408 



My wife accompanied me throughout the long and 

 arduous journey of 1,300 miles on camelback. Too much 

 praise cannot be bestowed upon Mrs. White for the assistance 

 she rendered to science, for without her help much would 

 have been left undone. 



We left Adelaide with our outfit, stores, etc., towards 

 the end of July, 1913. After three days' train journey we 

 reached the head of the line, Oodnadatta, some 700 miles 

 north of Adelaide. A white man was here engaged to look 

 after the camels, cook, etc., also two aboriginals as assistants. 

 Some delay occurred, and it was not till August 4 that our 

 camel train wound its way through the scattered houses and 

 we were out upon the vast tablelands. 



The first few days we were travelling north-east, over 

 the gibber country; later we found it necessary to swing back 

 upon the Macumba Creek, and passed to the east of Mount 

 John and camped one night at Horseshoe Bore, where fish 

 and a good many birds were collected. Leaving this bore, 

 which is an oasis in the desert, we made over to Apperina 

 Bore, which is responsible for a fine flowing creek, the water 

 in which attracts much bird life. Some good-sized red gums 

 (Eucalyptus rostrata) seemed to be thriving upon the artesian 

 water, but we noticed that where this water touched the 

 roots of the mulga (Acacia aneura) they were dying off. Great 

 numbers of fish were found in these waters, and a bright 

 fringe of light-green flags and rushes lined the watercourse in 

 many places. The temperature of Horseshoe Bore was 

 104° Mi. at the surface, and the Apperina Bore water was 

 129° Fh. at the surface. 



Moving out again we followed up Apperina Creek and 

 cut over to Memory Bore, in a howling wilderness. The 

 water at this bore is 100° Fh. at the surface. From here we 

 cut the line of the Horn Expedition and followed on the 

 track it took into Dalhousie cattle station, and I agree 

 with Professor Baldwin Spencer when he says "that, if it be 

 possible, this country is more desolate than ever," with its 

 dark mound springs and its worked-out appearance. There 

 we stayed one night and moved on next morning, and diverged 

 from the route taken by the Horn Expedition, which latter 

 tended towards the telegraph line. Travelling north we came 

 to the Dalhousie Mound Springs proper, and found it a most 

 interesting place. Our camp was surrounded by a great 

 number of these natural springs, some of them quite hot, for 

 which the waterbirds, mostly of the duck family, have a great 

 liking. The large hot spring is a fine sheet of water sur- 

 rounded by teatree (Melaluca). This hole is a great depth, 

 and the temperature of the water is 111° Fh. Another spring 



