TELEGRAPHS ON THE TRACK 297 



by submarine cable, and for the other third the wire 

 is carried overland. 



There is one magnificent stretch of land-wire in 

 Australia, between Port Augusta and Alice Springs, 

 1,036 miles, over which the telegraphists speak direct 

 by translation. The much greater length of cable 

 (1,662 miles) between Aden and Bombay, however, 

 offers no obstacle to direct transmission. But the 

 speed of working is probably lower than over the 

 shorter land-line, aided as that is by translation. 



I have never known the Post-Office to lose its head 

 under the most embarrassing circumstances. That 

 is saying a great deal. When snow blocked the roads, 

 the mails still went somehow ; when a storm broke a 

 Scotch cable, still the telegrams went forward. The 

 submarine cable across the Sound of Mull gave way 

 in March, 1895. The season was not suitable for 

 ordinary repairs. The Office rose to the occasion. A 

 mile or two of gutta-percha-covered wire was laid 

 on the ground on the Morven coast, parallel with the 

 ordinary telegraph-wire on the opposite coast, which 

 is suspended on posts between Auchnacraig and Craig- 

 mure, where the Sound narrows, and is about a mile 

 and a half wide. Then, from Morven or Fort William, 

 messages were transmitted direct to Auchnacraig, and 

 by that office repeated to Tobermory. For the benefit 

 of experts, I may add that the receiving instrument 

 was a telephone, and the transmitter a ' buzzer,' an 

 ordinary key making the usual dots and dashes. So 



