To These Shallow Wells Has Been Given The Name Of "Soaks."
They Seldom Exceed Fifteen Feet In Depth, Though Similar Subterranean
Basins Have Been Tapped By A Well Perhaps A Hundred Feet Deep, Sunk Some
Distance From The Foot Of The Outcrop.
A good soak will stand a heavy
drain for perhaps months, but not having its origin in a spring the supply
ultimately ceases.
The soil, being alluvial, is in most cases easy to dig, and when the bed
rock is reached it becomes an open question whether to go deeper into the
decomposed rock or to be content with what supply has been struck. Many a
good soak has been ruined by a too ambitious worker, who, after infinite
toil, may see his priceless fluid disappear down some hidden crack
beneath. Native soaks dug out with sticks and wooden "coolimans" - small
troughs used as spades or as a means of carrying seeds, water, or
game - are by no means uncommon, and, when holding water, are easily made
more serviceable by throwing out a few shovelsful of sticks, stones, and
sand, with which they are generally choked. Often the weary traveller has
no such lucky help, and must set to work to dig a soak for himself and his
thirsty beasts - against time, too, in a blazing sun, without the
comforting knowledge that there is any certainty of finding water. I do
not know of any case when a party has actually perished at the mouth of
a waterless soak, but in many instances water has been struck when all
hope had been given up.
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