T 
 
 1
 
 ADVANCE AUSTEALIA!
 
 ADVANCE AUSTEALIA! 
 
 AN ACCOUNT OF 
 EIGHT YEARS' WORK, WANDERING, AND AMUSEMENT 
 
 IN 
 
 QUEENSLAND, NEW SOUTH WALES, AND 
 VICTORIA. 
 
 BY 
 THE HON. HAROLD FINCH-HATTON. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 W. H. ALLEN & CO., 13 WATERLOO PLACE, 
 PALL MALL. S.W. 
 
 1885. 
 
 (All rights reaerved.)
 
 LONDON : 
 PRINTED BY W. H. ALLEN AND CO., 13 WATERLOO PLACE.
 
 DO 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTEE I. THE VOYAGE 1 
 
 CHAPTEE H. THE VOYAGE (continued) .... 13 
 
 CHAPTEE HI. SOMERSET ...... 23 
 
 CHAPTEE IV. FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF THE BUSH . . 39 
 CHAPTEE V. LIFE IN THE BUSH . . . . .60 
 
 CHAPTEE VI. LIFE ON THE STATION .... 77 
 
 CHAPTEE VII. PLAGUES AND PLEASURES OF THE BUSH 89 
 
 CHAPTEE VIIL WILD CATTLE 106 
 
 CHAPTEE IX. COMPARISON OF CATTLE AND SHEEP 
 
 STATIONS 120 
 
 CHAPTEE X. THE BLACKS 137 
 
 CHAPTEE XI. SUGAR 164 
 
 CHAPTEE Xn. GOLD-MINING 172 
 
 CHAPTEE Xni. GOLD-DIGGING . .194 
 
 CHAPTEE XIV. DRINK 219 
 
 CHAPTEE XV. GOLD-DIGGING 232 
 
 CHAPTEE XVI. GOLD-DIGGING 250 
 
 1179883
 
 VI CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGB 
 
 CHAPTEE XVTI. QUEENSLAND AND HER EESOUECES AND 
 
 PBOSPBCTS 270 
 
 CHAPTEE XVIIL BBISBANE 308 
 
 CHAPTEE XIX. SYDNEY .325 
 
 CHAPTEE XX. MELBOUBNE 336 
 
 CHAPTEE XXI. MELBOUBNE . . . . . .353 
 
 CHAPTEE XXIL IMPEBIAL FEDEBATION . . . 368 
 INDEX 383
 
 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 The Queen of the South - - - - Frontispiece 
 
 A. Queensland Black - - - to face page 24 
 
 The Hermitage Paddock - 30 
 
 Mount Spencer Head Station - 51 
 
 The Farm, Mount Spencer 60 
 
 Ground-Plan of a Stock-yard - ,,77 
 
 The Branding Bail 80 
 
 A Bushman's Camp - ,,86 
 
 Black Fellow preparing to go up a Tree 138 
 
 A Black " Gin " at Home - 152 
 
 Gold-digging : Cradling - , 186 
 
 Bullock Team crossing a Log Bridge - - 197 
 
 Down-hill without a Brake 240 
 
 The End of a Gold Rush - 266 
 
 Government House, Sydney - 326 
 Map of Australia.
 
 ADVANCE AUSTRALIA! 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE VOYAGE. 
 
 In January, about nine years ago, I climbed on board 
 the Messageries Maritimes steamer Irouaddij, for the 
 purpose of getting to a cattle -station in Queensland. 
 Like many others of the same line, the Irouaddy is a 
 grand boat, clean, well ventilated, very fast, and steady 
 in bad weather. 
 
 Three days after leaving Marseilles we got to Naples. 
 I had been there before, but as I never can be twenty 
 minutes in a steamer without wanting to get out, of 
 course I went ashore. There was nothing fresh to be 
 seen, and certainly nothing fresh to be smelt. In 
 appearance the whole place resembles a very inferior 
 chromo-lithograph ; and I cannot help thinking that the 
 saying, " Vede Napoli e poi Mori," has more reference to 
 the asphyxiating nature of its smells than to any over- 
 powering beauty about the place. 
 
 Leaving Naples, we passed through the Straits of 
 Messina, and soon lost sight of land. The weather 
 was glorious, and one morning observing the chief 
 
 1
 
 Z AUSTRALIA. 
 
 officer laboriously employed in doing nothing, I sauntered 
 up to him with a view to engaging him in conversation. 
 With the originality that distinguishes the British tra- 
 veller, I observed that it was a fine day. If I had 
 had the foggiest idea of the effect that this remark 
 would have on him, I certainly should not have ventured 
 to make it. He looked at the sky : it was blue. He 
 looked at the sea : it was blue too ; and I then noticed 
 for the first time that the expression of his face was 
 infinitely more blue than either of them. Shrugging 
 his shoulders with an emphasis that would have frac- 
 tured the collar-bone of anyone but a Frenchman, he 
 called the Deity to witness that although the weather 
 was indeed fine enough just now, neither he nor anyone 
 else could possibly foretell what it would be like in 
 twenty-four hours' time. If it did come on to blow, he 
 said, we were in a very exposed part of the Mediterra- 
 nean, and, as our present course lay, over 400 miles 
 from land. I left him, to meditate upon the extra- 
 ordinary effect that being out of sight of land has on a 
 French sailor. It is true they do not seem to come to 
 grief very often, but still I rather mistrust these French 
 sailors in a bad time. The least thing puts them into 
 such a ludicrous state of fluster, one cannot help think- 
 ing that a good gale of wind would dishearten them 
 altogether. They never seem to be quite at ease until 
 they get back to Marseilles, and even then religious 
 enthusiasm, or the prospect of another voyage, often 
 wrings a votive offering to the Virgin out of the dregs 
 of their past terror. The Church of the Virgin and 
 Child at Marseilles absolutely bristles with these offer- 
 ings, many of which indicate a singularly bad taste on
 
 THE VOYAGE. 3 
 
 the part of the donor. Among a host of paltry toys 
 calculated to amuse none but the youngest children, I 
 noticed one or two perambulators in a prominent posi- 
 tion. Now, under certain circumstances, a perambulator 
 might be a very neat and appropriate gift to the mother 
 of a young child ; but when we consider to Whom they 
 are in reality offered, such presents become shocking in 
 the extreme. It is impossible that people can have any 
 real veneration for a Deity Whom they like to imagine 
 wheeled about in a perambulator, or amusing Himself 
 with the mechanical movements of a woollen rabbit. 
 Indeed, except on the supposition that they are entirely 
 destitute of any sense of humour, it is difficult to acquit 
 such people of wilful profanity. 
 
 Upon this occasion, however, nothing occurred that 
 the most pious or pusillanimous Frenchmen could dis- 
 tort into a pretext for presenting his Maker with a toy, 
 and three days after leaving Naples we reached Port 
 Said. This town forms a recaptacle for all the scum 
 and dregs of every nation under the sun, and is un- 
 doubtedly one of the most villainous dens in existence. 
 Composed almost entirely of casinos, gambling saloons, 
 and houses sacred to the worship of blind Cupid, it is a 
 sink of iniquity whose waters, like those of the Dead 
 Sea, are so dense as to support numbers who would go 
 to the bottom elsewhere. The light-house and the coal- 
 sheds are probably the only buildings in the place that 
 have not a professional tendency towards the subversion 
 of morals and the encouragement of vice. 
 
 Leaving Port Said, we crawled through the Canal, 
 and after calling at Suez, steamed away down the oily 
 expanse of the Red Sea. Between October and May 
 
 1 *
 
 4 AUSTRALIA. 
 
 the Red Sea is not often oppressively hot ; but for the 
 rest of the year the heat is excessive, and deaths from 
 heat apoplexy not unfrequently occur. 
 
 How is it that one so very seldom meets any nice 
 people travelling at sea, and then never discovers them 
 until just before leaving the ship ? It cannot be that 
 no nice people travel by sea. It must be that the sea 
 has a demoralising effect upon those who do. But it 
 would seem that a prolonged sojourn upon the ocean 
 has exactly the opposite effect of a temporary cruise, for 
 sailors are, as a rule, as conspicuous for those qualities 
 that make a man a pleasant companion as passengers 
 are the reverse. Assuredly a passenger-ship presents 
 humanity under a most unfavourable aspect. Sea- 
 sickness alone renders most people positively misanthro- 
 pic while it lasts, and excessively irritable for some time 
 after it has passed away. But besides this, and such 
 minor annoyances as having your cabin deluged with 
 salt water if you leave the port open, and being suffocated 
 with foul air if you keep it shut, the bare fact of being 
 boxed up in the same ship with a number of fellow- 
 sufferers is often very exasperating. Just as in hot 
 weather a man is never so thirsty as when he knows 
 that he can get nothing to drink ; so on board ship a 
 wild yearning for solitude is apt to overtake him, all the 
 more violent that it cannot possibly be gratified. As to 
 the ordeal of being obliged to live in the same cabin 
 with one or more individuals for any length of time, it is 
 not only sufficient to cause unreasoning hatred between 
 strangers, but often to destroy a friendship of long 
 standing. I am convinced that if David and Jonathan 
 had been subjected to the disenchanting test of sharing
 
 THE VOYAGE. 5 
 
 a small cabin in a gale of wind, they would have been 
 famous to posterity, less for the great love that they 
 bare one another than for a propensity to quarrel savagely 
 over trifles. 
 
 Certainly the sea develops the worst qualities of 
 human nature more rapidly and more surely than any 
 other phase of existence. In particular, I remember 
 one man in whose company it was once my misfortune 
 to make a voyage. My previous experience of him as 
 a fellow-traveller, on dry land, had led me to suppose 
 he was rather a pleasant companion than otherwise. 
 Beyond an insane habit of appearing on every possible 
 occasion in a variety of hideous and fantastic caps, he 
 appeared to be unusually free from the vices of travellers. 
 That is to say, he was neither inordinately greedy nor 
 passionately selfish. He had no particular taste either 
 for sight-seeing or for grumbling, and when in the pre- 
 sence of strangers, he did not consider it necessary 
 either to insult them with impertinent familiarity or to 
 repel them with churlish incivility. When I say that 
 he was capable of visiting the Alhambra, St. Marc's 
 Cathedral, and the Pyramids, without displaying the 
 slightest desire to engrave his name on the walls of any 
 of them with a pen-knife, it will at once be seen that he 
 had no ordinary claims to respect. Furthermore, his 
 manners were those of a gentleman, and his language 
 remarkable for the absence of anything like expletives. 
 After he had been at sea a week, his own mother would 
 not have recognised him. 
 
 For the first few days it was calm, and everything 
 went well enough. My friend justified the sanguine 
 expectations I had formed of him, by reclining all day
 
 6 AUSTRALIA. 
 
 in a long chair, puffing at a pipe with a head as big as 
 his own, and with twice as much in it. This sort of 
 thing was too good to last. We dropped in for a spell 
 of bad weather. It did not last long, but from the 
 moment that it began he was an altered man. An ex- 
 pression dismal as the latter end of tea-time took per- 
 manent possession of his usually cheerful countenance, 
 and even the re-appearance of fine weather entirely 
 failed to restore him. He became exceedingly restless, 
 and would indulge for hours at a time in the reprehen- 
 sible practice of pacing up and down the deck, which is 
 of all performances the most trying to the nerves of the 
 spectators. Suddenly he would flump down into a chair 
 with a violence extremely distracting to anyone who 
 happened to be seeking repose within a radius of five 
 yards. Just as one began to hope that he was settled 
 at last, he would bound up again out of his chair, up- 
 setting it against someone's shins, and, without thinking 
 it necessary to apologise, resume his detestable pastime 
 of patrolling the deck. 
 
 But what astonished me more than anything was the 
 bad language that he took to using upon the most trivial 
 provocation. I lived in the next cabin to him, separated 
 only by a partition open at the top. One day, as I was 
 lying on my bunk reading, I heard him fossicking about 
 among the things in his cabin in that spasmodic way 
 which, even when a man is out of sight, never fails to 
 convey an idea of awful passion to the listener. For a 
 while his movements were only illuminated by smothered 
 execrations, which the partition rendered nearly in- 
 audible. Suddenly, however, he broke out into a torrent 
 of oaths so fluent, so comprehensive, and so ornamental,
 
 THE VOYAGE. 7 
 
 that, shocked as I was at his profanity, I could not help 
 admiring his genius. I have since reason to believe 
 that he borrowed a great deal of it from the form of 
 cursing employed by the Church of Rome against per- 
 sons who happen to disagree with her doctrines. At 
 the time, however, I thought it was quite original, and, 
 of course, shouted to him to know what was the matter 
 " Oh ! are you there ? " he replied. " Nothing ; only I 
 cannot hang up my towel." 
 
 He grew rapidly worse, but it was not until about a 
 week later that his downward career reached its Nadir 
 of demoralisation. I hardly expect to be believed when 
 I say that one day, without the slightest provocation, 
 at a distance of over 1,500 miles from land, he appeared 
 in broad daylight, on the ship's quarter-deck, in knicker- 
 bockers. The spectacle of such a self- constituted pariah 
 of society was extremely depressing. I cannot help 
 thinking that a man who wears knickerbockers on board 
 ship in the tropics, must be capable of committing 
 almost any crime. It was a painful occurrence alto- 
 gether, and I should not have mentioned it, except 
 with a view to showing how apparently harmless people 
 frequently become exceedingly disagreeable at sea. 
 
 Six days out from Suez we got to Aden, a most 
 magnificent cinder-heap, quite unlike anything else I 
 have ever seen. The town of Aden lies at the foot of a 
 range of most discouraging-looking mountains, so for- 
 lornly barren, so pitilessly rugged, they do not appear to 
 be made of anything half so cheerful as rocks and 
 stones. They have more the appearance of the material 
 by means of which an inferior bird-stuffer endeavours to 
 reproduce the handiwork of Nature in a rock-work at
 
 8 AUSTRALIA. 
 
 the back of his specimens. There is something genuine 
 and hearty about a good mass of rock very different to 
 the attenuated peaks of Aden, compared to which a 
 granite boulder is affability itself. 
 
 When lit up by the splendour of a tropical sunset, 
 however, the mountains of Aden assume a different 
 aspect. They are usually of a pale mauve colour, which 
 deepens, as the sun sets, to a glorious purple, forming a 
 startling contrast to the green and golden expanse of the 
 surrounding sea. Gradually the purple fades, the opal 
 light dies out of the sea, and a spectral gloom creeps 
 over everything but the highest peaks. Round these 
 the rays of the departed sun linger with an unearthly 
 glare, till in the increasing darkness they seem to glow 
 like the ragged teeth of a red-hot saw. 
 
 On the whole, the scenery of the tropics can never 
 compare with that of higher latitudes. The strength 
 of the sunlight is so great that objects are either defined 
 with unpleasant sharpness or blurred in a quivering 
 haze of heat. There is none of that glorious depth of 
 colouring and softness of outline, one distance fading 
 into another, softer and softer yet still distinct, that the 
 moist atmosphere of the west coast of Scotland or of 
 the fen countries produces in such perfection. For my 
 own part, I do not believe the scenery of the west coast 
 of Scotland has a rival in the world. Of course it is 
 easy to find places constructed on a far larger scale, but 
 it is not altogether upon this that the beauty of scenery 
 depends. It is very doubtful whether a mountain 
 derives much additional beauty from its summit being 
 invisible ; and certainly a river so broad that no one 
 can see across it, is less picturesque than one which
 
 THE VOYAGE. 
 
 affords a view of both its banks at the same time. For 
 a few minutes at sunrise, and at sunset, it is difficult to 
 imagine anything more gorgeous than the colouring of 
 the tropics. But it quickly fades, and even while it lasts 
 it is more calculated to dazzle than to please. There is 
 too much of the patchwork counterpane and the circus- 
 poster about it. Of course a tropical sunset is a sight 
 that it does not happen to everyone to witness, but any- 
 one can get a very fair idea of what it is like by eating 
 a quantity of cold pork-pie and unripe apples just before 
 going to bed. 
 
 Leaving Aden, we passed one night to the northward 
 of the island of Socotra, and were fortunate enough to 
 come across the phenomenon known as a "milky sea." 
 It was a wonderfully beautiful sight. The sea was 
 deadly calm, and all round as far as the eye could reach 
 it was as white and as transparent as London milk. 
 Out of this the mountains of Socotra, distant eight 
 miles, rose up clear and distinct in the brilliant star- 
 light, and black as ink by contrast with the whiteness of 
 the sea. Several ambitious passengers ladled up some 
 of the water, to try and discover its component parts, 
 but I don't think they found out much, except that if it 
 was allowed to stand some time, a thick sediment was 
 precipitated, leaving the water quite clear again. 
 
 Crossing the Indian Ocean, the weather was so mono- 
 tonously calm that one day the captain was encouraged 
 to give the order for fire and boat station practice. If 
 intended to display the smart discipline and efficiency 
 of the ship's company, this exhibition had better have 
 been suppressed ; but if merely to warn passengers 
 against the incautious use of matches, and the danger
 
 10 AUSTRALIA. 
 
 of falling overboard, it was invaluable. Whether the 
 crew had been expecting the order or not, I cannot 
 say ; but I will do them the justice to affirm that the 
 ringing of the fire -bell was followed by no sort of con- 
 fusion or hurry. It was only after an interval had 
 elapsed sufficient to allow the strongest swimmer to 
 drown, and the smallest spark to become a conflagra- 
 tion, that they began to saunter leisurely aft, dragging 
 after them coils of hose, with the dejected air of men 
 who have seen the same thing done a dozen times before 
 and never known any good to come of it. Far more 
 activity was displayed by a vast army of stewards who 
 swarmed up the companion at the first sound of the 
 bell, headed by the chief steward, or mditre d'hdtel, with 
 a drawn sword in his hand. As these worthies took no 
 part in the subsequent proceedings, they probably only 
 came up to be saved. 
 
 After some consultation, it was agreed that an attempt 
 should be made to lower one of the quarter-boats, and 
 to this the crew turned their attention. But an unfore- 
 seen difficulty presented itself. Who was to undertake 
 the arduous task of climbing into the boat, and removing 
 the canvas cover ? An animated discussion took place, 
 the result of which was that one man was singled out, 
 apparently much against his inclination, for the enter- 
 prise in hand. With a vast effort he collected his 
 energies, and, scattering a glance of melancholy defiance 
 at his recreant companions, he ascended the bulwarks 
 and climbed cautiously on to the boat. It soon became 
 evident that there was far more cause for his alarm than 
 at first appeared. As long as he was engaged in un- 
 lashing the boat's cover, the crew amused themselves by
 
 THE VOYAGE. 11 
 
 rolling up cigarettes and smoking them. But he had 
 no sooner finished than the men stationed at the after 
 "fall" of the boat suddenly awoke to an enthusiastic 
 sense of duty, and lowered away. Those at the other 
 " fall " were not so alert, and the consequence was the 
 stern of the boat went down with a run, sending oars, 
 stretchers, planks, and everything movable in her ex- 
 cept the man, flying into the sea. Fortunately for him- 
 self, this hero got mixed up round one of the thwarts 
 and remained there until the boat was once more raised 
 to a horizontal position, when he was extricated posi- 
 tively gibbering with terror and rage. It having been 
 conclusively proved that in case of emergency one end 
 of the boat, at any rate, could be lowered, this was 
 considered sufficient, and the fire-hose became the next 
 object of interest to the company. After some minutes 
 of patient toil, one end of this ingenious contrivance 
 was connected with the machinery, and the order to 
 start pumping was given. An ominous pause followed, 
 during which not a drop of water appeared. The men 
 began to look grave and to whisper hurriedly and ex- 
 citedly together. But a breathless silence fell upon all 
 present when the second lieutenant advanced to the 
 business end of the hose, with the air of a man who 
 knows his duty and is prepared to perform it at all risks. 
 The excitement now became so intense as to be quite 
 painful, but still silence prevailed. Suddenly a terrible 
 gurgle was heard in the pipe, absolutely paralysing the 
 lieutenant, who remained rooted to the spot with coun- 
 tenance transfigured by terror. In a moment a young 
 Niagara burst from the pipe, discharging itself full upon 
 the unfortunate officer, and hurling the hose in con-
 
 12 AUSTRALIA. 
 
 vulsions about the deck. The shock at once restored 
 the use of his limbs to the lieutenant. With a loud 
 yell of anguish he turned and fled from a foe, with 
 whom, to judge by appearances, it was some time since 
 he had had an encounter. 
 
