As it is the daily care of an explorer to discover water for himself and his caravan, it will be proper to begin this book by describing the indications which ought to guide him in his search for it.

§ 1. Where to look for water.-For many days after there has been rain, water is sure to be found among mountains, however desert may be their appearance, for not only does more wet fall upon them, but the fact of their being mountains ensures a more perfect drainage; and long after the ravines and stream beds are quite dry, puddles and cupsfull of water will be found here and there along their courses, in holes and chinks and under great stones, which together form a sufficiency.

But for the most part, a traveller in an arid land that is visited by occasional showers, finds his supplies in ponds made by the drainage of a large extent of country, or else

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in pools left here and there along the bed of a partly driedup watercourse, or, lastly, in fountains. But when the dry season of the year has advanced, and the water has disappeared from the surface, there remains no alternative but to dig wells where the pools formerly lay. Spots must be sought for where the earth is still moist; or, failing that, where birds and wilds animals have lately been scratching, or where gnats hover in swarms. It is usual, when no damp earth can be seen, but where the place appears likely to yield well-water, to thrust an iron ramrod down into the soil, and if it bring up any grains that are moist, to dig.

In searching the beds of partly dried-up watercourses, the fact must never be forgotten, that it is especially in little tributaries, at the point where they fall into the main one, that most water is to be found; and the most insignificant of these should never be overlooked. Again, where a river-bed has been long followed by a traveller, and a constant supply of pool or well water found along its bed,-say at every 2 or 3 hours' journey, then, should this river-bed appear to lose itself in an arid plain, there is no cause of being disheartened; for on travelling further on, it will be sure to be found again, as those plains are always green and grassy where such water-courses entirely disappear.

Fountains are godsends; they occur unexpectedly, but are observed to be far more frequent and more abundant in districts composed of limestone rocks than in any others; and where these crop out in the midst of sand deserts, a careful look-out should be kept for signs of water. In granite and other primary rocks many but small springs are usually

seen.

§ 2. To know when water is near at hand.-Vegetation is a deceitful guide, unless it be luxuriant, or when such trees are

seen, as are observed usually to grow near water in the particular country visited, as the blackthorn-tree in South Africa, and the gum-tree in Australia. Birds-as water-fowl, parrots, and the diamond bird; or animals-as baboons, afford surer signs; but the converging flight of birds, or the converging fresh tracks of animals, is the most satisfactory of all. It is about nightfall that desert birds usually drink, and hence it often happens that the exhausted traveller, abandoning all hope as the shades of evening close in, has his attention arrested by flights of birds that give him new life, and tell him where to go. In tropical countries that have rainy and dry seasons, it must be recollected that old paths of men or wild animals only mislead; they go to dry ponds that were full at the time they were trodden, but have since been abandoned on becoming exhausted.

From the number of birds, tracks, and other signs, travellers are often pretty sure that they are near water, but cannot find the spring itself. In this case the party should at once be spread out as skirmishers, and the dogs cheered on.

There is great instinct shown in discovering water-dogs find it out well, and the fact of a dog looking refreshed, and, it may be, wet, has often and often drawn attention to a waterpond that would otherwise have been overlooked and passed by. Cattle are very uncertain in their instincts. Sometimes oxen go for miles and miles across a country unknown to them, straight to a pond of water, at other times they are most obtuse. Mr. Leichardt, the Australian traveller, was quite astonished at their stupidity in this respect.

§ 3. Occasional supplies from rain, dew, &c.—A shower will yield a good supply the clothes may be stripped off and spread out, and the rain-water sucked from them; or a cloth or blanket may be made fast by its four corners, in expecta

tion of a coming storm, and a stone or a quantity of bullets thrown in the middle of it, which will cause the water that it receives to drain to one point, and trickle through it, down into a cup or bucket set below. An umbrella, reversed, will catch water; but the first drippings from clothes that have been long unwashed, as from a mackintosh cloak, is intolerably nauseous and very unwholesome.

It must be remembered that thirst is greatly satisfied by the skin being wetted, and, therefore, that it is well for a man suffering under thirst, to strip to the rain. Lives of sailors have more than once been saved when turned adrift in a boat, by bathing frequently and keeping their clothes damp with salt-water. However, after some days, the nauseous taste of the salt-water is very perceptible in the saliva, and at last becomes unbearable; such, at least, was the experience of the surgeon of the wrecked "Pandora.”

Dew-water is abundant near the sea-shore, and may be collected in the same way as rain-water. The store-house at Angra Pequena, in 1850, was entirely supplied by the dewwater deposited on its roof. The Australians who live near the sea go about the bushes with a great piece of bark and a wisp of grass, and brush the dew-drops from the leaves down into it, collecting in this way large quantities. Captain Eyre used a sponge, and appears to have saved his life by its use.

There are other sources of fluid which may be mentioned, for they are resorted to in emergencies-as the contents of the paunch of an animal that has been shot. This is frequently drunk by Europeans, as well as by natives in South Africa. Thus, a long foot chase will often take the sportsman far into the wilderness, and when he has killed his game, he finds himself exhausted and parched with thirst; under these

circumstances, the stomach of the white rhinoceros especially, and of other kinds of game, is cut open and drunk from without any hesitation-(that of the black rhinoceros is dangerous, for the animal browses on the poisonous cactus). The taste is like sweet wort. Mr. Darwin writes of people who, catching turtles, drank the water that was found in their pericardia, and which was quite pure and sweet. Many roots exist from which both natives and animals obtain a sufficiency of sap and pulp to take the place of water. The traveller should acquaint himself with those peculiar to the country that he visits, such as the roots which the Eland eats, the bitter water-melon, &c.

§ 4. To purify water that is muddy, putrid, or salt.-With muddy water, the remedy is to filter, and to use alum, if you have it. With putrid, to boil, to mix with charcoal, or expose to the sun and air; or, what is best, to use all three methods at the same time. With salt water, nothing avails but distil

lation.

Muddy water. When at the watering-place there is nothing but liquid mud, take a good handful of grass, and tie it roughly together in the form of a cone, 6 or 8 inches long; then dipping the broad end into the puddle, and turning it up, a streamlet of partly-filtered water will trickle down through the small end. This excellent plan is used by the Northern Bushmen - at their wells quantities of these bundles are found lying about (Andersson). Otherwise, drink through your handkerchief-either put it over the mouth of your mug, or else throw it on the liquid mess as it lies in the puddle, and suck through. For a copious supply, the most perfect plan, if you have means, is to bore a cask full of augur-holes, and put another small one, that has had the bottom knocked out, inside it, then fill up the space