We would sometimes fail to obtain water for a couple of days; but this remark does not apply to the mountainous regions.

Often the wells were quite dry and food painfully scarce; this would be in a region of sand and spinifex.
When I beheld an oasis of palms and ti-trees I would make for it, knowing that if no water existed there, it could easily be got by digging.

The physical conditions of the country would change suddenly, and my indefatigable wife was frequently at fault in her root-hunting expeditions.

Fortunately, animal life was very seldom scarce.

On the whole, we were extremely fortunate in the matter of water,--although the natives often told me that the low wastes of sand and spinifex were frequently so dry, that it was impossible even for them to cross.