 This concluded the di.version of fire and boat-station 
 practice, and the ship's company returned once more to 
 their ordinary duties. The captain resumed his occupa- 
 tion of walking up and down, spitting frequently and 
 emphatically upon his own quarter-deck. The chief 
 engineer took up his position by the rails of the engine- 
 room, and, with his watch in his hand, counted the 
 revolutions of the propeller. The doctor and the first 
 lieutenant threw quoits into a bucket, and the remainder 
 of the crew, with the exception of a few who still retained 
 sufficient energy to smoke, went fast asleep.
 
 13 
 
 CHAPTER IT. 
 
 THE VOYAGE (cont.) 
 
 AMONG the passengers on board, there were several 
 newly-married couples, and their behaviour was some- 
 times rather interesting. Of all places to spend a 
 honeymoon, I can conceive none more discouraging 
 than the sea. We all know that some of the gilt must 
 come off the gingerbread sooner or later, but there are 
 many ways of removing it, and it is just as well to take 
 care that the more solid material beneath it is not 
 injured during the process. 
 
 It would be interesting to a psychologist who was 
 also a good sailor, to study the appalling effects of 
 sea-sickness upon the soul, no less remarkable in the 
 case of a subject who does not actually suffer, but is 
 merely compelled to witness the misery of others. Cer- 
 vantes, we are told, smiled away the chivalry of Spain. 
 Fortunate for Spain that he did so. Had he lived in 
 an age when globe-trotting and going down to the sea 
 in ships was as fashionable as it is now, he would have 
 been spared the effort of smiling. All the finer feelings 
 of human nature are more or less in abeyance during 
 the reign of sea-sickness, but when it has passed off, 
 they, most of them, readily reassert their sway. Not
 
 14 AUSTRALIA. 
 
 so with the feeling which we term chivalry, now rapidly 
 becoming an obsolete word in these days of social 
 progress. Its loss is the less felt, since its place has 
 been supplied by coxcombry, a feeling more nearly 
 allied to chivalry than might at first be imagined. Both 
 have a common end in view, which is to please. But 
 there is this distinction, that whereas chivalry arises 
 from a man's exalted ideas of the intrinsic perfections 
 of the opposite sex, coxcombry originates in an ex- 
 aggerated notion of the perfections of his own. Chivalry 
 however, cannot exist without a profound and sincere 
 respect for woman ; and when that is once destroyed, 
 or even severely shaken, chivalry receives its death-blow. 
 Sea-sickness is, of all iconoclasts, the most terrible, and 
 before its fell advances chivalry withers more quickly 
 and more surely than ever it did before the smile of 
 Cervantes, and it withers to anything but the tune of a 
 smile. If it were only for this reason alone, life at sea 
 would present matrimony under the most unfavourable 
 aspect it is possible to imagine. Can anything be more 
 terrible than to watch a countenance in which you take 
 the deepest interest, transfigured by sea-sickness into 
 the ghastly semblance of a frost-bitten turnip, and 
 every atom of self-respect crushed by this most level- 
 ling malady. 
 
 But there are other annoyances besides. Careful 
 and comparative observation leads me to believe that 
 a woman whose digestive organs have so far rallied 
 from sea-sickness as to allow her to eat, but whose 
 appearance still forbids her to leave her cabin, is the 
 most transcendently selfish of all God's creatures. 
 Under such circumstances I have seen offices of vica-
 
 THE VOYAGE. 15 
 
 rious selfishness thrust upon the unfortunate husband, 
 which the veriest egotist would shrink from negotiating 
 for himself. He is expected to secure the undivided 
 attention of the doctor, the purser, all the stewardesses, 
 and half of the stewards, regardless of how many other 
 passengers there may happen to be in exactly the same, 
 or in a worse, predicament than his wife. He is 
 further expected to ascertain from the captain (at in- 
 tervals varying from five to fifteen minutes, according 
 to the severity of the weather), the exact position of the 
 ship, the amount of present danger, the prospect of 
 fine weather, and the precise moment when the desti- 
 nation will be reached distant, possibly, some two or 
 three thousand miles. Most likely he will be sent to 
 ask the quarter-master to prevent the crew from walking 
 about overhead, and to induce the officer of the watch 
 to moderate the noise made by the creaking of the 
 ship's timbers and the working of the donkey-engine. 
 Occasionally I have seen even severer tests applied to 
 the devotion of man, but these have been amongst 
 people who have been some time married. One day 
 the vessel was rolling rather heavily, and though most 
 of the passengers had got their sea-legs, some few re- 
 mained below. Among the latter was the wife of a 
 man whom I noticed staggering up the companion 
 one morning, with the watery eye and uncertain gait 
 of one just recovering from violent sickness. He 
 reached the deck safely, however, and with a conside- 
 able slue to port, brought himself up in a deck-chair. 
 I saw him scatter a glance round, possibly to discover 
 the whereabouts of his better half. Finding himself 
 quite alone, his eye brightened, and he blew his nose
 
 1 6 AUSTRALIA. 
 
 in that triumphant manner which a man never adopts 
 except when he is quite at ease. He even pulled out 
 his cigar-case and looked at it, but discretion overcame 
 valour, and he put it back in his pocket, and prepared 
 for perfect repose. He was not destined to enjoy it 
 long. In a few minutes a whey-faced domestic appeared 
 at the door of the companion, shepherding two of the 
 most disagreeable-looking children I ever saw. They 
 had faces like badly-baked buns, and were dressed as 
 outrageously as only the offspring of British parents of 
 a certain class ever are. Their legs and feet were like 
 hockey-sticks, and looked so utterly incapable of sup- 
 porting the distended waistcoats above them, that their 
 prudent mother had attached a long red ribbon to each 
 of their arms, to act as a sort of reins. These were 
 now entrusted to the hands of paterfamilias, with in- 
 structions to drive his progeny up and down the deck 
 for exercise. Of course he did so, and very ridiculous he 
 looked ; but there was a pathetic side to the picture as 
 well. In his eye there was a piteous glance of retro- 
 spection, which seemed to recall the time when he 
 could take his ease or his exercise, as the spirit moved 
 him, without being required to make a greater fool of 
 himself than Nature intended him to be. 
 
 Eight days after leaving Aden we got to Galle, and 
 a greater contrast than the two places it would be diffi- 
 cult to find. At Aden, all the inhabitants who can 
 afford the luxury drive out daily a distance of four miles 
 to refresh their weary eyes with the sight of the Bo- 
 tanical Gardens, which consist of six weak-looking trees 
 and twelve blades of grass in a flower-pot. But at Galle 
 the sight is overpowered by the extraordinary luxuriance
 
 THE VOYAGE. 17 
 
 of the vegetation, and the variety of shades of green 
 displayed among the trees and bushes. Bound the 
 edges, of course, there is a decided preponderance of 
 cocoa-nut trees, bat a little distance from the shore the 
 crowded way in which all sorts of trees and creepers are 
 arranged is quite bewildering. There is a sort of show 
 place, called Wak-Walleh, a few miles from Galle, to 
 which everyone rushes directly they land, to get a view 
 of the island. It is needless to say that there is a 
 public-house and a tea-garden there ; and as you ap- 
 proach it, the " spoor " of the British tourist, in the 
 shape of orange-peel and beer-bottles, is very strongly 
 marked. The view is glorious. A broad valley of green 
 paddy-fields, fringed on each side with densely-wooded 
 hills, lies stretched out below. It is mapped out almost 
 into islands, so winding is the course of the river which 
 runs through it, its waters shining like silver hi the sun- 
 light. In the distance rises the bold outline of Adam's 
 Peak, supported by numerous other mountains of lesser 
 pretensions. In the foreground are several marble 
 tables with iron legs, chairs to match, and a party of 
 tourists. Partly disguised by pith helmets and white 
 trousers, nevertheless these last remind one forcibly of 
 Greenwich Fair. They are shouting positively shout- 
 ing and laughing in that aggressive way that only a 
 Briton out for a holiday is master of. Several of them 
 are drinking beer and throwing sticks at cocoa-nuts, and 
 one or two, more utterly degraded than the rest, pick up 
 little pieces of stone to carry away as relics of Wak- 
 Walleh. The native jewellers do a very healthy trade 
 in counterfeit stones, manufactured at Birmingham ex- 
 pressly for exportation to Ceylon. Sapphires are the 
 
 2
 
 18 AUSTRALIA. 
 
 favourite importations offered to the verdant traveller. 
 I saw one man beautifully let in. He was offered a 
 sapphire about the size of a small tea-cup, of a brilliant 
 hue that would have shamed the waters of the Mediter- 
 ranean. Two hundred pounds was the price demanded 
 for this startling gem. The traveller to whom it was 
 offered had heard something of the dishonest practices 
 of the jewellers of Gralle, and was anxious to display his 
 capacity for dealing. He winked at an admiring crowd 
 of fellow-passengers, and offered the man three pounds. 
 Much to his disgust, the native instantly closed with 
 his offer, and, securing the coins, left the ship with all 
 possible speed. Of course the sapphire was glass, and, 
 with the setting, might have been worth half-a-crown. 
 There are some real sapphires but no very good ones to 
 be had, as all that are worth anything go direct to the 
 London market. 
 
 Five days after leaving Galle we got to Singapore, 
 and had to wait there a week, which was a nuisance, as 
 there is only one hotel in the place fit to live in, and 
 even that one is certainly one of the vilest in the world. 
 The food is simply filthy, and not much of it, the 
 attendance wretched, and the manager gratuitously 
 insulting to everyone. While I was there he was 
 knocked down and shut up in his own coal-cellar by a 
 resident in the town, to whom he had been impertinent, 
 to the intense delight of everyone else in the place. 
 
 Singapore itself is a lovely place, with rather a dis- 
 agreeable climate. The thermometer never varies above 
 a few degrees, and stands at about 85 day and night, 
 all the year round. The wealthier class of inhabitants 
 live in bungalows scattered about over the ridges in the
 
 THE VOYAGE. 19 
 
 neighbourhood of the town, most of them surrounded 
 by beautiful gardens. They all seem utterly depressed 
 by the enervating climate, and do not aspire to any 
 higher interest in life than a generous rivalry in the 
 concoction of marvellous curries. An old resident of 
 Singapore takes as much interest and pride in his 
 curries as an Englishmen does in his race-horses or his 
 hunters, and he always speaks of a rival connoisseur 
 with deep feeling and respect. Both men and women 
 look very faded and washed-out, and the only colour in 
 their faces is yellow from a prolonged course of curry. 
 I used to walk all round the place for miles every day, 
 in the heat of the day, and never felt anything but better 
 for it. Nothing will induce Indians to expose them- 
 selves to the sun, for fear of sunstroke, and nothing 
 makes them so angry as to be told that if they drank 
 less, led a more healthy life, and took more exercise, 
 they would be able to stand the sun with impunity. And 
 yet it is the case. Of course, a man who lies on his 
 back drinking brandy and beer half the day, sleeps the 
 other half, and sits up most of the night, cannot safely 
 expose himself to the full power of an Indian sun with- 
 out risk. There is something peculiarly treacherous in 
 the sun all over India and the East Indies, but the 
 medical profession know that nine -tenths of the cases of 
 sunstroke that occur are the result of drink. 
 
 The only residents I ever saw, either in India, Ceylon, 
 or Singapore, who enjoyed perfect health, and had not 
 the slightest fear of exposing themselves to the sun, 
 were invariably men who led most temperate lives, and 
 who were out of doors all day long. In the bush of 
 Australia, where men work all day long under a vertical 
 
 2 *
 
 20 AUSTRALIA. 
 
 sun, with little covering on their heads, sunstroke is 
 absolutely unknown. But in the towns, where they 
 drink all day, and take no exercise, it is not an un- 
 common thing at all for a man to be knocked over by 
 the sun just in crossing the street. 
 
 A week's loafing around Singapore produced a wild 
 longing to leave it, but I must say I was not exhilarated 
 by the sight of the boat that was to carry me to Aus- 
 tralia. She was called the Somerset, and was the pro- 
 perty of the Eastern and Australian Company, and was 
 about as depressing an old tub as I ever travelled in. 
 In the best of weather she was not good for more than 
 eight knots, and if it came on to blow ahead she went 
 astern. The captain was in every respect worthy of the 
 ship he commanded. He spent most of his time sulk- 
 ing in his cabin, and the remainder in entertaining the 
 passengers with most gloomy forebodings. Three days 
 after leaving Singapore the weather got very squally, 
 and the rain came down in such torrents that, when 
 standing on the bridge, it was sometimes impossible to 
 see the foremast. After dark it grew worse, and the 
 captain, who had been blowing an infernal fog- whistle 
 at intervals of five minutes all through the day, in- 
 formed the passengers that he had no idea where he 
 was, but about three in the morning he ought to go 
 through a winding passage two miles long and three- 
 quarters of a mile wide, between two sunken reefs. 
 After which, he turned the fog-whistle permanently on, 
 and retired into his cabin. 
 
 Anything like the horrors of that voyage I never 
 remember. The smell of bilge-water and cockroaches 
 in the saloon was so overpowering that it was almost
 
 THE VOYAGE. 21 
 
 impossible to stay down long enough to swallow a 
 meal. There were 320 Chinese emigrants forward, who 
 not only smelt horribly themselves, but spent their 
 whole time in cooking nauseous oily messes, the stench 
 from which was wafted aft in a continuous stream from 
 one day's end to another. For days at a time there was 
 not a breath of air, and the heat was so intense that 
 the pitch used to melt and bubble up in the seams of the 
 deck. I used to lie on deck all day and smoke, with a 
 saucer of chloride of lime under my nose as a disin- 
 fectant. It was beginning to make the whole crowd of 
 us quite ill. The captain, the officers, and, I believe, 
 everyone in the ship except myself, took to being sick 
 as violently as if they had never been io sea before. 
 Fortunately, when we got to the Arafura Sea we dropped 
 in for a gale of wind. This, as Robinson Crusoe 
 observed, was an amusement the other way. It delayed 
 us three days, but I have not a doubt it saved some of 
 our lives. In the middle of the night, when the gale 
 was at its height, the boiler of the old Somerset burst. 
 The man-hole plate flew clean off, and every particle of 
 steam, of course, escaped. It took seventeen hours to 
 repair it, during which time we lay like a log in the 
 trough of the sea, with the waves breaking over us fore 
 and aft. It cleaned us a little, though, which was very 
 healthy. 
 
 Two nights afterwards we ran down a native boat, and 
 drowned everyone in it. How many men there were in 
 her I do not know, but we never picked up one. The 
 next day we lost a man overboard ourselves. He was 
 on the jibboom, where he had no business to have 
 been sent, as there was a heavy sea on at the time.
 
 22 AUSTRALIA. 
 
 The old Somerset put her nose right into a wave, and, 
 of course, the man was washed away. In spite of the 
 sea that was running, he swam like a duck for about 
 twenty minutes, during which time the captain was 
 busily engaged in turning his old craft round, to pick 
 him up. I believe naval authorities are divided as to 
 the advisability of going astern or turning the ship 
 round to pick up a man overboard ; but in the case of 
 the Somerset I should certainly have preferred the former 
 process, as she had at all times a natural inclination to 
 go astern instead of ahead. However, the captain turned 
 round, and I thought we should have got the poor fellow 
 on board again all right. He was swimming beauti- 
 fully, keeping his head and shoulders right out of the 
 water, when suddenly he threw up his arms, rose half 
 out of the water, and then sank like a stone. I expect 
 a shark must have got him, as one had been prowling 
 after us for some time. This incident brought the 
 captain's ill-humour to a climax, and next day, when he 
 found me throwing little pieces of stick over the side to 
 see which way the vessel was going, he became quite 
 uncivil.
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 SOMERSET. 
 
 No one was sorry when, about sixteen days after leaving 
 Singapore, the coast of Australia hove in sight. We 
 passed through Torres Straits, which were adorned with 
 the remains of three recent wrecks, and anchored off 
 Somerset, the northernmost township in Australia. It 
 is merely a pearl-fishing station, and will never develop 
 into anything, as there is no back country to it. The 
 pearl fishers who live there are a rough-looking lot, not 
 encumbered with any superfluous clothing, and generally 
 without shoes or stockings. Their trade, which is an 
 exceedingly profitable one, is carried on by means of 
 black divers, who go down and bring up the mother-of- 
 pearl shells. These shells, which are about a foot or 
 sixteen inches across, and shaped like an oyster-shell, 
 were worth at that time nearly 250 per ton. The 
 pearls found in the shell were reckoned to pay all 
 expenses, and the profits were enormous. Even at the 
 present time, when pearl-shell has fallen in value to 
 ,140 a ton, it pays well to get. There is another pearl 
 fishery on the western coast of Australia, and some of 
 the pearls obtained there fetch large prices. Though 
 they are never equal to the Oriental pearls in colour,
 
 24 PEARL -FISHING. 
 
 they make up for it in size, and I heard of one being 
 sold in London recently for 1,500. The West 
 Australian pearl-fisheries are liable to the most terrific 
 hurricanes. The signs which herald their approach are 
 perfectly well known, and give ample time to a vessel to 
 secure a good offing. But the pearl fishers are generally 
 much too recklessly intent on their occupation to take 
 any such precaution, and every now and then the whole 
 lot of them get swept right away, some of their boats 
 being sent to the bottom, and others blown clean out of 
 the water into the mangroves that fringe the shore. 
 The few that are not drowned in one of these visitations 
 do not seem to care or take any warning. Max reficit 
 rates, the pearl-fisher picks up the pieces, sends off for 
 another schooner if his own is hopelessly damaged, and 
 goes on again as if such a thing as a hurricane was 
 unknown. 
 
 One or two white men, who have nothing to do with 
 the pearl-fishing, have taken up their permanent abode 
 at Somerset for no reason at all that I could see, except 
 to enjoy the society of black women, and to run an 
 imminent risk of being knocked on the head by black 
 men. The blacks in the neighbourhood of Somerset are 
 very bad. They are a fierce warlike race of athletic 
 savages, with a cross of the Malay in them. The 
 Government Resident at Somerset wages an endless war 
 with them, and from the intrepid bravery which he has 
 always displayed in his encounters with them he has 
 established a wonderful prestige. So recklessly daring, 
 and so successful have some of his raids against them 
 been, that he is firmly believed to be the Devil by all 
 the natives in the Somerset district. A mob of about
 
 A QUHBirSLAND BLACK.
 
 BLACKS. 25 
 
 200 of them once came and camped on an island 
 opposite to his residence. He knew that they would 
 very shortly attack him, so he determined not to wait 
 for them. As soon as it was dark, he stripped himself 
 naked, and tying his rifle and his ammunition on to his 
 head to keep them dry, he swam across to the island. 
 The tide ran very strong, and the channel was a quarter 
 of a mile wide, but he got across all right. 
 
 Without the slightest fear he attacked the whole 
 camp of blacks single handed, and routed them utterly. 
 So terrified were they at the fact of one white man 
 daring to attack them alone, that they came to the con- 
 clusion that there must be something superhuman about 
 him, and cleared out with all speed. It was months 
 before he was troubled with them again. He has been 
 there now for a good many years, and numerous are the 
 hair-breadth escapes that he has had during that time. 
 So far his courage has carried him safely through, and 
 though he has often been wounded, he has never come 
 to serious harm. But his enemies are numerous and 
 implacable, and it is odd if a spear or a tomahawk does 
 not finish him at last. 
 
 From Torres Straits right away to below Cape 
 Capricorn, runs the great barrier reef of Australia. 
 Inside this the navigation is very intricate ; a perfect 
 net- work of islands and reefs. We took a pilot on 
 board at Somerset, but even then we had occasionally to 
 anchor at night when there was no room. The scenery 
 all down the coast of Queensland is very wild, and in 
 some parts extremely beautiful. Endless masses of 
 wooded mountain-ranges run all along the mainland, 
 and some of the islands with their emerald slopes
 
 26 COAST SCENERY. 
 
 dotted over with patches of dark green firs are very 
 picturesque. 
 
 Whit-sunday passage, just before coming to Bowen, 
 is one of the prettiest bits of scenery on the whole coast 
 of Australia. The ranges on the mainland here are 
 very broken, and just off the shore is a large group of 
 lovely islands, between which and the mainland the 
 coasting-steamers' track passes. It looked very beau- 
 tiful in the evening, when the mountains were turning 
 to that soft clear smoky blue, peculiar to Australian 
 scenery, and the crimson fire of sunset was still 
 smouldering in the golden west. 
 
 The Somerset did not call off Mackay, which was my 
 destination, so I had to go on to Keppel Bay, the port 
 for Rockhampton, 200 miles further south, and wait for 
 a boat back to Mackay. 
 
