CONCLUSION 87 



the British precedent, and consult the Austra- 

 lasian Association for the Advancement of 

 Science, in reference to the organization of that 

 work. 



The benefits such a meteorological service 

 might confer on Australasia are incalculable. 



Proposals have been made to introduce into 

 Central Australia a sheet of salt water, which, 

 though large enough to be somewhat costly, 

 would be small in comparison to the vast 

 waterless plains it is proposed to benefit. But 

 in the summer, when rain would do the most 

 good, the country is often already covered with 

 a vast sea of water. Day after day, in the 

 summer of 1901-2 the districts around Lake 

 Eyre lay under a heavy pall of morose, grey 

 cloud. The fall of one tithe of that sea of 

 moisture would have broken the long spell of 

 drought, which had laid that country waste. 

 The clouds at times descended as if endea- 

 vouring to reach the earth ; but the ground 

 was too warm and they were repelled again to 

 the sky. More than once we had a few drops 

 of rain, which showed that the clouds were 

 so near the precipitating point that the slightest 

 impulse would have upset the balance and 

 brought down heavy rain. How high those 

 clouds were above us, how thick they were, 

 how much their temperature was above the 

 precipitating point, we could not tell. No one 

 knows. As I watched those clouds drifting 

 steadily overhead, I used to long for a 



