Volume 1

Wanderings in wild Australia / by Sir Baldwin Spencer.

  • Walter Baldwin Spencer
Date:
1928
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)

Credit: Wanderings in wild Australia / by Sir Baldwin Spencer. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    • 'll a v THE LAND OF LAKE AMADEUS 161 its wall slanted down steeply until, at the bottom, where a pool of water lay, it was not more than four or five feet in diameter. At one time, just as in the case of the Springs at Dalhousie, there was doubtless a mound with a spring and water pool at the top, but now the underground supply is so small that it does not reach the surface and, as desic¬ cation continues, the supply will cease altogether. We came to the margin of the well hoping, rather against our fears, that we should be able to get a little supply for our¬ selves and, still more important, for the horses : but, to our disappointment, we found it simply putrid with the decomposing bodies of five dead wild dogs that had ven¬ tured into it in search of a drink and had been too weak to clamber out up the steep sides. The only thing we could do was to drag the bodies out and trust that things might be a little better on our return, when a little fresh water might have filtered in. In the case of a smaller well, the natives usually cover the opening with bushes to keep dogs and other animals out, but the mouth of this was too wide to allow of its being effectively closed with the small bushes available. We were glad to move away from the evil smell and went on, wondering when and where we should get our next supply of water. Of course we were carrying a small supply, though we were obliged to travel on short rations, and, as it was decidedly hot during the day, we had not too much and not a drop was wasted. It was dusk when we came to the top of a sand-hill and saw Lake Amadeus lying at our feet. Just where we stood above it the bed was not more than three-quarters of a mile wide, but, east and west, it stretched away to the horizon, widening out, especially westwards, into a vast sheet many miles across. There was not a drop of water, only a dead, level surface of pure white salt, standing out sharply and strongly against the rich ruddy afterglow in the west, the dull steel-blue