 I left the Somerset with feelings of unmixed joy, and 
 with a hearty hope that she might go to the bottom 
 when she got into Sydney harbour, and stay there. 
 Since that time, to the great delight of everyone who 
 ever travelled in any of their boats, the Eastern and 
 Australian Company have abandoned the Queensland 
 mail service, after losing nearly all their boats. The 
 Brisbane, the best boat they had, was wrecked near 
 Torres Straits. The Normanby shared her fate soon 
 after. The Singapore ran ashore near Mackay and was 
 totally lost, and the Queensland was run into by the 
 Barrabool, and sunk just off Sydney. They were 
 altogether a most unfortunate company, and were very 
 badly treated by the New South Wales Government, 
 who induced them to start by the promise of a large 
 subsidy, which promise was repudiated as soon as the
 
 LANDING AT MACKAY. 27 
 
 company's ships began running. Their place has been 
 taken by the British India Company, who run a service 
 of very fine boats from London to Brisbane via Batavia, 
 carrying the mails, and calling at Thursday Island, 
 Cooktown, Townsville, Bowen, Mackay, and Keppel 
 Bay on the Queensland coast. They do not run 
 further south than Brisbane, and have no subsidy from 
 any Government except that of Queensland. 
 
 My brother met me in Kockhampton, and we were 
 fortunate enough to find a boat sailing for Mackay a 
 few hours after I landed. We ran up to the entrance of 
 the Pioneer river, on which Mackay is situated, in about 
 twenty-four hours, and had to anchor there and wait 
 for the tide to get in. We amused ourselves by fishing 
 for sharks, and caught one about six feet long. About 
 one o'clock in the morning the tide served, and we 
 steamed up the Pioneer for a couple of miles, and lay 
 alongside of a rather dilapidated wharf. No one ap- 
 peared to take sufficient interest in the arrival of the 
 steamer to be on the wharf, and, beyond a few sheds, 
 I could not, at first, see any signs of a town at all. 
 My brother knew the way, however, and, collaring as 
 much of my luggage as we could carry, we set off to the 
 hotel. Following his lead, I floundered through a mass 
 of black mud, and several deep puddles of water, and 
 emerged on to a road about three inches deep in dust. 
 After going along this for a hundred yards, some 
 buildings began to loom up against the starlit sky, and 
 a little further on we turned a corner, and found our- 
 selves in the main street of Mackay. 
 
 It might have been the city of the dead, for any signs 
 of a population. Not a light was to be seen in the rows
 
 28 THE DOCTOK. 
 
 of uneven low wooden buildings that ran along each 
 side of the street, and the only living creatures were 
 several dogs fast asleep in the middle of the road. 
 Turning another corner, we stumbled over the body of 
 a man with his heels on the pavement and -his head in 
 the gutter. His hat was off, and he was evidently in 
 the total collapse stage of drunkenness. My brother 
 struck a match, and examined his features. 
 
 " Ah, I thought so," he observed, " it 's the doctor. 
 He 's been like that, off and on, for a fortnight. Here, 
 lend a hand, and pull him out of the gutter. He '11 
 have a fit if he lies like that much longer." 
 
 Having dragged him into a less apopletic position, 
 we turned into the hotel. There was no one up, but it 
 was open ; so we went upstairs and hunted about for a 
 couple of empty rooms. After one or two bad shots, 
 which disclosed the prostrate forms of several sleepers, 
 most of whom had gone to bed in their boots, we found 
 what we wanted, and turned in. It was pretty hot, 
 and the musquitoes made it rather lively, but we got a 
 few hours' sleep, and next morning turned out early, 
 to get ready for a start up to the station. The first 
 thing we heard from my brother's black boy, who was 
 waiting about the town for him, was that the horses 
 had got out of the paddock. They were certain to go 
 straight back to the station, so my brother borrowed a 
 horse, and sent the boy down the road to look for them. 
 He got them about ten miles away, and did not re- 
 appear till the middle of the day. 
 
 Meanwhile, I amused myself by examining the town 
 of Mackay. Of all horrible places to live in, the worst 
 is a small coast town in Queensland. They are all
 
 MACKAY TOWNSHIP. 29 
 
 alike. The streets are very broad, and almost all the 
 houses built entirely of wood, with verandahs in front of 
 them, extending over the pavement. There is not a 
 green thing to be seen anywhere. Dust is everywhere, 
 inches deep in the streets that are not macadamised, 
 and trees, bushes, houses, and everything are powdered 
 over with it. In summer it is sweltering hot, the glare 
 is frightful, and before I had been half an hour in 
 Mackay, I began to understand why my brother was in 
 such a hurry to get out of it. When I first landed there, 
 the white population of the whole district was under 
 2,000, and that of the actual township under 1,000, but 
 I counted seventeen public-houses in the place. The 
 first thing that struck me was that not a single man 
 in the town had a coat or waistcoat on, and the next 
 thing that struck me was what very sensible people they 
 all were, for it was about the middle of March, and the 
 weather was so hot that any superfluous clothing was 
 unbearable. 
 
 There was a table d'hote at the hotel at which we 
 camped, and at dinner-time a crowd of men assembled 
 for the feed. Squatters down from the country, bank- 
 clerks, planters, and business men, not one of them 
 had a coat on. Their invariable costume was a pair 
 of moleskins or tweed trousers, fastened round the 
 waist with a leather belt, a cotton shirt with the sleeves 
 rolled up, and a silk handkerchief loosely tied round 
 the neck. The Bushmen were easily distinguished by 
 the mahogany brown to which constant exposure to the 
 sun had turned their faces, necks, and arms. 
 
 The fashion of wearing no coats is peculiar to Mackay, 
 and has been adopted by the planters, who consider
 
 30 THE CANE-FIELDS. 
 
 themselves the elite of the place. At a dinner party 
 on one of the plantations it is a most curious sight to 
 see all the ladies, en grande tenue, dressed in the latest 
 fashion, and the gentlemen sitting down with no coat 
 or waistcoat, and their arms bare to the elbow. 
 
 It was one o'clock before we were ready for a start, 
 and, as our station was forty-five miles away, we settled 
 to go out and camp at a station about five-and-twenty 
 miles up the Pioneer river, and go on home next day. 
 The country round Mackay is a dead level alluvial plain 
 for ten or twelve miles, and is all under cultivation for 
 sugar-growing. Our road for the first mile and a half 
 went through a sort of straggling township of small de- 
 tached houses, each surrounded by a grass paddock ; but 
 after this we got among the cane-fields, and the sight of 
 them was very refreshing after being shut up for weeks 
 at sea. There are few prettier plants than sugar, and 
 the panorama of the Mackay cane-fields is really beauti- 
 ful. For miles the cane stretches away in a level sea of 
 emerald green, here and there a tall brick chimney rising 
 up to indicate the whereabouts of a mill. A broad belt of 
 dark green forest marks the course of the Pioneer, wind- 
 ing through the plains, and beyond this again the cane- 
 fields rise right away to the base of rugged mountains, 
 thickly wooded to the very summit. All along the 
 horizon the mountains of the coast range are piled one 
 behind the other in dark blue masses, their outline rising 
 here and there into sharp peaks against the western 
 sky, and forty miles away towers the mighty form of 
 Mount Dalrymple, over four thousand feet high, the 
 second highest mountain in Queensland. On both banks 
 of the Pioneer, at intervals of a few miles, are the resi-
 
 
 I 
 
 
 
 . 
 
 
 

 
 PLANTATIONS ON THE PIONEER. 31 
 
 deuces of the planters, and certainly the lines have fallen 
 to them in pleasant places. Their houses, as a rule, 
 are extremely comfortable, and very well furnished, and 
 the gardens of many of them are paradises of beauty. 
 In good times, they make tremendous profits, and their 
 occupation chiefly consists in watching other people 
 work, in the intervals of which they recline in a shady 
 verandah with a pipe and a novel, and drink rum- 
 swizzles. Most of them keep a manager, so that they 
 can always get away for a run down south, or a kan- 
 garoo hunt up the country. They are very hospitable 
 and keep their houses always open to strangers visiting 
 the place, and to their friends in the country, who 
 come uninvited, and are welcome to stay as long as 
 they please. 
 
 About fourteen miles from Mackay we passed the 
 last plantation, and got among the gum-trees, and 
 shortly afterwards the track struck the bank of the 
 Pioneer. I have seldom seen a more beautiful river. 
 As a rule Queensland rivers are muddy, sluggish 
 streams, with low banks covered with mangroves, and 
 many of them would not be called rivers at all in a 
 country where water was more plentiful. But the 
 scenery along the Pioneer is lovely. Its whole length 
 is only about one hundred miles, but it drains a large 
 extent of country, and for the last thirty miles the 
 average width of its bed is from one to two hundred 
 yards. It rises in the coast range, and its course lies 
 through heavily-timbered country all the way to the 
 sea. The banks, sometimes sloping, sometimes very 
 steep, vary in height from fifty to a hundred feet, and 
 are thickly covered with a dense forest of trees and
 
 32 PIONEER RIVER. ALLIGATORS. 
 
 creepers. The river itself is a succession of deep black 
 pools of beautifully clear water, some of them nearly 
 a mile in length, with long rocky rapids between them. 
 
 The track wound along the banks for some miles, 
 and every now and then we pulled up to admire some 
 more than usually beautiful reach, where the water 
 was turned to gold in the evening sunlight, and the 
 dim blue mountains showed up through the forest 
 beyond. Swarms of ducks of every description were 
 paddling about in the pools, and sunning themselves on 
 the rocks and sandbanks. 
 
 A.t one bend of the river, just at the head of a deep 
 pool, where the " scrub " on the banks was very thick, 
 my brother said there was pretty sure to be an alligator, 
 and if we went quietly we might get a sight of it ; so we 
 got off, hung our horses up to a tree, and crawled 
 through the scrub down the bank to the water's edge. 
 Peering cautiously through a tangled curtain of creepers 
 that hung over the water, we were rewarded by the 
 sight of a huge alligator, basking on a sankbank about 
 sixty yards off, and apparently fast asleep. The instant 
 we showed ourselves, however, he shuffled into the water 
 with incredible speed. The upper waters of the Pioneer 
 are inhabited by numbers of these brutes, and some 
 of them grow to an enormous size. One was killed not 
 long before I arrived, nineteen feet long, but even this 
 was eclipsed by Big Ben of the Fitzroy, who measured 
 twenty-three feet six inches, and who when last I saw 
 him was in the possession of Mr. Jamrach in London. 
 These alligators do not seem to increase much in 
 numbers, and the same ones hang about the same pools 
 for years. From October to March during the hot
 
 SLEEPY HOLLOW. 33 
 
 
 
 weather, they do not show themselves at all, but during 
 the rest of the year, in the cool weather, they lie about 
 on the sandbanks warming themselves all day. 
 
 The sun was getting low, so we climbed on to our 
 horses again, and after a three-mile canter along a 
 splendid level track winding through an endless forest 
 of gums, under which the grass grew three feet high, 
 our destination hove in sight. 
 
 " Sleepy Hollow," or, as it is always called, " The 
 Hollow," the station at which we were going to camp 
 that night, is about the prettiest place on the whole 
 of the Pioneer. As we rode up we were greeted with 
 a chorus of barking from a small army of cattle-dogs 
 that weie lying about the out-buildings, and Mr. Charles 
 Kawson, the owner of the Hollow, came out to meet us. 
 He gave a wild shout of delight when he saw who it 
 was. He was an old friend of my brother, and, seizing 
 me by the hand, he bade me welcome to Australia with 
 a heartiness there was no mistaking. 
 
 "Hooray, boys!" he said, "this is just about the 
 soundest day I 've seen for a deuce of a time. If I 'd 
 known when your old dug-out was going to fetch the 
 Mackay wharf, you bet I 'd have been there to meet 
 you. Here, George, take these horses and turn them 
 into the big paddock." 
 
 " Hold on," said my brother. " Better put them 
 in the small one, we want to get away early to- 
 morrow." 
 
 " To-morrow ! to-morrow be blowed; you '11 stop here 
 for a week any way. You '11 surely never be so beastly 
 mean as to come here for only one night ? ' 
 
 To his great disappointment my brother declared he 
 
 3
 
 34 A SWIZZLE. 
 
 must be back at the station the next day, as there was 
 a man coming up to pick fat cattle. 
 
 "Well, if it's business," he observed sadly, " I don't so 
 much mind ; but any way, come on inside now, and have 
 a drop of something short. I was just going to make it 
 sundown when you boys rode up, and I was suffering to 
 look at somebody through the bottom of a glass." 
 
 We followed our host into a cool shady verandah, 
 and he quickly produced the materials for a drink. 
 
 "Now, then," said he, "just let me mix you a swiz- 
 zle. What 's a swizzle ! Oh ! I forgot you 'd only 
 just landed. Well, I believe a swizzle is about the 
 squarest drink that 's yet been invented, and there 's 
 no one in the district can lay over me at mixing one. 
 But hold on till you try it." 
 
 Never having heard of a swizzle, which is a drink 
 peculiar to Mackay, I believe, I watched his proceed- 
 ings with interest. First of all he put two inches of 
 Jamaica rum into the bottom of a tumbler, into which 
 he shook a few drops of Angostura bitters from a 
 bottle, with a small hole in the cork. Next he added 
 a small teaspoonful of brown sugar, and a squeeze of 
 a lemon, and filled the tumbler two -thirds full of 
 water. He then took a small stick with three prongs 
 growing the reverse way up at the end, and whirled 
 it round in the tumbler between his hands, with a 
 dexterity only to be acquired by constant practice, till 
 the decoction was foaming to the top of the glass. 
 
 Handing it to me quickly, with directions to " drink 
 it while fizzing," he watched it going down, with one 
 eye shut, and an expression of sympathetic interest 
 on his face.
 
 A SQUATTER. 35 
 
 " How 's that for high ? " he asked as I set down the 
 glass with a sigh of satisfaction. 
 
 I acknowledged that he had not over-rated the 
 beauties of the drink, and asked him where he got the 
 peculiar little stick with which he stirred it up. 
 
 "Ah!" he said, "that's just it. That's nothing 
 short of a swizzle- stick, and it grows on a tree that 's 
 peculiar to the Mackay district, and no doubt a bounti- 
 ful Providence placed it there on purpose for the inhabi- 
 tants to stir up their liquor with. I discovered it my- 
 self, arid it hadn't a name, so we christened it the 
 Swizzlestickia Rawsoniensis. There 's two of them 
 growing down there in the paddock, alongside the 
 fence." 
 
 The owner of the Hollow is probably one of the most 
 popular men in the north of Queensland. He was one 
 of the earliest settlers in the district, has been 
 identified with its rise and progress, and has not an 
 enemy in the place. There were wild times in the early 
 days of Mackay, and most of his contemporaries have 
 been stretched out for the undertaker, or, if they still 
 live, are mere wrecks of their former selves. But six- 
 teen years of hard work and hard living in the tropics 
 have made never a mark on the iron constitution of our 
 host. His head is marble, and perfectly proof against 
 the influence of Mackay rum, forty-five over proof, as 
 anyone who drinks alongside of him will find to their 
 cost. Many a reveller, waking after a heavy night to 
 repentance and a sick headache, has turned sicker still 
 to see him enter his room at five the next morning, with 
 a cheery smile on his face, a pipe of nigger-head between 
 his lips, and an invitation to come down and bathe in 
 
 3 *
 
 36 HIS HOME. 
 
 the river. He is nearer fifty than forty now, and his 
 hair is not quite so thick as it was, and getting gray 
 in places. But to use his own words " he has still got 
 as bully a set of works as there are in the island, and, 
 bar accidents, is good for another ten years yet." A 
 kind heart and an inexhaustible fund of good spirits 
 made him as pleasant a mate as a man could wish for, 
 and if there 's any fun going, from an exploring expe- 
 dition to a game of euchre, he is bound to be up to the 
 neck in it. Having finished our drinks and lit our 
 pipes, we sallied out to scatter a glance round the 
 place. 
 
 The forest has been cleared for a little distance round, 
 and the house and garden are surrounded by a paddock 
 of short green turf. The house itself is a large one- 
 storied building, with a fourteen-foot verandah all round 
 covered with masses of every sort of creeper. It stands 
 right on the river-bank, which rises to an elevation of 
 a hundred feet above the bed, and the view up the river 
 is magnificent. Eight in front of the house the bed 
 of the river is full of rocky islands and rapids ; but 
 above this there is a long stretch of still deep water up 
 to the next bend, three quarters of a mile away. The 
 opposite bank is covered with a most magnificent forest 
 of enormous trees, called in Australia a " scrub," to 
 distinguish it from open timbered country. 
 
 Nothing can be more beautiful in the way of a forest 
 than a Queensland scrub. Fig-trees, Leichardts, white 
 cedar, red cedar, beech, and a hundred other trees whose 
 names I never heard, are crowded together in wild con- 
 fusion, their dense foliage mingled in masses of every 
 conceivable shade of green. Here and there a group
 
 HIS GARDEN. 37 
 
 of feathery palms rear their heads above the surround- 
 ing forest, and giant creepers hang suspended in thick 
 curtains from one huge tree to another. 
 
 In front of the house, just on the fall of the river- 
 bank, is a gigantic bamboo, the father of all bamboos 
 in the Mackay district, and round about the house are 
 several smaller ones. But the garden running along 
 the top of the bank is a sight worth going to Queens- 
 land to see. There is fifty feet of black soil here, and 
 it must be a mean sort of plant that would not grow. 
 Lemons, limes, guavas, custard-apples, grapes, mangoes, 
 oranges, and grenadillas all flourish in a state of per- 
 fection that speaks equally well for the care of their 
 owner and the excellence of the climate. Mangoes and 
 oranges seem to do especially well, and the trees of the 
 latter were absolutely weighed down with fruit, and 
 Bananas and passion fruit grow like weeds. In the 
 middle of the garden, on a patch of smooth green turf, 
 stands the most magnificent Poinciana tree I ever saw, 
 about sixty feet high, with huge spreading boughs 
 sweeping right down to the ground. The foliage is 
 light green, and exactly resembles the leaf of a sensitive 
 plant, and in summer it is literally covered with huge 
 spiral flowers of the most brilliant crimson. The roof 
 and side verandah of the house are overrun with 
 masses of Boganvillea creepers, of every shade from 
 pink to purple, and the flower-beds around are full of 
 roses and geraniums. Gardenias grow all about, in 
 bushes five feet high, and flower most beautifully. The 
 back of the garden is sheltered all along by an im- 
 penetrable row of bamboos, Leichardts, and fig-trees, 
 and in front, just along the edge of the river-bank, runs
 
 38 FEENS. 
 
 a low hedge of hybiscus, blazing with scarlet flowers. 
 The front verandah of the house has been extended into 
 a sort of conservatory, made of a lattice -work of battens 
 split from palm-trees, inside which is a rockery covered 
 with most beautiful ferns. 
 
 The mountains and creeks of northern Queensland are 
 full of every sort of fern, and in the fernery at the 
 Hollow I counted over thirty varieties which Mr. Raw- 
 son had picked up in his wanderings about his own 
 runs, and brought home and planted.
 
 39 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 FIRST IMPBESSIONS OF THE BUSH. 
 
 NEXT morning, my brother and I saddled up early, and 
 started off through the Bush for Mount Spencer, directly 
 after breakfast. There is something very bewildering 
 about one's first introduction to the Bush, especially in 
 the coast country of Queensland, which is one vast 
 stupendous forest of different sorts of trees. Mile after 
 mile, day after day, you ride on through the forest, with 
 a tree on an average every ten yards. If you keep in 
 the valleys you see nothing but trees, and if you climb 
 up a mountain you see nothing but more trees. Here 
 and there you come upon a small open plain, a few 
 hundred yards in extent ; but until you get used to it 
 the monotony of the endless timber is appalling, and 
 it is easy to realise the terrible madness that so often 
 comes over those who get lost in the Bush. The only 
 change is from white gum-trees on the flats, to black 
 iron-barks on the ridges, and one ridge and one flat 
 is so like another, to an inexperienced eye, it seems 
 incredible that anyone can ever find their way about, 
 or know exactly where they are. Some people never 
 can, and I have known natives of the country, who have 
 lived for twenty years in the Bush, and who have still
 
 40 THE SILENT FOREST. 
 
 been helpless to get from one place to another without 
 a guide, in country that they had ridden over for years. 
 These are the exceptions, however, and, as a rule, a man 
 with a moderate bump of locality soon learns the art 
 of finding his way in the Bush. Very slight land-marks 
 will serve to guide a good bushman, for no two places 
 are really exactly* alike, and on the coast country there 
 is generally some mountain or other to get a sight of, 
 which will enable anyone who knows the country he is 
 in to take his bearings. Away on the open rolling 
 plains of the West, or, worse still, in country covered 
 with endless brigalow scrub, the bushman has often 
 not a single mark to. guide him for many miles, except 
 the sun or stars. In such country, finding one's way 
 about is reduced to an instinct, which is a natural gift 
 by no means to be acquired; and unless a man be 
 endowed with it, he had better never attempt to wander 
 far alone in the trackless wilds of the Australian Bush. 
 Many a man who has tried it, under the delusion that 
 he was born to be an explorer, has paid the penalty 
 of his rashness with his life. Witness the fate of Burke 
 and Wills, whose miserable end was due not nearly 
 so much to the force of circumstances, as to their being 
 by nature utterly unfitted to find their way about the 
 Bush ; for they perished within a few miles of their own 
 plant of provisions, without having the slightest idea 
 where they were. 
 
