The creeks in Western Queensland are, to all appearances, nothing but dry sand-beds; but under the sand, available by sinking a shaft a foot or two, good water is to be found. Even in the time of the great drought the supply in many of these creeks neither failed nor diminished. The foliage of the gum trees along the banks is noticeably fuller and greener than that of their fellows further back in the paddocks, but there is nothing on the surface of the sand-wastes to show to the inexperienced eye the water flowing underneath.