LONELY AUSTRALIA: THE UNIQUE CONTINENT 



553 



CAPRICIOUS RAINS 



Large areas of the desert are unknown, 

 but the wide-spaced tracks of explorers 

 are sufficient in number to reveal its char- 

 acter. The reports of the most recent ex- 

 pedition coincide with those undertaken 

 a half century ago : "We have demon- 

 strated the uselessness of any persons 

 (pastoralists or miners) wasting their 

 time and money in further investiga- 

 tions of that desolate region" (Carnegie). 



The annual average rainfall is not only 

 insufficient, but is distributed from year 

 to year and throughout the year in ca- 

 pricious fashion. All the rain of a year 

 may. fall in a few hours, or several years 

 may pass without rain enough to wet the 

 ground. 



Evaporation on the desert's edge, 

 where tested by measurements of loss in 

 tanks, in New South Wales and at Cool- 

 gardie, Western Australia, is at the rate 

 of 85 inches per annum — about that of 

 the lower Colorado Valley. At Laverton 

 it is 146 inches, or more than 12 feet — 

 15 times as much as the rainfall. 



Travel through the desert consists 

 essencially in getting from one water-hole 

 tc another, a task at which the native 

 excels the European. The aboriginal 

 knows the location and yield of every 

 water-hole within the limits of his hunt- 

 ing ground, and is free to move with the 

 rains. When soaks and gnamma holes 

 fail he digs up mallee roots, from short 

 lengths of which water sufficient for a 

 drink may be obtained. He has also • 

 learned that water may be squeezed from 

 the bodies of frogs, which bury them- 

 selves in mud during droughts. 



CAMELS ARE INTRODUCED 



Not until 1862, after many failures, 

 was the desert crossed by horses, and then 

 along the line which has proven to be the 

 only feasible one. Compared with other 

 routes this first transcontinental traverse 

 by Stuart is well v/atered, and has deter- 

 mined the location of the Adelaide-Port 

 Darwin telegraph line, and of a proposed 

 railway (see map, pages 480-481). 



From the termini of railways in 

 Queensland and New South Wales, 2,000 

 miles westward to the Indian Ocean, cam- 

 els are the burden-carriers across the 



waterless steppes. Settlements of Af- 

 ghans with their camels are familiar 

 sights at mining camps and stations along 

 the railways. They carry wool to market 

 and return with needed supplies. Driven 

 in harness, or saddled, they bear the set- 

 tler and the mails from oasis to oasis, and 

 take the missionary, physician, and engi- 

 neer to their work. They are used to haul 

 materials for construction, to bring in 

 fuel, to plow, and to distribute water 

 along routes of travel. The water-supply 

 branch of the West Australia government 

 has 350 camels in use, and 300 are tak- 

 ing part in the construction of the Port 

 Augusta-Kalgoorlie railway (p. 554). 



The camel of Australia is not a beau- 

 tiful or an affectionate beast, but he will 

 browse on desert shrubs and carry a load 

 three or four times that of a good horse 

 20 miles a day without apparent fatigue. 

 When deprived of water for more than 

 five or six days, his efficiency decreases, 

 but he is capable of work for much 

 longer periods. 



On Carnegie's expedition the camels 

 were without water for thirteen and one- 

 half days. On a geological expedition 

 north of Eucla, camels were at one time 

 twelve days without water in an average 

 temperature of ioo°. On the Jones Sur- 

 vey across and beyond the Nullarbor 

 plains, camels traveled 340 miles over 

 rock and sand, in fifteen days, without 

 water, and waterless stretches exceeding 

 600 miles have been covered. 



It is no simple matter to fill a camel 

 with water. His ordinary drink is seven 

 to eight gallons ; when thirsty, twenty 

 gallons ; but after being deprived of water 

 for several days, forty gallons is scarcely 

 enough. His demands, therefore, make 

 great inroads on small water-holes. In 

 desert mining camps, where water is 

 scarce, the drink for a camel may cost 

 $2 or $3, and the owner of "Misery," 

 coming in from a long trip, is said to 

 have paid $14 to quench the thirst of his 

 mount. 



At the end of the railway, in South 

 Australia, is Oodnadatta, the most remote 

 village on the continent. Three stores, a 

 hotel, a missionary hospital, an Afghan 

 village, and buildings of the government 

 railway are its principal features. Water 

 is obtained from an artesian well which 