 The first thing that strikes one, is the lifeless solitude 
 of the Bush. The fierce searching light of a vertical 
 sun prevents it from being gloomy, and, indeed, the trees 
 in the open timbered country give a very scanty shade, 
 but everywhere there is a weird solemn stillness that
 
 "NEW-CHUM" RIDING. 41 
 
 is most impressive. In the middle of the day, birds 
 and beasts retire to the cool shade of the scrubs on 
 the banks of the creeks, and there is not a sound to be 
 heard, nor a living thing to be seen. The accumulated 
 silence of a thousand years seems to brood over some 
 of the mountains and valleys of this vast land, where, 
 perhaps, the sound of man's voice has never yet been 
 heard. Now and then a light breeze rustles in the 
 tops of the trees, which move softly, as if stirring in 
 their sleep, but it quickly passes away, and sunshine 
 and silence are everywhere again. But the sensation 
 of loneliness very soon wears off, and in a little while 
 even the endless trees come to look like friends in 
 whose company it is no hardship to pass a day. There 
 is a deep fascination about the freedom of the Bush, 
 whose subtle influence very soon enslaves those who go 
 to live there, and generally unsettles them for any other 
 mode of living. 
 
 A " new chum," as a new arrival in Australia is 
 called, is never very long in the country without getting 
 some sort of fall off a horse, and I got my first one 
 a few miles from the Hollow. Like nine out of every 
 ten station horses, the animal I was riding had a sore 
 back, and was girth-galled as well, so I was riding 
 with the girths very loose. Now there is one thing in 
 riding through the Bush which the sooner a man 
 learns the better, and that is, however fast he is going, 
 and however thick the timber is, never to attempt to 
 guide his horse clear of the trees. As long as he gives 
 him his head and does not attempt to interfere with 
 him, his horse will never run him against a tree ; but 
 he is certain only to have one side to his mouth, and
 
 42 A COLLISION WITH A GUM-TREE. 
 
 any efforts to keep him clear of one tree will probably 
 send him into another. The way in which an old 
 stock-horse shaves the trees with just a couple of inches 
 to spare, at racing pace, makes his rider's hair stand on 
 end, and gives him a cold feeling down the back at 
 first, but he soon drops down to sitting back and 
 leaving his horse to steer clear of the timber by himself. 
 These sorts of little peculiarities are so well known to 
 everyone who has been a little while in the country, 
 that they always forget to tell anyone of them who has 
 not. As I followed my brother at a hard canter along 
 the track winding through the timber, an ill-judged 
 attempt to induce my horse to give rather a wider 
 berth to a gigantic gum-tree produced exactly the 
 opposite effect, and a collision was the result. The 
 girths being quite loose, the cant which we got from 
 the gum-tree, turned me and my saddle half round, 
 and, as my intelligent animal at once redoubled its speed, 
 it was not long before we parted. I landed on my 
 shoulder, and the pace at which we were going sent 
 me head over heels, my further advance being abruptly 
 stopped by an iron-bark tree against which I brought 
 up with considerable violence. My horse tore past my 
 brother, who immediately set off after it, and they both 
 disappeared in the Bush. The first impulse of anyone 
 under the circumstance would have been to have a 
 smoke, and my temper was by no means improved by 
 finding that my pipe had been smashed to pieces between 
 myself and the iron-bark tree. However, I set off 
 down the track, and after about half a mile, met my 
 brother coming back, leading my horse. He had hunted 
 it for about a mile, and fortunately bailed it up between
 
 THE TEACK. GRASS-TREES. 43 
 
 two gullies, and caught it ; for, as a rule, it takes at 
 least three men to surround a loose horse in the Bush, 
 and even then, unless it is a very quiet one, they will 
 not catch it. After about fifteen miles of low ridges and 
 flats, we came to the foot of the main coast range. 
 
 A zigzag road cut through the scrub took us over 
 the pass, and the moment that we got to the top 
 the change in the atmosphere was quite extraordinary. 
 Though the sun was just as hot, there was a delight- 
 fully fresh light feeling in the air, the horses ceased 
 to sweat, and one felt the same sensation as when 
 one comes out of a green-house into the open air. 
 The top of the range was covered with spotted or 
 scented gum, the perfume of which is very strong, and 
 rather like that of a lemon-scented verbena. 
 
 About sixteen miles of monotonous stony ridges 
 covered with endless black iron-barks brought us to 
 a dense clump of wattles, a sort of mimosa tall, 
 feathery, graceful trees, with leaves like a willow, and 
 sweet-scented yellow flowers. Through this the road 
 passed, and we emerged on to a piece of level country 
 covered with white poplar-gums and grass-trees. The 
 latter are most comical-looking objects. They have 
 a black bare stem, from one to eight feet high, sur- 
 mounted by a tuft of a sort of half rushes and half 
 grass, out of which, again, grows a long thing exactly 
 like a huge bull-rush. A lot of them always grow 
 together, and a little way off they are not unlike the 
 illustrations of Red-Indian chiefs in Fenimore Cooper's 
 novels. The tuft of grass at the top has a sort of core, 
 white and soft, that tastes rather like a Spanish chest- 
 nut, and is good to eat, when there is nothing else
 
 44 MOUNT SPENCER. 
 
 to be had. About a mile along the flat brought us 
 to the Mount Spencer horse-paddock fence, through 
 which we passed, and got to the station just at sun- 
 down. 
 
 Somehow or other, in Australia, no matter how 
 long or how short one's journey is, one nearly always 
 gets to the end of it about sundown, which seems to 
 be the orthodox hour, especially for strangers, to arrive 
 at a station. As we emerged from the timber in the 
 paddock into the large open space in which the station 
 lay, it struck me as one of the most beautiful places 
 I had ever seen. As a rule, on the coast country the 
 timber is so thick that the look-out is necessarily 
 very limited, and although here and there there are 
 very pretty spots, it is very seldom that there is a 
 panorama of any extent worth looking at. Of course 
 on the downs you can see as far as the horizon in every 
 direction, but the monotony of the rolling plains of 
 grass is almost as bad as the Atlantic. The view, how- 
 ever, from Mount Spencer, is magnificent, and certainly 
 beats anything I ever saw in Australia. The station 
 stands on a low broad ridge, which was originally 
 timbered like the surrounding Bush, but the trees have 
 all been cleared away, the stumps burned out, and the 
 holes filled in, so that the ground is now a smooth 
 expanse of short green turf, sloping gently down to the 
 edge of a large lagoon, about three hundred yards away. 
 The lagoon itself is a mile and a half long, and about 
 a mile across, the centre covered with water-lilies, and 
 the edges fringed with a thick wide belt of rushes. 
 On the far side from the station a forest of huge gum- 
 trees follows the winding shores of the lagoon, its
 
 SUNSET ON THE LAGOON. 45 
 
 outline broken by one or two little promontories running 
 out into the water, and above the forest, like an amphi- 
 theatre, rise the mountains of the coast, running back 
 in broken rocky spurs to Blue Mountain, a vast densely- 
 wooded range three thousand feet high and fourteen 
 miles away. 
 
 The sun had just set when we arrived, and everything 
 was deadly still. The shadow from the hills at the 
 back of the station had fallen across the lagoon, in 
 whose dark waters the forms of the white gum-trees 
 around were perfectly reflected. The shades of evening 
 had fallen upon the forest, but the mountain ranges 
 beyond were still lit up with the rosy after-glow of 
 sunset, and looked almost transparent against the deep 
 pure blue of an autumn evening sky. Hundreds of 
 water-fowl of every description were dotted over the 
 expanse of the lagoon, the ducks now and then rising 
 up in flights, and passing over the station to a swamp 
 at the back. Rows of solemn-looking white egrets were 
 sitting on the fences, running out into the water, or 
 stalking about amongst the reeds, and high over head 
 a solitary pelican was wheeling round in circles, with 
 wings outstretched and motionless. Now and again a 
 flock of whistlers would rise up with a tremendous 
 clatter and excitement out of the rushes, as if they were 
 frightened out of their wits, and then, after going for a 
 fly round, settle again close to where they started from. 
 The shores of the lagoon in front of the station, between 
 the two fences of the small paddock, were always kept 
 as a sanctuary for all the ducks and white fowl. Here 
 they were never fired at. They knew it perfectly well, 
 and, when inside the bounds, they were so tame that
 
 46 MY CAMP. 
 
 they would let anyone walk up to within twenty yards 
 of them. 
 
 On the far side of the lagoon the smoke of a Black's 
 camp was rising up through the trees, and a mob of 
 cattle were standing up to their knees in the water, 
 taking their evening drink, and lazily nibbling at the 
 rushes round them. The whole place looked wonder- 
 fully peaceful and quiet, altogether the kind of place that 
 it would be very easy to make a home of, and where it 
 
 V V ' 
 
 would be very difficult to keep up the feelings of an 
 exile for very long. 
 
 The last feed on a station dinner, tea, supper, or 
 whatever it may be called is always just after dark, 
 and is the most solid meal in the day. Bushmen smoke 
 so much, and drink so much tea, that they are rather 
 mean performers at breakfast, and in the middle of the 
 day they are generally out on the run, but there must be 
 something wrong if they cannot eat a square meal in 
 the evening. After we had had supper, and a smoke, of 
 course, I was shown my camp, which was a slab hut 
 about a hundred yards away from the big house. The 
 furniture consisted of a canvas stretcher for a bed, a frag- 
 ment of looking-glass balanced on two nails driven into 
 a post, a table with a tin basin, and a bucket. But 
 there were heaps of blankets, and a fire-place, which 
 is all that is wanted to make one perfectly comfortable. 
 The slabs which formed the sides of the hut were put 
 up vertically, and as I lay in bed the spaces between 
 them afforded a fine view of the surrounding country. 
 There was no door, and the roof was not as water-tight 
 as it might have been, so that when it rained, five little 
 streamlets of water descended on my bed ; but I subse-
 
 A HARMLESS SNAKE. 47 
 
 quently diverted them on to the floor by means of a 
 couple of sheets of corrugated iron, which I secured 
 overhead. 
 
 Besides the light of a wood fire, the inside of the 
 hut was illuminated by a fat-lamp, a simple contrivance 
 in the form of a jam-tin full of fat, with a fragment 
 of tweed trousers stuck through a hole in the top for 
 a wick, which gives a very fair light. I was rather 
 tired, and not sorry for the prospect of a camp ; but 
 when I dragged back the blankets to turn in, I dis- 
 covered an enormous carpet-snake, about eleven feet 
 long, comfortably coiled up in my bunk. It raised its 
 head lazily, and after looking at me for a second or two 
 with a want of interest that I was far from feeling 
 myself, it coiled itself up again, and prepared for another 
 sleep. My brother had just gone, but I shouted to him 
 to bring a stick or something and help me kill it. He 
 came back, and looked in. 
 
 " What 's the matter ? Snake ? Oh, don't kill that 
 one. That 's a tame one, that belongs to Rice. He 
 wouldn't have it killed for anything, and, besides, its 
 only a carpet-snake, and they are perfectly harmless." 
 
 " H'm, it's all very well to say it's harmless," I 
 observed ; "I suppose you mean it 's not poisonous. 
 From the look of its head, it could bite a piece out of 
 you about the size of a tea-cup, and anyhow it 's not 
 going to sleep in my bed." 
 
 "Oh no," said my brother, "it has no business 
 here. It lives in a tub. Here, 1 11 take it away and 
 put it to bed," and seizing it by the neck, he dragged 
 it off, and dropped it into a barrel outside the 
 store, about fifty yards away, from which I devoutly
 
 48 NOCTURNAL OONCERT. 
 
 hoped that it would not be able to get out again that 
 night. 
 
 I turned in, in hopes of a good sleep, but I soon 
 discovered that I was very unlikely to get it. The 
 
 9 
 
 station seemed peaceful enough at sundown, but no 
 sooner had night fairly settled down than a combination 
 of noises arose that would have awakened Rip Van 
 Winkle himself. In the first place my camp was not 
 far from the calf-pen, in which the six or seven calves 
 belonging to the milkers were shut up every night. 
 These little brutes bellow incessantly all night, and 
 their mothers come and look over the railings, and 
 answer them. Then my partner Eice was a great 
 poultry fancier, and had a vast army of chickens. 
 Cocks in Australia always begin to crow about twelve 
 o'clock at night, and leave off at sunrise, so about 
 twelve of these pests added their voices to the general 
 clamour, supported by a dozen or so of call-ducks, 
 which were certainly pure-bred, if the noise that they 
 make has anything to do with their pedigree. But the 
 din reached its climax when a native dog howled some- 
 where away in the Bush. Instantly every dog on the 
 station started up mad with excitement, and began 
 barking with a fury that nothing but exhaustion could 
 abate. Two Russian wolf-hounds, three Kangaroo-dogs, 
 three cattle-dogs, four bull-dogs, and five fox-terriers, 
 all started a volley of barking which was kept up inces- 
 santly for a quarter of an hour, and then slackened 
 down to a sort of platoon-fire of yaps and howls 
 which lasted the rest of the night. In time one gets 
 perfectly used to this sort of nocturnal concert, and can 
 sleep through any amount of it, but at first it is simply
 
 MORNING. TOBACCO. 49 
 
 maddening, not one wink of sleep did I get the first 
 night, and I was glad when daylight came, and it was 
 time to turn out. 
 
 No words can describe the glory of a morning in the 
 Australian Bush. There is a pure soft freshness about 
 the air, full of the peculiar scent of the gum-trees, of 
 which no one ever tires, and a sparkling brilliancy in 
 the morning sunlight that no other climate can produce. 
 Surely this is the time of all others for a smoke. There 
 is sure to be something left in your pipe from the 
 night before. If not, fill it again, and light it with a 
 fire-stick from the hearth ; and years after, if you are 
 a true lover of the weed, you will own that no smoke in 
 the world comes up to the one before breakfast on a 
 summer's morning in the Bush. There is something 
 in the climate that brings out the flavour of tobacco, 
 and a good deal in the way of living that encourages 
 smoking ; for Bushmen, as a race, are probably the 
 heaviest smokers in existence. The tobacco they smoke 
 is very good, and very strong, mostly manufactured in 
 America, and known as fig-tobacco. When once a man 
 takes to smoking it, it ruins him for any other sort of 
 tobacco, but, as a general rule, about ten years is as 
 long as a man can go on smoking it without finding that 
 it is knocking his nerves to pieces. A fig a day, or just 
 short of an ounce, is a common allowance, but a Bush- 
 man's pipe is never out of his mouth. He is always 
 lighting it to have a few whiffs, which is a most 
 poisonous form of smoking. The last thing he puts 
 away at night, and the first thing he looks for in the 
 morning, is his pipe ; and if he wakes in the night, he 
 has a smoke then. 
 
 4
 
 50 SUNWISE ON THE LAGOON. 
 
 I was not long in falling into the ways of the country 
 in this respect, and, lighting a pipe, I sallied out to have 
 a look round. A soft white curtain of mist was rising 
 off the lagoon and rolling away before the sun, to 
 gather for a little while on the sides of the deep blue 
 mountains around before it finally disappeared. The 
 sun rose over the range in a blaze of heat, turning 
 the dark waters of the lagoon into a sheet of gold, and 
 streaming through the forest in long bands of glittering 
 light. The water-fowl on the lagoon awoke, uttering a 
 hundred different cries, the ducks standing up on the 
 lily leaves and flapping the dew from their wings. 
 Close to the station one or two butcher-birds were 
 piping their morning song, a strange little melody with 
 not many notes, which no one who has heard it will 
 ever forget. On a dead iron-bark tree, just outside the 
 horse-yard, three or four black crows were sitting, talk- 
 ing to each other, and looking as wise as nothing but 
 an Australian crow ever did. They are far the most 
 interesting birds in the Bush, and the way in which 
 they talk to each other is simply fascinating, for it really 
 seems as if one could not help knowing exactly what 
 they are saying. 
 
 Bound the store-door a sound assortment of poultry 
 were assembled waiting for their morning feed, most of 
 them thoroughbred game, bred from imported birds, and 
 on the roof were about a hundred pigeons of every 
 conceivable breed. Bice was immensely fond of his 
 chickens and pigeons, never went home to England 
 without bringing back a fresh supply, and some of the 
 birds which he raised on the station were very high- 
 class specimens indeed. Besides all these he always
 
 A MENAGERIE. 51 
 
 had a menagerie of tame birds and beast of all kinds. 
 When I got there the collection contained an eagle- 
 hawk, three crested falcons, seven wood-ducks, five 
 whistlers, a magpie, three teal, a kangaroo, a walla- 
 roo, a native bear, five flying squirrels, three spur- 
 winged plovers, and a cage-full of parrots and small 
 birds, and last, but not least, the infernal carpet-snake 
 which I found in my bed. They were all quite tame, 
 and, except the flying squirrels and parrots, which lived 
 in cages, and the eagle -hawk, which had a string to 
 its leg, they all used to hang about the place on the 
 loose. 
 
 The station itself was quite a small village of houses. 
 The big house stood a little way apart, in a garden 
 with a paling fence round it, about eighty yards square. 
 Unfortunately it was right on the top of a quartz ridge, 
 where there was very little soil, so that it was difficult 
 to get trees of any size to grow ; but all sorts of creepers 
 throve wonderfully. In front of the house were one or 
 two Poincianas, and a very pretty bunya, a sort of 
 fir-tree ; and round every pile of the house grew masses 
 of scarlet geraniums, which are supposed to possess the 
 virtue of keeping away snakes. At the back there 
 was a rock-work covered with beautiful ferns, and be- 
 yond that a small pond with dwarf bamboos round it, 
 where the tame wild-ducks lived. 
 
 The house itself was a very comfortable building, two 
 stories high, about sixty feet long and thirty-five feet 
 wide, built upon round piles seven feet high, with an 
 eight-foot verandah all round. Down below was the 
 dining room, with a huge brick fire-place, the pantry, 
 
 a small store, an office and a bath-room. Over the 
 
 4 *
 
 52 THE STATION. 
 
 dining-room was the sitting-room, also with a large 
 fire-place, and with " French-lights " opening on to the 
 verandah, and, on the same floor, four very comfortable 
 bed-rooms. The house, with the exception of the 
 chimney, was built entirely of wood, the walls being 
 made of iron-bark slabs, dressed very smooth, and laid 
 horizontally ; and the roof covered with shingles, which 
 are small pieces of wood, eighteen inches long and about 
 four inches wide, split out of iron-bark or stringy-bark 
 wood. If properly laid on, with sufficient pitch, 
 shingles make about the best roof possible for a hot 
 climate, they are perfectly water-tight, keep out the heat, 
 and last for many years. But there is a good deal of 
 art in laying them on, and unless it is done scienti- 
 fically, they let the water through like a sieve. The 
 sitting-room was very well furnished, with any amount 
 of tables, pictures, book-shelves, arm-chairs, and above 
 all an excellent piano. Rice and my brother had been 
 there for some years, and had made the place very 
 comfortable, and altogether hardly what one would ex- 
 pect to find in the Bush. 
 
 Near the house stood the kitchen, with a cook's room 
 adjoining, and a little covered way all overgrown with 
 creepers, leading from it to the house. 
 
 About a hundred yards away were the rest of the 
 station buildings, consisting of two stockmen's houses, 
 a store, a meat-house, the spare hut in which I camped, 
 the men's kitchen, the blacksmith's forge, and the black 
 boys' hut, all slab buildings with shingle roofs, also a 
 large dove-cot and a row of fowl-houses, surrounded 
 by wire-netting yards, and beyond these again the 
 milking-yards, killing-yard, calf-pens, and horse -yards.
 
