This Description Hardly Suits A "Desert"; Yet, In Spite Of The Trees And
Shrubs, It Is One To All Intent.
All is sand, and throughout the region
no water is to be found, unless immediately after rain in the little
creeks, or in some hidden rock-hole.
Even a heavy storm of rain would
leave no signs in such country; half an hour after the fall no water
would be seen, except on the rocky ground, which only occurs at very
long intervals. The greedy sand soaks up every drop of water, and from
the sand the trees derive their moisture. The winter rain causes such a
growth of herbage around the cliffs and on the sandhills - to die, alas!
in a few weeks' time - that one is inclined to wonder if by means of bores
this wilderness will be made of use to man. What artesian bores have done
for parts of Queensland and Algeria they may in the distant future do for
this, at present useless, interior, where all is still, and the desert
silence unbroken by any animal life, excepting always the ubiquitous
spinifex rat. A pretty little fellow this, as he hops along on his long
hind legs, bounding over the prickly stools like an animated football
with a tail. As he jumps, he hangs one forepaw by his side, while the
other is stretched out with the little hand dangling as if the wrist were
broken. Everything must be spoken of comparatively in this country; thus
the ubiquitous rat may be seen, at the most, a dozen times in a day's
march; an oasis may measure no more than thirty yards across; a creek is
dry, and may be only half a mile long and a few feet broad; a high range
may stand three to four hundred feet above the surrounding country, seldom
more; and "good feed" may mean that the camels find something to eat
instead of being tied down without a bite.
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