585 



the sand is almost white. At about 15 ft. below the surface 

 at the Soak a very light-coloured clay is reached. This clay 

 is very stiff and forms an impervious bottom for the wells 

 that have been sunk. The wells are not sunk lower than the 

 above depth and are timbered all the way down. The water 

 soaks in within a few houi\s to about 3 ft. of the surface. 

 Tliere are eighteen wells at this spot and they are situated in 

 a hollow surrounded by high sandhills. Twelve of them pro- 

 duce beautiful, fresh, drinking water, while the other six are 

 fit for human consumption but slightly brackish. 



There is no doubt this fresh water has been known to 

 the natives for many miles around for generations, as native 

 flint chippings can still be picked up in handfuls around the 

 wells. It is a veritable oasis, and has been made use of by 

 early explorers. The sandhills are clothed with a dense vege- 

 tation comprising trees (up to 40 ft. or more in height), 

 shrubs, undershrubs, small perennials and annuals. A fine view 

 was obtained from the top of a tall sand ridge at the Soak, 

 and the prevailing mallee sandhill scrub stretched away to the 

 north, east, and south as a dark expanse of country. 



For most of the year the plants of the sandhills are 

 subjected to very severe growing conditions, and transpiration 

 must be at its maximum during that period. Such conditions 

 tend to keep an open formation; that is, plants have open 

 spaces between them of some yards. Yet often in the hollows 

 between the sand ridges the Acacias and other shrubs are so 

 close together that they touch one another, and one has to 

 push a way through them. The vegetation has responded to 

 its environment by developing narrow leaves (or phyllodes 

 in the case of the Acacias), thus reducing transpiration to a 

 minimum. The broad-leaf plants, such as Eucalypts (E. 

 oleosa, E. pyrifor'nus, and E. transcontinentalis), have re- 

 sponded to the prevailing meteorological and edaphic factors 

 by producing coriaceous leaves with few stoma ta which are 

 deeply set below the epidermis. Tlie small herbaceous annuals 

 grow chiefly out m the open, it was rare to find them growing 

 below the larger shrubs or trees. The annuals consisted largely 

 of composites, although Calandrinia folyaivdra, the *''para- 

 keelya," formed large patches around Barton. 



The sandhills are fixed, being clothed with native vege- 

 tation. When the covering is removed trouble is experienced 

 with drifting sand. This has been the case in some of the 

 railway cuttings, which have had to be faced with a retaining 

 mat consisting of stakes, boughs, and small branches. 



The sandhills grow a greater number of plants than any 

 other portion of the country visited along the line. 