 THE HORSE-YARDS. 53 
 
 Having completed my round of the station, I had just 
 arrived at the rails of the horse-yard, when I heard a 
 sound like distant thunder away down the horse-pad- 
 dock. In a few seconds a mob of about seventy horses 
 came tearing down the track in a cloud of dust, with 
 their tails in the air, and dashed into the big yard, of 
 which the slip rails were down. Behind them came a 
 black boy, cantering leisurely along, who proceeded to 
 put up the rails, and then taking the saddle off the 
 horse he was riding, he turned him out in hobbles into 
 the small paddock. All the station-horses in use are 
 run up every morning into the yards, and then turned 
 out again, when the stockmen have picked out those 
 that they require for the day. 
 
 Anyone would think that with seventy or eighty 
 horses in the yard, and only three or four men to ride, 
 there would be plenty for everyone. But a nearer in- 
 spection generally shows that at least half of them are 
 unavailable from sore backs or want of condition. No 
 one ever yet saw a cattle station that was not in a 
 chronic state of being short of horses, and it is easier 
 for a stranger to squeeze blood out of a stone than to 
 borrow a horse from the manager. 
 
 Sore backs and girth -galls are the curse of Australian 
 bush-riding, and are chiefly due to carelessness on the 
 part of the riders. Of course, a horse fed entirely upon 
 grass is much more liable to a sore back than one 
 which is fed upon corn. Then, again, they are never 
 groomed, and, therefore, their coats are very dirty. 
 The colonial saddle, too, is a shapeless cumbersome 
 fabric, made of rough leather, with a high pommel and 
 cantle, and huge knee-pads, weighing on an average
 
 54 BUCK-JUMPING. 
 
 20 Ibs. The greatest care is necessary to prevent such 
 a diabolical machine from giving a horse a sore back, 
 but still it can be done. The chief points to attend to 
 are, always to brush a horse's back before putting the 
 saddle on, to wash it and rub it dry after taking the 
 saddle off, and to keep the saddle-cloth scrupulously 
 clean and soft. Few bushmen ever take the trouble to 
 use these precautions, and the consequence is that it is 
 the rarest thing in the world to see a Bush horse over 
 three years old that has not got either a sore back or 
 the mark of an old sore. An English saddle seldom 
 gives a horse a sore back, with decent care, and all the 
 time I was in the Colony I always used one, unless I 
 knew the horse I was going to ride was certain to buck, 
 in which case it is perfectly hopeless to try and stick 
 on in an English saddle. I have seen men ride very 
 bad buck-jumpers bare-backed, and I have often heard 
 of men who could ride them in an English saddle, but I 
 never saw it done, and do not believe that it is possible. 
 As long as a horse bucks straight ahead it is all right 
 enough, being no worse than crossing a succession of 
 high fences ; but when he takes to bucking sideways, 
 and turning round as he bucks, I never saw anyone that 
 could stay on in an English saddle. 
 
 The performance of buck-jumping is a most extra- 
 ordinary one to watch, and still more extraordinary to 
 feel underneath one. When seated on a bucking horse 
 the rider sees nothing whatever in front of him but the 
 pommel of the saddle, and feels rather as if he was 
 assisting at an earthquake or a railway accident. The 
 performance is quite peculiar to Australian horses, and 
 no one who has not seen them at it would believe the
 
 GETTING ON. 55 
 
 rapid contortions of which they are capable. In buck- 
 ing, a horse tucks his head right between his fore-legs, 
 sometimes striking his jaw with his hind feet. The 
 back, meantime, is arched like a boiled prawn's ; and in 
 this position the animal makes a series of tremendous 
 bounds, sometimes forwards, sometimes sideways and 
 backwards, keeping it up for several minutes with in- 
 tervals of a few seconds, and occasionally falling flat 
 down and rolling over his rider if he fails to get rid of 
 him in any other way. Of course a " new chum " 
 succumbs at once to the movements of a buck-jumper, 
 but, after a little practice, anyone who keeps his nerve 
 and sits back can easily learn to stick on in a colonial 
 saddle with big knee-pads to help him. With practice 
 some men become extraordinary hands at sitting rough 
 horses, and a favourite piece of " flashness " is to stick 
 half-a-crown between each thigh and the saddle, and 
 keep it there while the horse is bucking. 
 
 The great art consists in getting cleverly on to a 
 rowdy horse ; for it is before a man is fairly seated, 
 just as he is swinging himself on, that a horse is likely 
 to get the best of him. An old hand draws the reins 
 tightly through his fingers, and takes hold of a piece of 
 the mane with the same hand to keep his horse's head 
 well in to his neck, and then, with his face to the horse's 
 tail, he sneaks one foot into the stirrup, and swings 
 himself into his seat with the rapidity of lightning. A 
 great deal of practice is required to do this neatly, and 
 to avoid touching the horse with either foot during the 
 act of mounting, which would almost certainly start it 
 bucking if it were that way inclined. 
 
 The ordinary run of Bush horses show a great deal of
 
 56 ENDURANCE OP BUSH HORSES. 
 
 breeding, but they are generally deficient in bone, and 
 the worst point about them is the shoulder. You 
 often come across a well-shaped one in every other 
 point, but the whole time that I was in the Bush I 
 never saw a really pretty pair of shoulders on a horse. 
 They run about fifteen two in height, and are very low 
 in the wither, which accounts for the extraordinary feat 
 which I have several times witnessed, of a horse buck- 
 ing its rider and saddle over its head, without breaking 
 the girths. But whatever they may be to look at, horses 
 raised in the Bush have generally a good heart inside 
 them, and the amount of work that they will do upon 
 nothing but grass is almost incredible. 
 
 A ride of a hundred miles from sunrise to sundown 
 is no uncommon performance, and there is a well- 
 authenticated instance of a man who, for a large bet, 
 rode a pony a hundred miles in that time, and then 
 carried it a hundred yards. The unfortunate animal 
 died, and the man ought to have been knocked on the 
 head for his cruelty, but the feat stands recorded as 
 showing what an Australian horse can do. 
 
 A still more remarkable performance was that of a 
 son of Panic, bred in Victoria, who carried his rider, Mr. 
 Lord, 263 miles in three days, 88 miles on the first, 
 83 on the second, and 92 on the third. Mr. Lord rode 
 14 st. 3 lb., and the journey was accomplished without 
 any bad effects upon the horse. 
 
 Considering the treatment that Bush horses get, it is 
 wonderful how they live at all. After a long hard day 
 they are turned out, dripping with sweat, into a cold 
 winter's night, where, perhaps, in a few hours the tem- 
 perature will be down to freezing point. They are ridden
 
 METHOD OF BBEAKING-IN. 57 
 
 hard after cattle, over stony ridges and black-soil bogs, 
 and yet filled legs and curbed hocks are unknown ; and 
 the whole time that I was in Australia I never saw a 
 broken-winded horse, or even a whistler. It is very rare 
 indeed to find a really pleasant horse to ride in the 
 Bush. They are all very badly broken in, and have 
 nearly always had their tempers spoiled when quite 
 young, so that they generally have some disagreeable 
 tricks, and it is never safe to go near the heels of one 
 of them. There are men who make a living by break- 
 ing in young horses, going round the stations and con- 
 tracting to break in a mob at thirty shillings a head. 
 Considering the way in which it is done, it is no 
 wonder that Australian horses buck, and are generally 
 vicious. 
 
 A lot of young ones are run into a yard, most of 
 which have probably never seen a man within a quarter 
 of a mile since they were foals, and have certainly never 
 been in a yard more than once in their lives. The 
 horse-breaker picks out one, and with the help of 
 another man runs it into a small yard by itself. If the 
 animal is not very nervous, with a little patience he 
 will be able to go up and handle it, and get a bridle 
 over its head. If all other ways fail, he has to lasso it. 
 The next thing is to sneak a saddle on to it, the wretched 
 animal standing shaking and shivering with fright the 
 whole time. The horse-breaker is most likely a man 
 that no living horse can throw by any means short of 
 rolling on him ; so he blindfolds the horse, and gets 
 straight on to its back. His mate removes the bandage 
 from its eyes, and the rider sticks the spurs into the 
 horse, and makes it buck, till it cannot buck any more.
 
 58 " FLASH-B1DEKS " V. "FUNKS." 
 
 He then leaves it for a few hours with the saddle on, 
 and having repeated the process on two subsequent 
 days, he hands it over to the owner as broken in, and it 
 is probably turned out for six months into the Bush. 
 It is real rough work breaking in young horses in this 
 way, and very few men stick at it for more than a year 
 or two. Undoubtedly the very worst man in the world 
 to give a young horse to, to break in, is a " flash "glider. 
 He is not the least afraid of its bucking, and will pro- 
 bably make it do so on purpose, in order to display his 
 powers of riding, or rather sticking on. 
 
 Bucking is a regular habit ; and when once a horse 
 acquires it he never altogether loses it. The surest way 
 to get a horse quietly and well broken in is to give it to 
 the most nervous and arrant funk you can find, if he 
 will undertake it. He will spend days in getting the 
 horse used to the vicinity of a man, and sit for hours 
 on the top of a rail alongside of it, to accustom it to 
 seeing him above it, before ever he attempts to get on 
 its back, and the odds are that he will have it so quiet 
 by the time that he dares mount it, that it will never 
 think of bucking, except under extraordinary provocation, 
 for the rest of its life. 
 
 The proceedings of a " new chum," as a recent 
 arrival in the Colony is called, are always a source of 
 amusement to all old residents, and nothing is more 
 entertaining than his early struggles to catch his horse 
 in the yard. Having cornered it off, with the help of 
 a black boy, he advances towards it, in a hesitating, 
 doubtful sort of way, addressing it in soothing terms 
 which are entirely thrown away upon a Bush horse. 
 The animal detects him instantly as a novice, and pre-
 
 A NEW CHUM'S STRUGGLES. 59 
 
 pares to take advantage of him by every trick that it 
 knows. Jammed up against the rails, in a corner of 
 the yard, it stands, looking at him as he approaches, 
 with an expression in its eye and a droop of its quarters 
 that no one could mistake. When he gets up to it he 
 probably discovers that he has got the bridle over the 
 wrong arm, and while he is changing it the brute gives 
 a frightful snort, rushes past him, rolling him over in 
 the dust, and gallops round and round the yard, with its 
 tail in the air. Once more he pins it up in a corner, 
 and has nearly got the bridle over its head when it 
 gently turns its head away and sticks it over the rails, 
 where he cannot possibly reach it, at the same time 
 turning its quarters round, and lifting a hind foot, in a 
 way that causes its future rider to get out of focus as 
 quickly as possible. 
 
 After a few more vain attempts the "new chum " looks 
 imploringly round, and one of the old hands gets down 
 from the rails, where he has been sitting enjoying the 
 fun. Hanging the bridle over his left arm, he walks 
 straight up to the animal and addresses it with " Stand 
 up, you crow-bait ! " in a tone that knocks all the folly 
 out of it for the rest of the morning. Bush horses are 
 as cunning as foxes, and, unless they are really rowdy, 
 they never attempt to play the fool with men who are 
 used to handling them, so it caves in at once, and allows 
 him to put the bridle on without any further trouble.
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 LIFE IN THE BUSH. 
 
 MOUNT SPENCEB country consisted of three runs adjoin- 
 ing each other, known respectively as Mount Spencer, 
 Haslewood, and Blue Mountain. The whole area was 
 nearly 400 square miles, capable of carrying over 
 20,000 head of cattle in any season ; but when I first 
 went there, there were not above 12,000. Though 
 some parts of the run were very rough riding, it was 
 all very good cattle country, and wonderfully well watered. 
 Numbers of large creeks ran in every direction, and 
 large water-holes were scattered all over the run, so 
 that it hardly suffered at all in the severest drought. 
 The cattle were a very well-bred herd, and the grass 
 was first-rate, so they fattened splendidly. The head 
 station was at Mount Spencer, and the adjoining run 
 was kept principally for a breeding station. At Hasle- 
 wood there was another station, with yards and pad- 
 docks, and the run was fenced off from Mount Spencer 
 by a line of fence twelve miles long, and was used with 
 Blue Mountain run for a fattening station for bullocks. 
 At Blue Mountain there was a small hut, a horse 
 paddock, and stock-yard, and at the far end of Mount
 
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 *3-'i.'&&^it*&^ 
 
 
 -fivi - ^.x ^^1 
 
 ^-M. ^^V , 1| 
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 ^aci-^\ V
 
 STOCKMAN S WORK. 61 
 
 Spencer run was another small hut, used for camping 
 out, and a sapling yard for yarding cattle at night, 
 when it was too late to take them to the head station. 
 
 At Mount Spencer there were two stockmen, Frank 
 Boyle and Timothy Harris, and a couple of black boys. 
 At Haslewood was another stockman, Billy Burgess, 
 with a couple of boys, one white and the other black ; 
 and at Blue Mountain a half-caste named Yellow-Pat 
 lived by himself, and looked after a mob of draught 
 mares. Of course Bice and my brother worked amongst 
 the cattle themselves just like the other stockmen, 
 but this was all the "permanent staff" on the place, 
 and quite sufficient to work the cattle. 
 
 In mustering, more hands are required, but at such 
 times neighbouring stations always help each other, 
 and send up a spare hand or two to help muster and 
 brand, and to bring back their own cattle, of which there 
 are sure to be some that have strayed on to their 
 neighbours' country. The ordinary work of a stockman 
 is rather monotonous. Every morning he gets on his 
 horse, and goes out on the run, jogging along about five 
 miles an hour the whole day, and returning in the 
 afternoon. His business is to be constantly amongst 
 the cattle, riding the boundaries to put his own cattle 
 back, and his neighbour's away, hunting up stray calves 
 and bringing them home and branding them. 
 
 It is impossible to do too much of this work. The 
 more cattle are worked, and accustomed to the sight 
 of men when they are young, the better they will 
 fatten when they grow up ; and, of course, it is of the 
 greatest importance to get all the male calves branded 
 before a certain age. In rough country where there
 
 62 DANGERS OF BUSH-RIDING. 
 
 are few fences, numbers of calves escape the general 
 muster, and the more the stockmen scour the run, and 
 hunt them up, the better the station will pay. Some- 
 times the stockman takes a black boy with him, but 
 more frequently he is quite alone. Occasionally he goes 
 and camps out for a few days, to work some outlying 
 end of the run, rolling up sufficient beef and damper 
 in his blanket strapped across his saddle, to last him 
 until he returns. In rough country, such as the coast 
 of Queensland, no one ought ever to ride about the run 
 alone. While riding hard after cattle through the long 
 grass, it is impossible to avoid a nasty fall occasionally ; 
 and if a man were to be crippled away in the Bush, 
 and unable to ride or walk home, it is a thousand, to 
 one if he would ever be found before a miserable death 
 had overtaken him. Considering the number of men 
 who every day of their lives make a practice of riding 
 about the Bush quite alone, it is astonishing that more 
 of them do not come to grief. But the annals of the 
 country contain ghastly records of the horrible death of 
 solitary riders who have met with an accident, and been 
 rendered helpless, and many an unfortunate being has 
 disappeared entirely, without leaving a trace of his fate. 
 Years afterwards, perhaps, a skeleton is found some- 
 where near where he was supposed to have been lost, 
 and the few who have not forgotten all about him 
 connect the discovery with the unknown end of the 
 missing man. Not far from Mount Spencer run, a man 
 came to his end a few years ago, in a manner that is 
 almost unique in horror. He was away riding by him- 
 self in the Bush, and his horse threw him, injuring 
 his spine in the fall, so that he was quite powerless to
 
 AN AWFUL END. 63 
 
 move. Close to where he fell was an enormous ants'- 
 nest, and when he was found three days afterwards 
 he was half eaten by millions of ants. He was still 
 conscious, but unable to speak, and died very shortly 
 afterwards. It is impossible to imagine a more terrible 
 death than to lie paralysed and helpless, to the agony 
 of intolerable thirst being added the torture of being 
 eaten alive by crawling insects. 
 
 If any parallel could be found for the awfulness of 
 such a fate, it would be in the case of a man who was 
 burned to death by a tree which fell on him. He was 
 working by himself, several miles away from anywhere, 
 and a burning tree fell on him, pinning him to the 
 ground, without doing him any serious injury. The 
 tree was alight at the butt-end, some thirty feet away 
 from where he lay ; but it is a peculiarity of some sorts 
 of Australian trees that when once they are set on fire 
 they will smoulder entirely away, leaving nothing but a 
 track of white ashes in the grass. No efforts of the 
 unfortunate man could extricate him from his awful 
 position, and after a time he appears to have abandoned 
 himself to his fate, for he amused himself by scratching 
 a record of his sensations with a knife upon the bottom 
 of a tin dish that lay within reach. It took a day and 
 a half before the fire reached him, and it is shocking to 
 think of what his sufferings must have been. When 
 he was found he was nothing but a charred and black- 
 ened mass, which no one would have taken to have 
 been a man, had his fate not been recorded on the tin 
 dish that was found near him. 
 
 In the north of Queensland very few of the cattle- 
 runs have boundary fences. There are large paddocks,
 
 64 CATTLE-CAMPS. 
 
 of course, but the cattle roam at large over the greater 
 portion of the run. All about the run, at intervals of 
 five or six miles, are cattle-camps, and the cattle that 
 belong to the surrounding districts are mustered on 
 their respective camps. 
 
 The camp is generally a level place, as free from 
 stones as possible, where there is water handy, and 
 where the timber is not too thick. It is the stockman's 
 business to ride round constantly, and put the cattle on 
 to the different camps, so as to accustom them to run- 
 ning there. The same mobs of cattle frequent the same 
 districts, and if they are properly broken in they will 
 run right into the camp by themselves, when started 
 with a few cracks of the stock-whip, and stay there till 
 the middle of the day. In mustering, of course, it is 
 essential that a stockman should know the country 
 thoroughly, and be perfectly acquainted with the run of 
 all the gullies and creeks, or he will never get all his 
 cattle on to the camp. 
 
 Two mornings after I arrived at Mount Spencer, we 
 all started out to muster the Water-hole camp, at the 
 lower end of the run, twelve miles away. Frank and 
 Billy had gone on the night before, and camped out, 
 to work the country on the far side of the camp. 
 Having had breakfast about five, Rice, my brother, 
 Timothy, and I started off, soon after sunrise, with the 
 man who had come up to buy cattle. He had been 
 butchering on the Palmer diggings, and made a rise, 
 and was hunting up a big mob of fat cattle to take 
 back with him. He had a huge nugget of gold hang- 
 ing on to his watch-chain, and always wore a waistcoat 
 and no coat, a get-up which in the Bush somehow or
 
 MUSTERING. 65 
 
 other, imparts an air of blackguardism to a man which 
 it is impossible to describe. 
 
 After going a few miles through the forest of endless 
 gum-trees and blood-wood, we crossed a big creek, and 
 came to a succession of low iron-bark ridges. Every- 
 where the country was heavily timbered, and it was 
 impossible to see more than half a mile through the 
 trees in any direction. Here we separated, Rice and 
 the cattle-dealer going in one direction, and Timothy, 
 my brother, and I in another. Presently a mob of about 
 seventy cattle appeared ahead of us in the long grass. 
 We rode up to them at a canter, shouting, and cracking 
 our whips ; and they set off at a gallop, apparently in 
 the right direction, for my brother and Timothy pulled 
 up and did not attempt to follow them. 
 
 A little farther on we came upon another small mob, 
 which turned as soon as they saw us, and trotted off 
 towards a creek on our left. Off went my brother after 
 them, full gallop, through the grass, which was up to his 
 knees as he rode, shouting out that "he knew that old 
 devil of a white cow was off to the Island camp again." 
 He disappeared after them over the creek, and we did 
 not see him again until he turned up on the camp an 
 hour later, driving the refractory mob in front of him. 
 Timothy and I jogged along for some distance, and fell in 
 with some more cattle, that looked lazily at us as we rode 
 up. Timothy scared them up with a shout and a crack of 
 his whip ; but they did not seem in any great hurry, and 
 rather inclined to stop, so he turned to me, and told 
 me that " if I would keep behind them, that old yellow 
 cow with a down-horn would take me right into the 
 camp, a couple of miles away, while he went and tried 
 
 5
 
 66 A BUSH-PILOT. 
 
 the ridges away to the right." I had not the least idea 
 where the camp was, and only very vague ideas of where 
 I was myself, and the idea of being shown the way 
 about the Bush by a yellow cow with a down-horn 
 seemed rather novel ; but Timothy had already started, 
 so I thought I had better do as I was told. 
 
