The Dead Heart of Australia: A Journey Around Lake Eyre in the Summer of 1901-1902, with Some Account of the Lake Eyre Basin and the Flowing Wells of Central Australia |
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Adelaide artesian basin artesian water Arunta Austral Australian aborigines Babbage bones bore Braystone camels camp Central Australia clouds Cooper's Creek corroboree crossed Desert Sandstone Diamantina Dieri dingo district east eastern Emil evaporation exogamy expedition feet flow fossil geographical geological Gulf of Carpentaria Hergott Howitt hydraulic inches irrigation Journ journey Kadimakara Kalamurina Kilalpaninna Kopperamanna Lake Eyre basin Lake Eyre country Lake Torrens land layer legend loam Lower Cooper marriage mission Mount natives negro north-west Northern Exploration northward Parl Peak percolation phratries piezometers plains plateau Port Augusta pressure primitive probably Queensland rain rainfall Range reached Report ridge rise river rocks salt sand sand-hills shows soakage soil South Australia South Australian Highlands South Wales southern Spencer and Gillen Spencer's Gulf station Stuart's Sturt subterranean supply surface Tirari totems tribe Valley Victoria Warburton water-bearing water-hole western
Popular passages
Page 271 - Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then shall the lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing: for in the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert.
Page 161 - it is a strange thing how little in general people know about the sky. It is the part of creation in which Nature has done more for the sake of pleasing man, more for the sole and evident purpose of talking to him and teaching him, than in any other of her works, and it is just the part in which we least attend to her.
Page 159 - I sighed for thee; When light rode high, and the dew was gone, And noon lay heavy on flower and tree, And the weary Day turned to his rest, Lingering like an unloved guest, I sighed for thee. Thy brother Death came, and cried, Wouldst thou me ? Thy sweet child Sleep, the filmy-eyed, Murmured like a noontide bee, Shall I nestle near thy side?
Page 359 - ... Colony of Victoria : its History, Commerce, and Gold Mining: its Social and Political Institutions, down to the End of 1863. With Remarks, Incidental and Comparative, upon the other Australian Colonies. By William Westgarth, Author of " Victoria and the Gold Mines,
Page 70 - The Stony Desert, in fact, is due to the absence of water. The country where it occurs was once covered by a sheet of the rock known as Desert Sandstone, in which there are abundant pebbles of quartz, sandstone, and other hard materials. The Desert Sandstone has slowly decayed under the action of the weather ; the loose sand has been blown away by the wind, and the hard fragments remain scattered over the ground.
Page 246 - listed, That carries no colours or crest, But, split in a thousand detachments, Is breaking the road for the rest. Our fathers they left us their blessing— They taught us, and groomed us, and crammed; But we've shaken the Clubs and the Messes To go and find out and be damned (Dear boys!), To go and get shot and be damned. So some of us...
Page 13 - Under its effects every screw in our boxes had been drawn, and the horn handles of our instruments, as well as our combs, were split into fine laminae. The lead dropped out of our pencils, our signal rockets were entirely spoiled; our hair, as well as the wool on the sheep, ceased to grow, and our nails had become as brittle as glass.
Page 168 - For, although the Egyptian has been much modified by civilization and admixture, he still retains the dark skin, the black, silky, wavy hair, the long skull, the fleshy lips, and broadish alae of the nose, which we know distinguished his remote ancestors, and which cause both him and them to approach the Australian and the 'Dasyu' more nearly than they do to any other form of mankind.
Page 13 - ... brittle as glass. The flour lost more than eight per cent, of its original weight, and the other provisions in a still greater proportion. The bran in which our bacon had been packed was perfectly saturated, and weighed almost as heavy as the meat; we were obliged to bury our wax candles; a bottle of citric acid in Mr. Browne's box became fluid, and, escaping, burnt a quantity of his linen; and we found it difficult to write or draw, so rapidly did the fluid dry in our pens and brushes.
Page 3 - ... fast and motionless, in spite of the utmost exertions of the paddlers. While near Nameta, they even objected to pass a spot supposed to be haunted, and proceeded along a branch instead of the main stream. They believe that some of them possess a knowledge of the proper prayer to lay the monster. It is strange to find fables similar to those of the more northern nations even in the heart of Africa. Can they be the vestiges of traditions of animals which no longer exist ? The fossil bones which...