WATER SUPPLY AND IRRIGATION. 151 
consisting of the ordinary rods and bits, was sent on to the ground, 
to test the nature and depth of the strata and the quality of the 
water to be procured. 
The preliminary borings were commenced on the 1st October, 
at the Jumping Sandhill, about 30 miles north of Booligal, and 
were completed at Mount Monahra, about 120 miles from the 
same place, in January 1870. The camp was then broken up, as 
there was no water on the “ Death Track” between there and 
Wilcannia, a distance of 80 miles. To have carried out the works 
along that line would have necessitated a very heavy expenditure 
for haulage of water. In addition to this there were other reasons 
for suspending operations, chief of which were the difficulties 
experienced in obtaining and keeping efficient men ; the high cost 
of labour, and the comparatively small depth to which the borings 
d 
culties, further, that the experience gained, though perhaps 
rather costly, has been of much value and an eventual source of 
economy, 
Looking back at those early efforts, there can be little doubt 
but that the better plan to have adopted would have been to hav 
Crown lessees, gaining information as to the depth d 
of springs in existing wells, their positions, and the cost am 
serve storm wa) ; and in case of the surface features being 
unfavourable for tanks, the locality could have been tested for an 
: : i The 
: were very much intensified in that back country. 
Works would i been completed much sooner, and, as the 