 There was not a vestige of a track to be seen any- 
 where, and, as I jogged along behind the mob, I could 
 not help thinking to myself, " Supposing this flaming 
 old cow takes it into her head to go to the wrong camp, 
 like the other one did, or lies down, or gets sick, where 
 the deuce will I be ? " The sun was just about square 
 overhead, so it was difficult to tell where the points of 
 the compass lay, and I was by no means sure that if the 
 cow did not take me to the camp I could find my way 
 home again. However, she trotted along with a busi- 
 ness kind of an air that was very encouraging, always 
 keeping in the lead of the mob, while I brought up the 
 rear. After crossing two more deep -running creeks, and 
 struggling down several awful gullies and up the other 
 side, clinging on to my horse's mane with rather a weak 
 feeling about the inside during the final struggle that 
 landed us on the top, I came on to a long black- 
 soil flat, covered with big box-trees, at the far end of 
 which I could see a big mob of cattle standing on a low 
 ridge. My pilot had led me as straight as a die, and 
 when I got up I found Frank and Billy were already 
 on the camp with about six hundred head of cattle. 
 There are few sights more picturesque than an Aus- 
 tralian cattle-camp, and it is one that anyone who takes 
 an interest in stock will never grow weary of. 
 
 The Water-hole camp lay on a broad low ridge, run-
 
 THE CATTLE -CAMP. 67 
 
 ning down to a big creek full of flooded gums and 
 dark-green she-oaks, about three hundred yards away. 
 Close to the camp was a round water-hole, covered 
 with lilac water-lilies, from which the camp took its 
 name. The cattle were moving restlessly about on the 
 camp, the cows bellowing in search of their lost calves, 
 their red, roan, and white colours looking wonderfully 
 bright in the sunlight, among the trunks of the black 
 iron-bark trees. The two stockmen, and a couple of 
 black boys, were riding incessantly round the edges of 
 the camp to keep the cattle together, and prevent them 
 from straying away ; so my brother and I lit our pipes, 
 and rode in amongst the cattle to have a look at them. 
 The first thing that struck me was what a very well-bred 
 lot they were. Here and there was an old crow-bait of 
 a cow, a miserable relic of old times, crawling about to 
 save itself the annoyance of a funeral, but most of the 
 cattle showed a great deal of quality. Among the young 
 ones there was scarcely a hard skin to be seen, and some 
 of the heifers were perfect pictures. There were not 
 many bullocks on the camp, as most of them had been 
 cleared off Mount Spencer and put on to Haslewood, 
 but what there were left were very healthy sights. It 
 is astonishing to anyone who has been used to cram- 
 ming bullocks with oil-cake, hay, and mangolds, before 
 they are fit for the market, to see animals raised en- 
 tirely on grass, with the fat laid on level all over them 
 wherever there is room for it. A mob of seventy bullocks 
 once left Mount Spencer that averaged over 1,000 Ibs. 
 when they were killed, one of them weighing 1,430 Ibs. 
 They were four and five year olds, and the weight was 
 taken as they hung up clean in the butcher's shop. 
 
 5 *
 
 68 PAT CATTLE. 
 
 " Well, Sam," said my brother as we finished a round 
 of the camp, " what do you think of them ? Not a bad 
 lot, are they ? " 
 
 " Very sound," said I. " What are those bullocks 
 worth now ? " 
 
 " Six pound ten delivered at the yard, and heaven 
 send they may stick at it. They 've never been up to 
 that before, around these edges. Look there, at that 
 white one ; he '11 go over a thousand ; and isn't he a 
 plum to look at ? ' 
 
 The animal referred to was a four-year-old bullock, 
 with the head of a heifer on him, and a soft white skin, 
 very deep in the girth, with a broad, level back, on 
 which the fat was laid on to admiration. It struck me 
 that I had seen many worse animals in the show-yards 
 of the old country, and there were several quite as good 
 as him on the camp, 
 
 Climbing off our horses, we sat down on a log, and 
 waited for the others to come up to camp with the rest 
 of the cattle. Our horses were standing lazily brushing 
 away the flies with their tails, with their heads down, and 
 their eyes half shut ; but presently they pricked up their 
 ears and looked up. Following the direction in which 
 they were looking, we saw a long string of cattle in the 
 distance, winding along like a snake through the forest 
 towards the camp. Timothy had fallen in with Rice 
 and the cattle-dealer, and they all three appeared, bring- 
 ing about 400 head of cattle with them. There 
 were now about 1,000 head on the camp, and Frank 
 and Billy declared it was pretty full, that is to say that 
 all the cattle belonging to the district in which it lay 
 were there,
 
 A STOCKMAN'S GIFT. 69 
 
 Nothing is more extraordinary than the knowledge 
 of cattle that those who work constantly among them 
 acquire. A good stockman will go on to a camp where 
 there are 1,000 head of cattle, and in ten minutes time 
 will tell you if there are any missing that should be 
 there. Very likely he has half-a-dozen similar camps 
 in other parts of the run ; but if he has been a year or 
 two on the place, he knows most of the cattle by sight 
 perfectly well. Although a great deal may be done by 
 practice, no one who is not born in the country ever 
 possesses this power to the same extent as a native, 
 with some of whom it is really a remarkable gift. Billy 
 Burgess was a native of Australia, and was generally 
 allowed to be one of the best hands at working cattle 
 in the north. His faculty for remembering cattle was 
 simply astounding. I have seen him come on to a 
 camp where he had not been for two years, and on 
 which there were about 1,200 head of cattle at the 
 time. After riding round the camp amongst the cattle 
 for a little while, he began inquiring from the stockman 
 who was working that part of the run at the time, why 
 such and such a cow or steer was not there, and in 
 every instance he was right. Animals that must have 
 been almost calves when he was last there, he instantly 
 recognised ; in fact, if once he saw a beast, it seemed 
 as if no alteration in its appearance could ever prevent 
 him from identifying it afterwards. 
 
 Having scattered a glance round the Water-hole camp, 
 he said all the bullocks were there that ought to be, and, 
 as it was roasting hot, we left the black boys to mind 
 the camp, and went down to the creek to have a feed, 
 and to give the cattle a spell before we started drafting.
 
 70 "CUTTING-OUT" ON THE CAMP. 
 
 Dinner did not take long, none of us having brought 
 more than a piece of beef and a bit of damper, and most 
 of us had forgotten to bring any at all, and had an extra 
 smoke instead. When we had finished we went back to 
 the camp, and Frank and my brother started drafting out 
 the bullocks, the cattle-dealer riding through the camp 
 and picking the ones that he wanted. Drafting on the 
 camp, or " cutting out " as it is generally called, is a 
 very pretty performance to watch, if it is well done. 
 First of all a small mob is cut off from the main body 
 of the cattle, and driven gently away for a little distance, 
 and then allowed to stand. This is the nucleus of the 
 draft mob ; for no beast will stand still a moment by 
 itself, and one of the hands is told off to watch them. 
 One or two men then ride in among the cattle, and draft 
 out the ones they want, one at a time, while the rest of 
 the hands ride round the camp and keep the cattle from 
 breaking away. Both my brother and Frank were very 
 sound hands at cutting out, and they were both riding 
 first-rate camp -horses, so I watched them at work with 
 the greatest interest. A " camp-horse " is one used for 
 cutting out cattle on a camp, and very few horses are 
 good at it ; but the performance of a really first-class 
 one is a sight worth seeing. Each man picks his beast, 
 and edges him gently to the outside of the mob, on the 
 side of the camp nearest the draft-mob. The instant 
 the animal finds itself cut off from the camp it makes 
 the most desperate efforts to rejoin the herd, and the 
 speed at which a bullock can travel, and the activity 
 with which he turns, are marvellous. 
 
 The timber was pretty thick round the camp, and 
 as I watched my brother it seemed as if he must
 
 "TOBY," THE CAMP-HORSE. 71 
 
 inevitably come to grief; but a good camp-horse is 
 wonderfully smart upon his legs, and goes through the 
 trees like an eel. Away went the bullock round the 
 edge of the camp, my brother, with his reins loose, and 
 his hat on the back of his head, going after it through 
 the timber as if there was no futurity. As he ranges 
 up alongside, the bullock wheels sharp round and gallops 
 back again the way that he came. Toby, the camp- 
 horse, stops dead short, with a violence that would have 
 sent an inexperienced rider ten yards over its head, and 
 is off after the beast again like lightning, following every 
 twist and turn as if he was tied to the bullock's tail with 
 a string, Toby's heart and soul are in the work, 
 and without a word or a touch from his rider he hits 
 out all he knows, to keep the animal from getting back 
 into the camp. This time as he comes up alongside, 
 the bullock lowers his head and charges; but Toby 
 has had a horn in his ribs before now, and avoids the 
 sweep of the bullock's head with marvellous dexterity. 
 For a while the tables are turned, and for a hundred 
 yards or so the bullock hunts Toby; and though 
 the horse is as quick on his legs as a rabbit, a pair of 
 sharp horns are kept quite as near his quarters as is 
 pleasant. Finding that Toby is too quick for him, 
 the bullock turns and gallops back towards the camp. 
 Once more the horse is after him, and turns him back 
 into the Bush ; and this time the bullock gives in, and 
 trots sulkily off to join the draft-mob. 
 
 The cattle-dealer knew his business, and picked out 
 about forty grand-looking bullocks, which pretty well 
 cleaned out the Water-hole camp. On a camp of mixed 
 cattle, of course, it is not very difficult to pick the best
 
 72 THE DEIVE HOME. 
 
 bullocks ; but when there are nothing but bullocks, and per- 
 haps eight or nine hundred of them, it takes a consummate 
 judge to go in and pick the cream of the camp, as he 
 rides through them on his horse. It was past 3 o'clock 
 when we finished drafting, and, as we had twelve miles 
 to drive the cattle home, it looked like taking us all our 
 time to get them in the yard before dark. Fat bullocks 
 are the worst kind of cattle to drive, as they are always 
 inclined to break away, and, of course, have to be driven 
 dreadfully slow, in order to take as little out of them as 
 possible. A long drive home is very tedious after a hard 
 day's ride, and it takes a great deal of patience to pre- 
 vent a man from hurrying the' cattle. The great thing 
 is never to push them too fast at first. If cattle are 
 allowed to start very steady, they will walk quietly along, 
 and by-and-by get over the ground at a very fair pace ; 
 but if they are hustled when they first leave the camp 
 they will not settle down and are certain to be trouble- 
 some all the way home. On the whole, about two or 
 two and a half miles an hour is quite fast enough to 
 drive cattle, and, of course, if they are going to be on the 
 road for some days or weeks they must not be driven 
 nearly so fast. Droving, however that is to say, 
 taking ajnob of cattle on a journey extending, perhaps, 
 over three or four months, is a science of itself, and is 
 a very different thing from merely driving a mob home 
 from the camp to the yards. 
 
 Some of the bullocks had come a long distance to 
 camp in the morning ; so we took them home very 
 slowly, and it was dark before we got within two miles 
 of the station. In a little while, however, the moon got 
 up ; not the sickly, dissipated-looking object that makes
 
 MOONLIGHT. 73 
 
 night hideous in northern latitudes, but a good, useful, 
 healthy sort of moon that rose suddenly, in a circle of 
 ruddy gold, and threw a powerful light over the whole 
 country. 
 
 We looked a very weird sort of procession, as we wound 
 along through the thick, long grass. The huge gums 
 rose up on all sides, giants of the forest, their towering 
 tops meeting high overhead, and their stems, white and 
 ghostly, throwing deep, clear shadows across the bril- 
 liant moonlight. Ahead of the cattle, to prevent them 
 from going too fast, rode one of the black boys, perched 
 on an old white horse, and looking as utterly disreputable 
 as only a black boy can. Behind the mob rode the rest 
 of the men, wild- looking objects begrimed with dust and 
 sweat, their arms bare to the elbow, and each with the 
 battered remains of a broad-brimmed felt hat jammed 
 on the back of his head. Every now and then one of 
 them would drop behind for a hundred yards, and the 
 ruddy light that shortly afterwards illuminated the end 
 of his nose proclaimed him to have stopped to light his 
 pipe, which he dare not do in the vicinity of the cattle. 
 No one spoke. The men rode silently behind the mob, 
 checking instantly the slightest evidence of a wish to 
 break on the part of any of the cattle. They were 
 getting very nervous, and disinclined to go on, as they 
 drew near the yard, and any mistake on the part of the 
 men would have been disastrous. The yard stood on a 
 slight rise about a quarter of a mile from the station, and 
 on the side from which we were approaching them the 
 fences of two paddocks ran out from the gates like wings. 
 
 Suddenly, as the cattle were going up the rise to the 
 yard, three or four ducks got up with a loud clatter out
 
 74 BREAKING AWAY. 
 
 of a small water-hole in one of the paddocks. With a 
 sudden rush the bullocks turned and dashed down the 
 hill, breaking through the line of horsemen, and tearing 
 off into the Bush as if all the fiends were after them. 
 Fortunately the country below the yard was a pretty 
 level plain ; but the timber was thick, and the grass 
 three feet long, and full of fallen trees. To ride full 
 gallop by moonlight over such country seems little short 
 of madness ; but his neck is the last thing that a stock- 
 man ever thinks of, and away we all went after them, 
 as hard as ever our horses could go. A " new chum " 
 on occasions like this is never of the slightest use, and 
 generally very much in the way ; but this time I was 
 saved from doing any mischief by my horse going head 
 over heels into the head of a dead tree in the long grass, 
 before I had gone three hundred yards, and sending me 
 flying. Luckily I was able to catch him before he got 
 clear of the fallen timber. We were neither of us hurt, 
 and in the distance I could hear the men shouting at 
 the cattle, so I cleared out of the way as quickly as I 
 could, to let them come up to the yard again. Fortu- 
 nately the cattle kept together pretty well, and the men 
 were able to round them up on the flat, about half a 
 mile away, and brought them back to the yard with the 
 loss of only three, which got clear away over the creek, 
 where it was useless to follow them. This time they 
 went into the yard without any trouble, and with a sigh 
 of relief we secured the gates, and went down to the 
 station and turned our horses out. Having forgotten to 
 take out with me anything to eat, I was beginning to get 
 hungry, as it was now about 9 o'clock, and I had break- 
 fasted at five in the morning.
 
 DROVING. 75 
 
 During the next few days we were out again every 
 day, and collected about 100 fats ; and some men belong- 
 ing to the cattle-dealer having come up in the mean- 
 time, he started off on the road to Cook-town, over 500 
 miles away to the north. We heard afterwards that 
 he got the bullocks up all right, and made a big profit 
 on them. 
 
 In Australia large mobs of mixed cattle are continually 
 being moved about from one station to another, or to 
 stock outlying country, and fat cattle are often obliged 
 to travel an enormous distance to market. For the 
 Barcoo, and central districts of Queensland and South 
 Australia the best markets are Melbourne and Adelaide, 
 each of them distant about 1,000 miles. Droving, in 
 consequence, becomes a regular profession, and there are 
 numbers of men who make a living, and a very good 
 one too, by nothing else but taking charge of cattle 
 that are travelling from one place to another. To 
 take a mob of a thousand fat bullocks over a thou- 
 sand miles of all sorts of country, and bring them into 
 market in prime condition, is a business involving 
 a great deal of responsibility and care, for although 
 cattle are generally travelled at the owner's risks, of 
 course the drover's reputation depends upon the order 
 in which his cattle reach the end of the journey. A 
 good drover is always in requisition, and the wages of 
 the head man in charge of a mob are generally about 
 4 a week. It is a dog's life, too, a drover's. From 
 daylight to dark he is on horseback, exposed to all 
 kinds of weather, crawling along behind his cattle at the 
 slowest possible rate that is consistent with moving at 
 all. If he averages between four and five miles a day,
 
 76 DEOVING. 
 
 on a long journey, it is quite as fast as his cattle ought 
 to travel. Every day the man in charge rides on 
 ahead of the mob, to pick a place for them to camp 
 at night. Water, of course, is a sine qua now, and he 
 must have reliable information as to the state of road 
 for a hundred miles ahead of him, or he will get his 
 cattle in a terrible fix. Every night the cattle have to 
 be rounded up, and watched on the camp the whole night 
 long. A drover never gets more than four hours 
 sleep at a stretch, and he is lucky if he can get that 
 for the first month his cattle are on the road. 
 
 There is nothing better for a new arrival in the 
 country, who wishes to get colonial experience, than to 
 be sent on the road with a mob of cattle. He will 
 get an insight into the country and its ways, become 
 acquainted with the habits of cattle, get nothing but the 
 plainest possible food, and altogether he will have such 
 a disgustingly bad time, that he will afterwards accept 
 any other sort of work with cheerfulness.
 
 PECfJVINC YANZ> 
 
 YAKJ> 
 
 GROUND PLAN OF A STOCK-YARD.
 
 77 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 LIFE ON THE STATION. 
 
 THREE times a year all the cattle on the run are mus- 
 tered, and passed through the drafting-yards, that the 
 young calves may be branded, and the older ones weaned. 
 
 The cattle belonging to each camp are brought in 
 separately, drafted and turned out again to make room 
 for the next lot, as the yards will only hold about a 
 thousand head comfortably at a time. Mustering is 
 pretty hard work, for, when once you start, you have 
 to stick at it from daylight to dark, Sundays very often 
 included, until it is finished. A general muster at 
 Mount Spencer used to take us a month, and a fortnight 
 after to " clean up." One or two hands from the neigh- 
 bouring stations used generally to come up and help, 
 and look after their own cattle, a good number of 
 which were pretty certain to pass through the yards. 
 
 Drafting cattle in the yards is very good fun, especially 
 if they are at all rowdy, but it is work that requires 
 a good deal of nerve to start with, and long practice 
 before a man becomes a good hand at it. The yards 
 are very strong enclosures of posts and rails, the posts 
 from a foot to sixteen inches thick, set in eight feet 
 apart, and the rails not less than four inches thick and
 
 78 THE DRAFTING-YJLBDS. 
 
 ten inches wide, the top rail being about six feet from 
 the ground. For the purpose of drafting the various 
 classes of cattle, the yards are subdivided according to 
 the accompanying plan. The whole mob are first of 
 all run into one of the big " receiving yards," an enclo- 
 sure about seventy yards long and forty yards broad. 
 The gate leading into " the lane " is then thrown open, 
 and five or six men, each armed with a sapling about 
 six feet long, and a couple of niches thick, go into the 
 receiving yard, and jam the cattle up into the corner 
 against the gate of " the lane," until seventy or eighty 
 have gone through, when the gate is shut. This is 
 called "yarding-up," and is about the most dangerous 
 part of the work ; for if a beast charges a man in the 
 middle of a big yard, he has a very poor chance of 
 getting out of its way. An old hand knows in a moment, 
 from the look of a beast that charges him, whether it 
 is safe for him to stand his ground and turn it with a 
 blow on the nose from his stick, or whether he ought 
 to clear out for the rails. But the instant the cattle 
 begin to move in the yard, the dust becomes something 
 awful. It rises in dense clouds sometimes entirely hiding 
 the cattle from view, getting into one's eyes, nose, and 
 mouth, and mixing with the sweat into a thick black 
 paste, which makes white men and niggers all pretty 
 much the same colour for the time being. I have 
 often seen the dust so bad that we have had to knock 
 off for half an hour to let it settle, as it was perfectly 
 impossible to see to work the cattle. Under cover of 
 the dust it is often hard to see a beast charging, until 
 it is too late to attempt to get out of the way, and then 
 the best thing to do is to lie flat down in front of it,
 
 A CHARGE IN THE YAED. 79 
 
 and in nine cases out of ten it will jump over you and 
 pass on, unless it is a cow, when most likely it will stop, 
 turn round, and horn you as you lie on the ground. 
 When a beast comes tearing out of the mob in an 
 awful hurry, its head down, its tail in the air, and its 
 eye rolling, it is quite safe to stand still. It will pass 
 you with a frightful snort, that gives a new chum 
 rather a queer sensation under the ribs, but hardly 
 makes an old hand smile. But when it comes out 
 rather slowly, with its head in the air, its brisket shaking, 
 and its eye fixed straight upon you, it is time to clear 
 out. The animal means business, and, be it a cow or 
 a bullock, you might as well hope to stop the charge of 
 an express train. It will hunt you for your life, and if 
 you are not up the rails before it can catch you, it will 
 have its horns into you as sure as fate. 
 
