8o CONFESSIONS OF A BEACHCOMBER 



the State of Victoria was 27'36 inches. In one locality, 

 reputed to be the wettest, 42' ii inches were registered, and 

 occasioned no little surprise. In another Australian state, 

 among the natural advantages of land oiifered for close 

 settlement, was catalogued an annual rainfall of 18 inches ; 

 in another an official inducement of an average rainfall of 

 27 inches was offered, in yet another 24 inches, with a not 

 too shrewd note that i $ inches of rain was ample. 



Some of the denizens of a dry area in Victoria find it 

 hard to credit the simple facts recorded by my rain-gauge. 

 The rainfall for the month of January 1903, on Dunk 

 Island was 26'6o inches, only 076 inches short of the mean 

 for the whole year in Victoria, and more than twice the 

 quantity that blessed the thirsty soil in some parts of 

 Queensland. The total rainfall of the wettest locality in 

 Victoria was 42* 11 inches. Here the month of March 

 alone gave 44'90 inches. 



At Thargomindah (South- Western Queensland) ir37 

 inches were registered for 1903, and 9'82 inches for 1904. 

 The two driest months of Dunk Island fell short by a trifle 

 more than 2 inches of the total fall for 1904 for that 

 parched area. At Eulolo (Mid -Western Queensland) 1 3'68 

 inches represented the sum of the blessing for 1903, while 

 during 24 hours in December that year the Dunk Island 

 gauge registered just 1 1 inches, and that quantity was 3 

 inches more than could be spared for Eulolo for the whole 

 of 1904. 



During 1904 Cape Otway Forest (Victoria), registered 

 40"92 inches, Townsville (North Queensland) 26'32 inches, 

 and Dunk Island — only no miles from Townsville — 94'i4 

 inches. That was a dry year with us. What is known in 

 this neighbourhood as " the drought year " gave just 60 

 inches. Plants unaccustomed to such hardship, and there- 

 fore devoid of inherent powers of resistance, then gave way 

 with pitiful lack of resource, and as speedily recovered on 

 the return of normal conditions. Yet the 60 inches of " the 

 drought year" represented more than twice the average 

 rainfall of London. 



