great deal of inconvenience. We were obliged to haul or carry provisions
and material for long distances. Where it was practicable to use wagons
we used them, but where we could not do so we employed camels. Camels
were introduced into Australia forty or fifty years ago, and they have
been a great deal of use to us in parts of the country where water is
scarce. The conditions of Northern and Central Australia very much
resemble those of the regions of Northern Africa, where the camel had
its origin, or, at all events, where it abounds to-day in greatest
numbers. Had it not been for the 'Ship of the Desert,' it is possible
that we might not have been able to build the telegraph line across
Australia. The camel is so highly appreciated here that the government
has established several breeding stations for those ungainly creatures,
and their number is increasing every year.

"You know already about the scarcity of water in the desert region.
Springs are few and far between, and rain is of rare occurrence. It was
frequently necessary to carry water thirty or forty miles, and on
account of the great heat it was impossible to carry it in skins or in
wooden cases, owing to the rapid evaporation. Cases or cans of
galvanized iron proved to be the best receptacles for water, so far as
evaporation was concerned, but they have the disadvantage of becoming
cracked and leaky in the rough treatment to which they are subjected.

"Poles for the telegraph had to be hauled a long distance for a large
part of the way. Iron poles are generally used, owing to an insect that
destroys wood with great rapidity. I wonder if you have yet seen any of
the ravages of this little creature?"

This last remark was made in the form of an interrogation, to which
Harry responded that he had not yet observed anything of the kind, nor
had his attention been called to it. Ned remarked that he had been told
of the destructiveness of this worm, but had not yet seen anything of
its work.

"If you had seen it you would remember it," said the gentleman. "The
worm abounds more in the country districts than in the city, and it does
not seem to get so much into the city houses as it does into those of
the rural districts. Suppose you settle in South Australia, and build
yourself a house or buy one already built, and proceed to take your
comfort. Some day when you are sitting in your parlor you suddenly feel
a leg of your chair going through the floor, and down