Even these, however, only benefited the vegetation where any continued to exist, and did not contribute in the slightest degree to the natural water supply so necessary for the sustenance of human and animal life.

The results were terrible to witness.

Kangaroos and snakes; emus and cockatoos; lizards and rats--all lay about either dead or dying; and in the case of animals who had survived, they seemed no longer to fear their natural enemy, man.
Day by day as I saw my lagoon grow gradually smaller, I felt that unless I took some steps to ensure a more permanent supply, my people must inevitably perish, and I with them.

Naturally enough, they looked to me to do something for them, and provide some relief from the effects of the most terrible drought which even they had ever experienced.

Almost daily discouraging reports were brought to me regarding the drying up of all the better-known water-holes all round the country, and I was at length obliged to invite all and sundry to use my own all but exhausted lagoon.
At length things became so threatening that I decided to sink a well.
Choosing a likely spot near the foot of a precipitous hill, I set to work with only Yamba as my assistant.