the year being chosen, it would not 

 be the want of water which would prevent a traveller from 

 easily reaching the centre of the continent by this route. 

 Properly and sufficiently provided, I am convinced that an 

 experienced bushman could, in these days, with ease cross 

 the country from coast to coast. 



As on this ist May we were probably on ground 

 which was rarely crossed over by white men, I consider 

 that it is the real starting-point of my journey. Here, 

 at any rate, I felt that I was on new ground, and though 



