The language is a perfect confusion of tongues, and
dialects, words of similar sound and meaning are often found in places
hundreds of miles apart; in distinct tribes wherein the rest of the
language is altogether different. Their physique does not differ greatly.
Perhaps in the north an admixture of Malay blood gives a handsomer cast
to the features in individual cases, but the Australian native is
unmistakable wherever you meet him, north, south, east or west.
The geological formation of Australia is, as is well-known very old, one
third of the continent being desert sandstone with no marine fossils, but
although, scantily supplied with water on the surface, there is little
doubt of the immensity of the subterranean supply.
Water has been struck by boring five hundred and seventy-two feet, and
risen to within ten feet of the surface, and on the Kallara run at one
hundred and forty-four, where it rose twenty-six feet above the surface.
Water then, will probably be found almost anywhere at a depth of six
hundred feet, and a vast portion of the lightly watered plains of the
interior will be worked up to their fullest capabilities by means of
boring.
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