332 
PROCEEDINGS OF SECTION C. 
to Edington Station, which was the nearest place where water was^ 
certain, and we did not dare to camp the horses beside the boggy 
waterhole. 
“ On the 24th we again started to run up Eastern Creek. Wt 
found the Eight-mile Hole to be about 2 miles above the boggy hole 
at the 33-mile tree. In the latter four more cattle had got bogged. 
Thirteen miles further we passed another waterhole, but it was far 
too boggy to W'ater the horses. In 5 miles more we camped on a 
little waterhole, apparently due to recent rain. On Christmas day we 
passed a waterhole at 2^ miles, but it was dangerously boggy. At 
miles and 11^ miles wo passed two waterholes with stony bottoms 
and quite safe. At 20^ miles we camped on a fourth waterhole. The 
next day (26th) we followed the creek up for 19 miles without seeing 
any water, when, ns the heat was terrible and one of the horses was 
knocking up, we camped for a time. All the water we had seen in 
Eastern Creek had been due to recent rain, which had apparently not 
extended beyond the limits of our yesterday’s journey. After 7 more 
miles of travelling, mainly south — the creek having in the meantime 
run out — we camped (still without water) on the open downs to rest, 
as several horses were now quite exhausted. We packed up again 
just before sunset, andiu 10 miles reached the Diamantina and camped 
on a waterhole about a mile and a-half below Kynoona.” 
The visit (1st and 2nd January) to Winton is thus described : — 
“ The town depends entirely on a waterhole m Mistake Creek, 2 
miles distant. The waterhole (which is narrow) at the date of my 
visit had shrunk up to about 400 yards in length, and was said to be 
8 feet deep at the deepest point. It was expected that it might stand 
the demands made on it for three weeks or a month longer, when, 
if the drought still remained unbroken, the population of Winton 
would have to migrate in a body to Conn’s Waterhole with their docks 
and herds.” 
1 shall only trouble you with one more extract, descriptive of the 
journey from Manuka towards Charters Towers: — 
“The heat and drought had been telling very severely on the 
horses, and we were obliged to leave one at Manuka and let the others 
rest for two days. We left Manuka at 5 p.m. on 10th January, and 
travelled on by the moonlight. About 7 o’clock in the morning we 
reached and camped at a waterhole, due to recent rain, beside a straw 
building known as the Stone Hut (40 miles). Oue of the horses had 
to be left 15 miles short of the water, but was brought on to the 
camp in the afternoon. On the 13th we left the Stone Hut and 
camped — as one of the horses was too weak to go further — on a drop 
of very filthy water 10 miles further down llockwood Creek. The 
water was due to the previous day’s rain. We cut a hole in the clay 
on the margin, and let the surface water into it by a trench. The 
comparatively clean water thus obtained was ladled into tin dishes,, 
from which we watered the horses. Two of the weak ones got stuck 
in the clay bed of the waterhole, and had to be pulled out by main 
force.” 
These impressions of a traveller faintly represent the old 
condition of affairs in times of drought, but the experiences of 
residents might furnish still more moving pictures : townships and 
households on short allowance of water : the feverish expectation of 
