FROM POWELL CREEK TO THE GULF OF CARPENTARIA

It was now early in October and we were within the north-west monsoonal area, where, so far as climate is concerned, the year has two divisions, a rain season extending from October to April, and a dry one from May to September. Very pleasant though it was at Powell Creek, we felt compelled to move on without delaying longer than was necessary for us to do work which was essential. The country which we had to traverse between the Powell and the Gulf of Carpentaria was liable, during the rain season, to torrential downpours that flooded the lowlands far and wide, and even when the water dried up, left them for weeks like quagmires, over which travelling was utterly impossible. As we traversed the country we saw flood wrack piled up in the tree branches, ten and twelve feet above the ground, miles away from the nearest watercourse. The only chance that any belated travellers, caught in one of these sudden floods, have of saving themselves, their horses and impedimenta, is to camp on any rising ground which may be near at hand. Here they must remain until the floods subside, sharing their island refuge with countless numbers of scorpions, centipedes, rats, lizards, snakes and creeping things innumerable that, like themselves, have succeeded in escaping from the flooded lowlands.