 A man running for his life, pursued by an infuriated 
 animal with horns two feet long and as sharp as 
 needles, does not at first sight seem to be a particularly 
 mirthful spectacle. Familiarity, however, breeds con- 
 tempt, and a charge in the yard is always greeted with 
 shouts of laughter from the lookers on, especially if the 
 man who is hunted has a narrow escape. Provided 
 he is not actually hurt, the nearer he is to being horned 
 the funnier everyone thinks it, including the individual 
 himself, who is always ready to join in the laugh the 
 instant that he has got up the rails out of harm's way. 
 Occasionally the best and most experienced hands get 
 caught, and very few men have worked for any length 
 of time amongst Bush cattle without getting a horn 
 into them once or twice. The wound from a beast's 
 horn is always a nasty one, and very bad to heal,
 
 80 BILLY BURGESS. 
 
 and I have known several cases where it has ended 
 fatally. 
 
 The " lane " leads into a small square enclosure 
 called " the pound," from which gates open into five 
 different yards. Behind each gate a man stands, ready 
 to open it when a beast intended for his special yard 
 comes into the pound. Two men work the cattle in the 
 lane, running them into the pound according to their 
 respective classes, calling out "stranger," "weaner," 
 or u calf," as the case may be. The proper gate is open 
 ready for it, before it gets into the pound, and a man 
 stands ready to hurry it through, so that no time is lost. 
 
 In drafting cattle, everything, of course, depends upon 
 the men working in the lane, and there are very few 
 prettier sights than to see a good hand amongst cattle 
 that are inclined to be rowdy. The least nervousness 
 or flurry on the part of the man communicates itself in 
 a marvellous way to the cattle, and makes them per- 
 fectly unmanageable ; while, on the other hand, a man 
 who keeps quite cool and collected, has an extraordinary 
 influence over the animals which he is working. 
 
 One of our stockmen, Billy Burgess, was reckoned to 
 be about the best hand in the yards in the north of 
 Queensland, and, certainly, the whole time I was in the 
 country, I never saw anyone who could hold a candle to 
 him. No one ever saw him in a hurry, but he would 
 draft more cattle in an hour than most men would in 
 two. While other men were shouting, and swearing, 
 and running for their lives, he would stand perfectly 
 still, watching the cattle with an amused smile on his 
 face, and seeming to know by instinct exactly how far 
 he could trust them. To an outsider, the power he
 
 ROWDY CATTLE. 81 
 
 possessed over cattle seemed little short of mesmerism ; 
 but in reality it was only the result of years of expe- 
 rience and work amongst them, combined with an ex- 
 cellent temper and iron nerves. 
 
 In or out of the yards he knew every beast on the 
 run by sight, and was never at a loss for a moment 
 when he was drafting. A furious charge from an animal 
 that would send most men flying up the rails, seldom 
 elicited more than a gentle remonstrance of, " Steady, 
 old man ! where are you coming to now ? " from Billy, 
 and perhaps a tap on the nose from his stick if its 
 horns went rather nearer to him than he considered 
 good manners. But if a beast meant mischief, no one 
 knew it sooner, and he took care to put himself out of 
 harm's way. If the animal was more than usually 
 vicious he would wait his opportunity, and give it a 
 blow just behind the horns with infinite precision, 
 which would bring it blundering on to its knees, and, 
 without killing it, leave it sick and stupid for the rest 
 of the day. 
 
 It does not require at all a heavy blow to stun a 
 beast, if laid on in the right place, just on the " pith " 
 of the neck, behind the horns. I have seen a full- 
 grown bullock drop in its tracks, as dead as a herring, 
 from a blow with a stick no thicker than a man's 
 finger. 
 
 The rowdiest cattle, as a rule, are bullocks, and the 
 quietest of all, in or out of the yards, are bulls ; but a 
 cow, if she is rowdy, is the worst of all. It is a curious 
 thing, however, that the quietest of bullocks will become 
 absolutely infuriated, and charge anything and every- 
 thing he can see, if he is shut up alone in a yard for 
 
 6
 
 82 A HIGH JUMP. 
 
 a little while. A bullock bred and raised in the Bush, 
 though he may be as fat as a pig, is a very different 
 animal to the sleepy creatures that one meets on their 
 way to an English market, driven by a couple of small 
 boys and a dog. He is as quick on his legs as a rabbit, 
 and for a few furlongs it takes a good horse to get 
 away from him, and, moreover, as a rule, he can jump 
 like a deer. 
 
 One day my brother was drafting in " the lane," and 
 I was working " the pound." I had just turned a beast 
 back into the lane, and was going back through the 
 gate, when my brother sang out, " Stranger ! clear out, 
 or he '11 have you ! " Looking round I saw a great 
 hard-skinned white bullock belonging to the next station, 
 with horns about a yard long, just behind me. He 
 was charging up the lane full gallop, and as I sprang 
 through the gate-way and turned aside, he made a sweep 
 at me which just grazed my ribs, but, fortunately, did 
 no damage beyond tearing my shirt. Without the least 
 hesitation, the brute went straight at the opposite fence 
 of the pound, six feet high, and got over without a- fall, 
 though he hit the top rail hard with every leg he had. 
 The performance was the more astonishing as he had 
 not a very long run, and what there was of it up the 
 lane was slightly up-hill. We ran him round again, 
 and into the lane, as he had jumped into the wrong 
 yard. The next time he came up we all let him alone 
 to see what he would do. He came full tilt up the lane 
 as usual, looking for someone to kill, and when he got 
 into the pound, he turned sharp to the right, pulled 
 himself together, and going straight for the gate at the 
 far end of the pound, five feet six high, he cleared it
 
 SCENE IN THE YARD. 83 
 
 without a mistake. After this performance we con- 
 cluded to leave him alone until we had finished drafting. 
 In some yards it is the fashion to leave a big post, 
 or the stump of a tree about four feet high in the middle 
 of the big yard, so as to afford a shelter for anyone 
 who is charged and has no time to get to the rails at 
 the side. We had nothing of the kind at Mount 
 Spencer; but I remember a most ludicrous scene at 
 Gracemere, a station near Rockhampton, where there 
 was one of these harbours of refuge in the middle of 
 the yard. Seven or eight men were yarding up a mob 
 of cattle, when suddenly an old cow came out and 
 charged in a most business-like manner. Five men all 
 ran for their lives for the post. The first who got there, 
 of course, was all right ; but there was only room for 
 one, so the next man had to hang on to the belt of the 
 man in front, and so on, till the whole five were ex- 
 tended in a row. The cow charged, and, of course, no 
 one could tell which side of the post she would pass, so 
 it was not until she was within a few feet that the 
 human tail swung round out of her way, a yell of terror 
 escaping from the last two men, as the brute's horns 
 passed within an inch of them. Quick as lightning the 
 cow turned and charged again, and again the end of 
 the tail had a narrow escape. Four times the cow 
 charged, four times the tail swept round, their howls of 
 anguish mingling with shouts of laughter from the men 
 on the rails who were looking on. Anything more 
 ridiculous than the whole scene cannot possibly be 
 imagined. The last man at the end was very fat, and 
 very nervous, and had no business in a yard at all. He 
 was evidently getting weak with terror and exhaustion, 
 
 6 *
 
 84 "TAILING" CATTLE. 
 
 so a diversion was made by those on the rails, and, the 
 cow having been induced to charge someone else, the 
 men in the middle of the yard were enabled to leave 
 their post and make for the rails. 
 
 When the cattle are run through the yards in a 
 general muster, all the calves that are old enough to 
 wean are picked out. They are then " tailed," as it is 
 called, for several weeks ; that is to say, they are let out 
 in a mob in the day-time to feed, and carefully watched 
 by one or two hands, to see that none get away, and 
 that no strange cattle mix with them, and shut up in a 
 small paddock every night. Of course, the object of every- 
 one in working a cattle-station is to get all the cattle 
 as quiet as possible, and nothing has such an excellent 
 effect in quieting a whole herd as tailing the weaners 
 when they are young. But of all occupations that fall 
 to the Bushman's lot, it is probably the most irksome. 
 
 Shepherding sheep is bad enough, and the asylums 
 are three parts full of idiot shepherds, whose reason has 
 succumbed to the dreariness of their lives ; but for a 
 short time it is infinitely preferable to tailing a mob of 
 weaners. A man who is looking after sheep can, at all 
 events, enjoy long intervals of perfect repose, during 
 which, if he likes, he can lie on his back and read a 
 book. But a mob of weaners will never give him an 
 instant's peace. Without being at all interesting, their 
 habits are extremely irritating. They never know 
 exactly where they want to go, or what they want to do, 
 but the one thing they will not do is to keep still and 
 feed sensibly. Out of a thousand weaners you may 
 possibly induce nine hundred and ninety-nine to lie 
 down round a water-hole for an hour in the middle of
 
 J AC KAROOS. 85 
 
 the day. But the remaining one is certain to keep on 
 the move the whole time, walking off into the Bush, 
 first one way and then another, so that you never have 
 a spell. If you get off your horse for a drink, the whole 
 mob will probably pretend they never saw a man on foot 
 before in their lives, and make a wild stampede. For- 
 tunately, it is an occupation that does not last long ; for 
 a continuance of it at the best of times would drive the 
 most sane man out of his mind, and in wet, cold weather 
 it is simply deadly. However, it is very necessary and 
 very useful work, though everyone shirks it who can, 
 and a " new chum," if one can be found, is invariably 
 selected for the duty. 
 
 A great many young men who go out to the colony 
 with the view of following stock-growing as a profession, 
 make a grave error in not making themselves fully 
 acquainted with all the details connected with the work- 
 ing of a station. Of course, before starting on their 
 own account to work a station, they go into the Bush to 
 gain colonial experience, during which process they are 
 known in the colony as " Jackaroos." Especially on a 
 cattle- station, the Jackaroo very soon discovers that a 
 great deal of the work is very pleasant. He goes into 
 the yard every morning and catches his horse, rides 
 round the run with the stockman, camps out when 
 required, and lends a hand to draft and brand at the 
 general muster, and generally has a very good time. 
 The consequence is, at the end of a couple of years he 
 knows very little more about the management of a cattle- 
 station than he did when he started, and probably labours 
 under the additional disadvantage of imagining that he 
 knows a great deal.
 
 86 VALUE OF PEACTICAL EXPERIENCE. 
 
 The efficiency of the manager of a cattle -station de- 
 pends largely upon his being a good judge of other 
 men's work ; and it is impossible for him to be this, 
 unless he has actually performed the work himself. It 
 is not enough to sit on a rail and watch another man 
 breaking-in a horse or a milking-cow. However good 
 a hand he may be, you will learn much more by helping 
 him than by watching him. One of the largest items 
 of expenditure on every station is always fencing, and 
 the manager should be thoroughly able to form an esti- 
 mate of how much it ought to cost. It is nearly always 
 done by contract, and, of course, the price at which a 
 contractor will put up fencing varies enormously accord- 
 ing to the nature of the country. An old hand riding 
 through the forest with a tomahawk, and cutting a chip 
 out of a tree here and there to try if it will work freely, 
 can tell to a nicety at what price it will pay him to 
 split posts and rails and any other class of timber that 
 may be required. But this experience is only gained by 
 practical work, by felling trees and splitting them up 
 with a maul and wedges oneself. The manager of a 
 station ought always to be a thorough judge of timber- 
 getting in all its branches, for it is a part of his yearly 
 expenditure where experience and judgment will enable 
 him to save largely. It is pretty hard work to pull a 
 cross-cut saw and swing a heavy maul all day, with a 
 vertical sun and the thermometer up to 110 in the 
 shade, and it requires a good constitution to stand it. 
 But if a man is thoroughly sound, the harder he works 
 in Australia the better health he will have, and it is 
 odd if he does not look back to the time when he was 
 splitting rails for ten hours a day as one of the happiest
 
 SPLITTING TIMBER. 87 
 
 in his life. It is not a very intellectual employment, 
 certainly. Still, it must be an unfortunate nature to 
 which perfect health does not bring the keenest pleasure, 
 in a climate like that of Australia. 
 
 It is pleasant to set out to work in the morning, 
 after eight hours of such sleep as none but men who 
 work hard ever enjoy. The sun is just rising, and there 
 is- not a breath of wind, but the air feels as cool and 
 fresh as iced champagne. The tools have been 
 " planted " under a sheet of bark by the big tree which 
 you felled overnight ; so you have nothing to carry but 
 a pipe, and as the blue smoke curls round your lips, 
 mingled with the fragrant scent of the gum-trees and 
 blood- wood flowers, you decide that certainly the first 
 pipe after breakfast is the most thoroughly enjoyable of 
 any. By the time that you have got to your work you 
 are wet through up to the knees, and it is just cold 
 enough to make you very glad to roll up your sleeves 
 and start in with a will to work yourself dry. This does 
 not take long, and as the sun rises and makes himself 
 felt, it does not take long to work yourself damp again. 
 If you are wise you will not drink much in the morning, 
 for if you once start you will be thirsty all day. With 
 a cheery mate, and an occasional spell of five minutes 
 for a smoke, the morning does not seem very long, and 
 the sun fair overhead, combined with certain internal 
 sensations, warns you that it is time to knock off and 
 boil the " billy " for dinner. Every meal in the Bush 
 is, if possible, accompanied by a brew of tea; and, 
 though it may seem strange, when you have worked 
 yourself up to boiling-point under a grilling sun, there 
 is nothing in the world so refreshing as a pannikin of
 
 88 WELL-EAENED EEPOSE. 
 
 very hot tea, not too strong, with not too much sugar 
 and without any milk. Refreshed with a square meal 
 of salt beef and damper, which is of all forms of bread 
 the sweetest and most easily digested if it is properly 
 made, you start in again, with a firm determination to 
 raise a good " tally " by the end of the day. As the 
 sun gets low, a hundred sound rails nine feet long bear 
 witness that your day's work has been an honest one. 
 A pleasant feeling of languor, which cannot be called 
 fatigue, makes you very glad to get home, and a wash 
 in the creek brings a sensation of perfect strength and 
 soundness into every fibre and muscle of your body, un- 
 known to those who have not worked hard in the 
 healthiest climate in the world. Supper ended, you 
 pitch a fresh log on the fire to make a blaze, and, stretch- 
 ing your limbs full length on a 'possum-rug, prepare to 
 devour the last number of the Australasian, a paper 
 which, for general interest and information, was never 
 surpassed. A fresh pipe lighted with a fire-stick, just 
 as the stars are coming out, makes you forget the sweet- 
 ness of the morning air ; and for the hundredth time 
 you tell yourself that tobacco never tastes so nice as in 
 the cool of the evening, after a real sound day's work 
 splitting rails.
 
 89 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 PLAGUES AND PLEASURES OF THE BUSH. 
 
 EMUS are still plentiful in the downs country, and 
 occasionally we used to come across a straggler that had 
 wandered on to the timbered country of our run. Quite 
 a young one appeared once, in a little open plain on the 
 opposite side of the lagoon from the house. With the 
 help of several blacks, after a tremendous chase, we ran 
 it down, and brought it home intending to tame it. 
 
 It was only about two feet high, and could not have 
 been more than six weeks old ; but the way it ran before 
 we caught it made us think it must be tired, so we shut 
 it up in a stable about twenty feet square. The instant 
 that we put it down it began to run round and round 
 the stable as hard as it could go. My brother suggested 
 that this might be nervousness, and that perhaps it did 
 not like strangers looking at it. So we left it for an 
 hour quite alone. When we came back it was running 
 round harder than ever, with its mouth open and its 
 wings hanging down. Frank declared that young 
 emus always acted like that when they were having 
 a good time, but its appearance was anything but 
 joyful. Three hours after it was still running round, 
 and it never stopped till it fell down dead four hours and
 
 90 EMU OIL. 
 
 a half after we first shut it up, during which time I am 
 certain it must have travelled over forty miles. 
 
 The speed and the endurance possessed by a full- 
 grown emu are perfectly incredible to anyone who has 
 not tried the experiment of running one down. The 
 only way is to make a dash at them, and try and come 
 up with them in the first spurt, for if they once get their 
 second wind very few horses will ever catch them. They 
 straggle along in the most ungainly fashion, looking all 
 the time as if they were dead-beat, and were going to 
 drop with exhaustion, but the way in which they get 
 over the ground is quite astonishing. I once rode a 
 very good horse five miles on end across the downs after 
 an emu as hard as we could go, but no efforts could 
 diminish the distance between us. The bird kept 
 about ten yards in front of me the whole way, and 
 finally escaped into a patch of scrub. Their bones 
 contain the celebrated oil very much in favour among 
 the blacks for curing swollen joints and sprained sinews. 
 None but full-grown men whose frames are thoroughly 
 set ever use it, for they declare that it has the effect of 
 softening anyone's bones who has not arrived at 
 maturity. The penetrating qualities of the oil are cer- 
 tainly very remarkable, for if it is placed in a glass 
 bottle a portion of it will always sweat through the 
 glass and escape. 
 
 The birds themselves are easily tamed if they are 
 caught quite young. In their wild state they are 
 mischievous where there is much fencing about, as 
 they seem to take a delight in breaking down the 
 wires. 
 
 Many people, whose ideas of Australia are chiefly
 
 SNAKES. 91 
 
 gathered from representations of the traditional bush- 
 ranger in the illustrated periodicals, imagine that the 
 inhabitants of the country are invariably arrayed in 
 enormous long boots half way up their thighs, to protect 
 them from the attacks of snakes and other deadly 
 reptiles. There never was a greater delusion. The 
 whole time that I was in the Bush I never in my life saw 
 a man with long boots on, unless he was a very recent 
 arrival in the country.. The fact is that long boots in a 
 country where you have often to camp out are the 
 greatest mistake. In cold weather you cannot pull 
 them off, and in wet weather if you pull them off you 
 can never get them on again. As for taking the 
 slightest precaution to guard against being bitten by a 
 snake, I never knew anyone who did it after the first 
 week in the Bush. It is impossible to live in a state of 
 chronic apprehension. The feeling is bound to wear 
 off, and, after riding about the Bush for some time, the 
 most nervous man discovers that snakes, as a rule, are 
 quite as anxious to avoid a rencontre as he is himself, 
 and very soon he ceases to trouble his head about them 
 until he happens to see one. 
 
 In some localities, as, for instance, the cane-fields of 
 Mackay, or the reed-beds on the Murray river, snakes 
 are so plentiful that it is necessary to be extremely 
 cautious. But generally, all over the Bush, especially 
 in Queensland, it is curious how seldom one stumbles 
 upon one. In Queensland there are five deadly kinds, 
 the black snake, the brown snake, the tiger snake, the 
 diamond snake, and the death-adder. Of these the 
 black and the brown are the commonest ; the latter 
 sometimes reaching a length of eight or nine feet. The
 
 92 UNDERWOOD'S ANTIDOTE. 
 
 bite of any of these varieties is sufficient to cause death 
 within a few hours, unless the proper remedies are 
 applied at once, but by far the worst is the death-adder. 
 It has this peculiarity, that, unlike all other snakes, it 
 does not attempt to move out of anyone's way, but lies 
 quite still until it is touched, when it fastens with 
 a spring upon its victim. Its bite is by far the most 
 deadly of all Australian snakes, and, with the exception 
 of Underwood's celebrated performance, I never knew 
 a well-authenticated instance of recovery from it. 
 
 Deaths from snake-bite are not uncommon, especially 
 among the Kanakas who work in the cane-fields. The 
 best known remedies are injection of ammonia, and 
 large quantities of brandy taken internally. 
 
 Undoubtedly the man Underwood, above alluded to, 
 was the possessor of a perfectly efficacious antidote to 
 the bite of any Australian snake. He gave a series of 
 performances in which he used to allow the most deadly 
 snakes to bite him, afterwards applying some remedy, 
 the nature of which was known only to himself. There 
 can be no sort of doubt that the reptiles which he 
 employed were perfectly healthy, and in full possession 
 of their poisonous faculties. 
 
 The second bite of any snake is always less poisonous 
 than the first, as some time is required to secrete a full 
 supply of the venom which has been partially exhausted 
 in the first bite. But dogs and rabbits which were 
 bitten immediately after Underwood by the same snakes, 
 died very shortly, which conclusively proves the genuine 
 nature of his experiments. Indeed, the most convincing 
 proof of all was the death of the unfortunate man 
 himself. Having one day allowed a snake to bite him,
 
 BLACK SPIDERS. 93 
 
 while he was himself under the influence of liquor, 
 he forgot where to find his own antidote, and died from 
 the effects of the bite. He demanded .10,000 from the 
 Victorian Government as the price of his discovery, 
 which they refused to pay, so his secret perished with 
 him. 
 
