OUTBURST OF SPRINGS IN TIME OF DROUGHT. 203 
water level, and so released the water dammed back, which then 
made its appearance as a running stream lower down. At first 
sight this explanation seems feasible ; but to those who, having 
been in the habit of storing water above the surface in artificial 
dams made of clay, have noted what takes place in dry weather, 
its inadequacy is apparent. Even in a surface dam, no matter 
how dry the weather, and even though the dam be exposed to 
wind and sun for a length of time, it never cracks while there is 
any water on the upper side ; nor is it possible that it could do 
so, because as long as the water remained it would be kept moist, 
when it cracked there would be no water to flow through. Some 
other explanations which have been offered, such as the action of 
cray-fish, supposed in extremely dry weather to undertake the 
sinking of artesian bores on their own account, seem to me to be 
too fantastic to be worth consideration. 
The theory, which seems to me to cover all the facts that I 
have observed or seen recorded in the papers, is simple enough, 
but I do not claim for it any credit on the ground of originality, 
as I believe it is held in a vague and indefinite way by many of 
those who have been in a position to make a close and continuous 
observation of what takes place, not in one, but in many droughts, 
when, as stated, creeks and springs have at various times shown 
an increased outflow of water in the absence of rainfall. That 
this increased outflow of water at some stage of a general drought, 
of which we have heard so much lately, is not exceptional, but 
may be seen to a greater or less extent in every drought, is proof, 
I think, that it is in some way a result of what may be called 
drought conditions. The most notable of these is the extreme 
dryness of the atmosphere. For many months, sometimes extend- 
ing into years over large areas of Australia, we find dry winds 
blowing, no dew, no rain, all vegetation parched up, and the 
ground cracked to a depth of many feet. Even when at the sur- 
face the ground is reduced to fine dust by the trampling of stock, 
ata little depth the soil is divided up by a network of cracks 
extending many feet downwards, and allowing evaporation to go 
