Page:Tracks of McKinlay and party across Australia.djvu/217

 days, the party found had changed its level to a very ominous extent, and what was still more discouraging, had in that short time changed the quality of its waters, from being quite drinkable and good, to a state entirely unfit for use by either the men or the quadrupeds. The bitter or other qualities imparted by the soil had not previously been detected unpleasantly in the larger body of water, but as the volume diminished by evaporation, these qualities gradually predominated to the extent of thus rendering the water useless. This alternation did not, however, seem to be a characteristic of all these natural water reservoirs.

The teeming life of the country seemed, as Mr. McKinlay thought, to supply the best assurance as to the permanency of the water. And yet, in alluding to the great numbers of the Aborigines he saw hereabouts, he remarks that Sturt in passing this neighbourhood seventeen years before, had met no such multitude. On the contrary, he states that few natives were seen. And with respect to this fine lake country, it must have presented quite a different appearance to Sturt, for, as Mr. Davis observes, he does not allude to any such promising features as were now seen, although he must have passed at no great distance from McKinlay's line of march. Had the unusually dry season, then, during which, as we know, Sturt went upon his central expedition, dried up every