More Than One Hole Six To Fifteen Feet Deep Had To Be Sunk Before We
Struck Any Water.
To lessen the labour we at first dug our shafts near the
margin of the lake; this proving unsuccessful we were forced further and
further out, until our efforts were rewarded by a plentiful supply, but
alas!
Some three hundred yards from the shore. This necessitated the
carrying of wood from the margin of the lake to the condensers. The
boilers required constant attention day and night, the fires had to be
stoked, and the water stored as it slowly trickled from the cooling tray.
Thus the duties of the twenty-four hours consisted in chopping and
carrying wood, watching the condensers, attending to the camels,
occasionally sleeping and eating, and prospecting for gold in spare time.
I think my readers will readily understand that it was hard indeed to find
much time to devote to the proper object of the expedition, however
willing we were to do so.
There were one or two others engaged on the same job at that lake, and
from one party Czar sneaked a cheap drink by thrusting his head through
the opening in the lid of a large two-hundred-gallon tank. His peculiar
position was specially adapted to the administration of a sound beating,
nor did the infuriated owner of the water fail to take advantage of the
situation.
With our tanks filled and our camels watered, we set forth from the lake
on November 21st, having prospected what country there was in its
immediate neighbourhood.
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