417 



the plants and animals that have successfully combated the 

 keener competition of the home lands find small difficulty in 

 displacing those whose struggle has been less severe. As far 

 as pastoral occupation is concerned, the outward journey may 

 be divided into two portions — the first from the railway to 

 Mount Hopeless, and the second thence to Innamincka. The 

 western portion is stocked with sheep, while the eastern half 

 is devoted to cattle-raising. Sheep crop so closely and travel 

 so compactly that a mob of, say, 20,000 or 30,000 leaves 

 behind it nothing but a barren waste as far as the ground is con- 

 cerned. Cattle also devour the low bushes and trees, and as 

 the latter are in places no higher than cattle can reach, whole 

 areas may be entirely denuded. Perhaps more devastating 

 (within restricted areas) than either are the camels, 

 which drag up the herbage by the roots, and thus 

 destroy all chance of revegetation. There are some very 

 large mobs of camels in the Central districts, whose 

 depasturing alone must have a marked effect upon the vege- 

 tation. At the time of our visit the number of cattle and 

 sheep was at a minimum owing to the devastating influence 

 of the drought; but the camels, being under more personal 

 care, had suffered but slight diminution, the few skeletons seen 

 being doubtless those of animals that had got away from a camel 

 train or had been deserted by a drover on account of sickness. 



Sand and Gibber. 



I have already indicated that although sandhills form 

 a conspicuous feature in the landscape of many parts of the 

 interior they do not constitute, as some people suppose, the 

 main portion of this vast area. Still sand is plentiful, and it 

 varies greatly in colour in different places. The general hue 

 is a deep orange approaching to red; in other places it is 

 yellow, and we also met in certain districts with sand almost 

 as white as that of Calais. The topmost layer is generally 

 loose when dry, and subject to being translated by the wind, 

 but at a depth of a few inches it becomes hard and well 

 adapted to the needs of burrowing animals such as rabbits 

 and native mammals, lizards, scorpions, and sand wasps, all 

 with exception of the mammals, choosing places from which 

 the surface sand has been blown. This harder and moisture- 

 conserving stratum supports plant life in considerable profu- 

 sion, and which is found mainly on the lower parts of the slopes 

 to which the rain and organic matter naturally gravitate. 



The "stony desert," or gibber country, I have else- 

 where W referred to. Though apparently most unpromising 



(DWaite: Emu, xvi., 1917, p. 167. 

 o 