 Almost as deadly in its effects as any snake, and far 
 more dangerous in its habits, is a small black spider, 
 about the size of a large pea, with a brilliant crimson 
 mark on its back. It lives mostly in old timber, but 
 frequently it takes up its abode in an inhabited house, 
 and, far from having any fear of man, it does not wait 
 to be provoked before attacking him. Its bite, unlike 
 that of a snake, causes the most intense agony, and 
 the after effects are very bad. Death is by no means 
 an uncommon result, but more frequently the victim 
 becomes hopelessly insane, or paralysed. I killed 
 several of them at odd times in my room, and once, 
 while on the diggings, I was unfortunate enough to 
 get a bite from one. I was camped in front of the 
 fire, and, just as it got light, I sat up and kicked 
 the blanket off. As I did so I felt a sharp pain in 
 the calf of my leg, and looking down I saw one of 
 these little black devils on it. I killed it instantly, 
 and reaching out my hand for a knife, I took up the 
 piece of my leg where the bite was, between the finger 
 and thumb of my left hand, and cut it clean out. 
 I had always some ammonia with me, and I rubbed 
 a quantity of that in. Certainly not more than ten 
 seconds elapsed between the time I was bitten, and 
 when I cut the piece out. But my leg got very bad. 
 The pain for days afterwards was intense, and after
 
 94 THE FLY-PEST. 
 
 that, the whole leg swelled and became soft like dough. 
 The place itself turned into a running sore, about an 
 inch deep, which did not heal for four months after- 
 wards. Centipedes and scorpions are common enough, 
 and the bite of either of them is painful, but not 
 dangerous to anyone who is in a good state of health. 
 The real pests of the Bush are flies. Mosquitoes 
 and sand-flies are bad enough, but after a time one 
 gets used to them, and, after all, they do not come out 
 much except at night, and are very local annoyances, 
 some places being almost entirely free from them. 
 But I defy the most philosophical of men to get used 
 to flies. On the coast they are only troublesome for 
 a few months in the year, during the autumn. But 
 in the interior they are always bad, and really some- 
 times they make life almost intolerable. In the western 
 country no one ever rides about in fly-time without 
 wearing a veil. As I write now I can almost fancy I 
 am in the middle of them again. One falls into the ink, 
 crawls out again nearly drowned, tumbles with a flop 
 on to the paper on which I am writing, and, rolling over 
 on to its back, whirls round and round in a death-flurry, 
 leaving an archipelago of ink-blots on the paper. A 
 savage dip of the pen into the ink-pot, the result of 
 suppressed irritation, harpoons the corpse of another 
 one, and discloses the interesting fact that the bottom 
 of the ink-pot is full of dead flies that have fallen in 
 and never got out again. Four in each eye, three 
 inside my shirt, two in each nostril, one glued firmly 
 to my under lip, entirely unmoved by the language 
 that is flying past it, thousands on my hands and arms, 
 and several crawling pensively over the most sensitive
 
 THE SOLTTAEY FLY. 95 
 
 portion of my ear, oh ! what on earth do they want ? 
 I would give them anything to eat or drink if they 
 seemed to want it, but they do not. They simply come 
 for the fun of crawling about, like people go to look at 
 the wicket at a cricket-match between the innings, from 
 conceited curiosity. Far from being a plague to which 
 one grows accustomed, the annoyance of flies is one 
 which gets worse and worse the longer that one has to 
 endure it. It is a kind of cumulative irritant, which has 
 the effect of making a man feel more entirely wicked 
 than anything else in the world. Millions of flies are 
 bad enough, but I am not at all sure that one fly which 
 you cannot kill is not worse. The combined attack of 
 a large number produces a sensation of general dis- 
 comfort and irritation which is very hard to bear, but 
 the deeper feelings of one's nature remain untouched. 
 It is reserved for the solitary and persevering fly to call 
 forth the wildest passion and the bitterest personal 
 animosity of which the human breast is capable. There 
 is no mistake about which fly it was that crawled up 
 your nose and caused you to let fall your favourite 
 pipe in a spasm of facial agony, and break it to pieces 
 on the floor. There is only one. There is not another 
 near you for miles. He is always bad at any time, but 
 pray earnestly that the Solitary Fly may never attack 
 you after dark, just when you have lit the lamp and are 
 preparing for a quiet read and a smoke. If he does he 
 will break everything in the room; at least, he will 
 make you, which comes to the same thing. Having 
 smashed your pipe, an injury which he knows you will 
 resent deeply, he settles in a conspicuous position on 
 the edge of the mantel-piece, not on the clock, but near
 
 96 FUTILE FURY. 
 
 it, and remains perfectly still. As you sit down again 
 with a fresh pipe, the idea is certain to suggest itself 
 that now he is so quiet, it is a splendid opportunity to 
 finish him. There is sure to be a towel, or a coat, 
 or something handy, left there by your evil genius to 
 lure you on to ruin. Seizing the towel, and laying your 
 pipe carefully down for fear of accidents, you rise 
 cautiously up, keeping an eye on the fly all the time. 
 If absolute immobility means anything, he does not 
 see you coming. His indifference is, if anything, just 
 a little overdone. You do not notice it at the time, 
 in your excitement, but afterwards it occurs to you 
 that no fly ever sat as still as that, except with some 
 diabolical purpose. 
 
 Fury nerves your arm, and the towel descends upon 
 the mantel-piece with a violence that throws a transient 
 uncertainty over the fate of the fly, but leaves no sort 
 of doubt about the clock, which is hurled into the fire- 
 place, and lies there a hopeless wreck. The towel was 
 longer than you thought it was, that is all, and two 
 china ornaments, after rocking doubtfully backwards 
 and forwards once or twice, roll suddenly over the edge, 
 and commit suicide by the remains of the clock. The 
 ruin is so complete, that you are encouraged to hope 
 that your enemy has perished in the midst of it. Once 
 more you sit down, and the few minutes of peace that 
 succeed would be heaven, if it were not for the uncer- 
 tainty that still surrounds the fate of the fly. Just 
 as you are beginning to allow yourself to hope that 
 your troubles are over, small cold damp feet planted 
 on the back of your neck remind you that your adversary 
 is not only not dead, but inclined to be quite as brutally
 
 BUSH-FIRES. 97 
 
 annoying as ever. You had better give in. He will 
 settle on the lamp next, and you will certainly smash 
 it to pieces in trying to kill him ; so you may just as 
 well put it out at once, and go to bed. 
 
 About the end of July, on the coast, bush-fires begin, 
 and go on all August and September. The grass grows 
 very rank and long in many places, and is much im- 
 proved by being burnt off every year. It is a great 
 object to get the whole of one's run burnt every year, 
 but it is also very important to avoid getting the 
 whole of it swept at the same time. In order to 
 guard against this, the parts of it that will burn first 
 are set fire to as soon as they are ready. Directly the 
 first shower falls these parts are immediately covered 
 with beautiful young grass, " burnt feed " as it is called, 
 which grows with wonderful rapidity. When the whole 
 country is burning in patches for miles round, it is a 
 very pretty sight to see the fire at night creeping up the 
 sides of the mountains, the whole outline of a range 
 sometimes being marked by a long line of fire against 
 the steel blue of the sky. A considerable rise in the 
 normal temperature, of course, takes place in a district 
 where large bush-fires are burning, and the atmosphere 
 for weeks at a time is hazy with smoke. But to anyone 
 who has seen a bush -fire, at any rate in Queensland, 
 the wild stories of men on horseback, and herds of wild 
 animals, flying for their lives before the advancing 
 flames, become the merest fables. 
 
 I never saw a bush-fire, even when backed up by a 
 strong wind, that one could not walk away from, with 
 the greatest ease ; and even when the grass was three 
 or four feet long, I never saw one that one could not, 
 
 7
 
 98 FLIGHT-SHOOTING. 
 
 with equal ease, walk straight through on to the black- 
 ened country beyond. In Victoria and New South 
 Wales the danger of a bush-fire is much increased by 
 the fact that the tops of the trees burn as well as the 
 grass, and the flames are carried away from one to the 
 other with considerable rapidity, if there is a high wind 
 blowing at the time. But unless deprived of his senses 
 by terror, no one but the most stupid man could contrive 
 to be killed by a bush-fire. 
 
 In the dry weather, as the small lagoons and water- 
 holes scattered all over the country get low and dried 
 up, large numbers of every kind of wild ducks con- 
 gregate on the big lagoon in front of Mount Spencer 
 station. In the evenings we used to have some very 
 good flight-shooting, one of us standing on each side 
 of the lagoon, at a point in the middle where it narrowed 
 down to a neck only about a hundred yards wide, 
 opening out again beyond into a second large lagoon, 
 or rather a swamp, between which and the main water 
 the ducks used to fly backwards and forwards just about 
 sundown. But by far the best duck-shooting, and 
 indeed the best shooting of any kind that I ever saw 
 in Australia, was down on the Pioneer river, which 
 literally swarmed with ducks from October to January. 
 
 One day, towards the end of November, eight of us set 
 off, with a gun apiece, and several niggers to drive, a 
 spring-cart keeping in our tracks to bring along the 
 ducks which we bagged. There are about ten duck- 
 drives on the river, each from a mile to a mile and a 
 half in length, and it takes two days to work it all 
 properly. 
 
 Arrived at the first station, we hung our horses up
 
 DUCK-DRIVING ON THE PIONEER. 99 
 
 some distance from the bank, and stationed ourselves 
 in a line across the bed of the river, which just there 
 was full of rocky islands covered with bushes. On 
 each side the banks rose up to a great height, so that 
 there was no fear of any ducks that the niggers might 
 put up leaving the river. They all came in twos and 
 threes, and small mobs, beautiful " rocketers " right 
 over our heads, as pretty shooting as one would wish 
 to see. I know nothing pleasanter, on a broiling hot 
 day, than to stand up to one's knees in the cool clear 
 running water, or sit down on a shady rock, with a 
 pipe of nigger- head in full swing, knocking over the 
 ducks as they come overhead. Let those who like 
 extol the pleasure of walking up your game. For 
 myself, I infinitely prefer the delights of driving, which 
 combines the joy of anticipation, the additional satis- 
 faction of shooting a bird that is flying as fast as it 
 can instead of flapping, and the inestimable advantage 
 of sitting perfectly still oneself. There is no lack of 
 variety in the shooting on the Pioneer, and the bag 
 at the end of the day is certain to contain at least 
 five different kinds of ducks. 
 
 How many ducks eight good shots would bag in the 
 two days it is very difficult to say. My brother was 
 not with us on this occasion, and I can confidently 
 declare that I never saw seven worse shots. My own 
 was by no means a satisfactory performance, and I 
 do not think I got more shots than anyone else, but 
 out of one hundred and seventeen ducks which we 
 killed in one day, I myself shot sixty- three, and ought 
 to have shot a great many more. Of course, numbers 
 are lost. In the middle of a drive one cannot stop 
 
 7 *
 
 100 ALLIGATOBS. 
 
 to pick them up ; and besides the winged ones which 
 escape, many which fall into the stream are carried 
 out into the deep pools, where it is most unsafe to 
 follow them, on account of the numerous alligators 
 which haunt the river. These brutes breed on the 
 banks, and I remember once coming upon a nest that 
 had just hatched. The young ones had shuffled into 
 the water for the first time, and were paddling about 
 in the most awkward way, some on their sides, and 
 some on their backs, learning how to swim. The old 
 one was there, lying close to the bank, in about three 
 feet of perfectly clear water. She never attempted to 
 move until I got a long pole and jobbed her on the 
 back with it, when she crawled sulkily off into the black 
 depths of the pool. 
 
 In crossing the Fitzroy river at Yaamba I once had 
 a narrow escape of being " scruffed " by an alligator. 
 There was a fresh in the river at the time, and the water 
 was very muddy and thick. The crossing was about 
 a hundred yards wide, and the water just up to the 
 saddle-flaps. When I got within about ten yards of 
 the opposite bank, iny horse made a roll and a plunge 
 forward, sending his head right under water. I thought, 
 of course, that he had stumbled over a log; but a 
 moment after the head of an enormous alligator 
 appeared close to my leg. His jaws were open, and 
 he made a snap which took effect on my horse's belly, 
 the two upper teeth of the brute leaving two clean deep 
 cuts about four inches long. This had the effect of 
 considerably hastening my horse's exit from the water, 
 but it had exactly the opposite effect on the animal that 
 a man was riding some twenty yards behind me.
 
 TOO NEAR TO BE PLEASANT. 101 
 
 Evidently it had caught sight of the alligator, for it 
 remained rooted to the spot, shaking and snorting with 
 terror, and absolutely refusing to move one way or the 
 other. The apprehensions of its rider were, if anything, 
 even more acute, and his appearance was a perfect study, 
 as he knelt up on the highest point of his saddle, 
 tucking his feet under him, and trying to make himself 
 as small as possible. He had no whip, and would have 
 died sooner than put one of his feet down to use his 
 spurs ; so he did nothing but shout and swear at his 
 horse, which had the effect of terrifying it more than ever. 
 Every moment I expected, and so did he, to see the 
 alligator's head alongside of him ; but, strange to say, 
 though it was at least five minutes before his horse 
 would move, it never appeared again until just as he 
 was safe ashore. 
 
 The Fitzroy is the most southern water in Australia 
 in which alligators are found, but from there up to 
 Cape York the rivers and creeks are full of them. 
 Why they are called alligators no one knows, for the 
 formation of their jaws and the shape of their head 
 distinctly prove them to be crocodiles. They have a 
 great fancy for dogs in the way of food when they 
 can get them ; but their diet extends over a varied 
 range, from a full-grown cow to a paving-stone. On 
 one of the plantations on the Pioneer an alligator 
 was seen to perform a feat which gives some idea of 
 the enormous strength which these brutes possess. 
 The milking cows belonging to the plantation used to 
 go down every morning to the river to drink. The 
 bank was rather steep, and the water just there 
 deepened very quickly. As one of the cows was
 
 102 A COW DBOWNED BY AN ALLIGATOB. 
 
 standing drinking, with her fore-legs in the water, an 
 alligator came up and caught her by the nose, and, 
 in spite of the animal's struggles, held firmly on, and 
 succeeded in dragging her down into the depths of the 
 pool. The incline of the bank was, of course, in the 
 reptile's favour, and no doubt terror deprived the cow 
 partly of her strength ; but, anyway, the pair of them 
 disappeared, and the cow never was seen again. 
 
 With regard to the paving- stones, no one knows 
 whether they are taken in for ballast, or to assist 
 digestion, or to fill a vacuum caused by hunger ; but 
 it is a very common thing to find half-a-dozen stones, 
 each double the size of a man's fist, in the stomach of 
 an alligator. 
 
 Down at the end of the run, at a place called Blue 
 Mountain, about fourteen miles from Mount Spencer, 
 there were a quantity of wild pigs, and we had long been 
 meditating a pig-sticking excursion. No one had ever 
 tried to import this kind of sport into Australia before. 
 There are plenty of wild pigs in some parts ; but the 
 country in which they are found is so rough, it looks 
 almost like suicide to ride after them. However, one 
 has to ride after cattle in just the same country ; and 
 there is no more reason why one should break one's neck 
 riding after a pig than after a bullock, seeing one goes 
 just as fast as the other. 
 
 My brother had written home to me that he thought 
 there was some healthy fun to be got out of the pigs on 
 Blue Mountain flats, so I brought out three of Thorn- 
 hill's spears with me, and on my way through Singapore 
 I collected some bamboos for shafts. Armed with a 
 spear apiece, Rice and my brother and I set out one
 
 PIG- STICKING. 103 
 
 day, towards the end of August, to try our luck. It was 
 the wrong time of year, as the grass was fearfully 
 long ; but we had been so busy, and had to put it off so 
 often, we would not wait any more, and took the first 
 spare time that we could get. We camped over-night 
 at the hut at Blue Mountain, a small out-station with a 
 horse-paddock and a yard, and early next morning we 
 sallied out on to the neighbouring flats to look for the 
 pigs. 
 
 The country was heavily timbered, and the grass 
 everywhere from two to three feet long, and in some 
 places four or five. Any quantity of fallen trees and 
 dead timber were scattered about, but there were no 
 stones, and the country was pretty free from blind 
 gullies, and, barring the long grass, it was not a bad 
 place for galloping. We had not to look long for our 
 game. Sneaking quietly across a small creek, as we 
 emerged on the opposite bank, we came right upon a 
 mob of eleven pigs, and amongst them two enormous 
 boars. The instant they saw us, they tried to make 
 for the bank of the creek, but with a wild yell we 
 charged at them, and succeeded in cutting them off 
 from the creek and turning them back on to the flat. 
 Away we went after them, and, neglecting the small fry, 
 my brother and I singled out one of the boars, and Eice 
 pursued the other. For about half a mile the pace was 
 excellent, and the fallen timber made it very lively. 
 
 My brother and I were rapidly coming up with 
 our pig, when suddenly he disappeared into a gully. 
 He was out the other side and away again in a moment ; 
 but we had to make a slight round to cross the gully, 
 which gave him a bit of a start again. The country
 
 104 BOUGH COUNTRY STICKING ON. 
 
 was pretty open the other side, so we could hit out like 
 anything, and once more we were close on to the boar, 
 who was getting about played out, when in crossing a 
 patch of long grass my horse went head over heels over 
 a fallen tree, and sent me flying over his head. Neither 
 of us were hurt, but, of course, my horse cleared out for 
 home, with his tail in the air, as every Australian horse 
 does the instant it parts with its rider ; so I picked up my 
 spear, and set off after my brother as hard as I could 
 to see the fun. A few hundred yards further on, he 
 came alongside the boar and speared him in the neck. 
 The brute turned sharp round and rushed between 
 his horse's legs, almost upsetting it. My brother 
 pulled up, and the boar promptly charged again ; 
 whereupon his horse, which had never been at close 
 quarters with a pig in its life, began to buck like 
 mad. My brother hung on like wax, the natural 
 disinclination of anyone to be slung from his horse 
 being considerably enhanced in his case by the infuriated 
 animal waiting to get a chance at him on the ground. 
 But the blood was pouring in torrents from the wound 
 in its neck ; and before I got up, it had lain down to 
 die. We finished it off, and then examined my 
 brother's horse, to see if it was damaged. Fortunately 
 it had escaped with only a slight cut on the fetlock, 
 which was lucky, as the old boar's tusks were over 
 six inches long, and as sharp as knives. 
 
 A cooee from the ridges away to the right, about a 
 quarter of a mile off, informed us of the whereabouts of 
 Bice. We set off, and when we came up we found him 
 standing with a broken spear in his hand, examining 
 the carcase of a still more enormous boar than the one
 
 A LUCKY ESCAPE. 105 
 
 which my brother had killed. He had run him for 
 about three-quarters of a mile, and in trying to spear 
 him he had broken his spear, leaving only about five 
 feet of a shaft. A little further on the boar " bailed 
 up," on the top of a ridge, and stood with his legs wide 
 apart, and the foam dropping from his huge tusks, and 
 looking altogether such a discouraging sight, that 
 nothing would induce Bice's horse to go anywhere near 
 him. Whereupon he coolly got off, and, grasping the 
 remains of his spear, walked straight at the boar, with- 
 out, as he said afterwards, the slightest notion of what 
 either he or the animal was going to do. Of course 
 the boar charged, and as the brute came at him, Rice 
 slung the spear at him with all his force, and with 
 infinite precision. It entered the animal's chest, and 
 he ran right on to it, driving it into his heart, and 
 falling dead on the spot. It was a most miraculous 
 escape for Rice ; for if he had not killed the boar, it is 
 pretty certain the boar would have killed him.
 
 106 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 WILD CATTLE. 
 
 ON the whole, Australia is one of the worst countries for 
 sport that can be imagined. There is no big game of 
 any kind, except kangaroos ; and after the novelty of a 
 kangaroo hunt has worn off, it is very poor fun. Since 
 the destruction of native dogs and - eagle-hawks by the 
 squatters who stocked the country with sheep, the kan- 
 garoos have not a single natural enemy left, and in 
 some districts of Queensland they have increased to 
 such an extent as to bring absolute ruin upon the runs 
 which they infest. An Act known as the Marsupial Act 
 was accordingly passed to encourage their destruction, 
 a reward of so much a scalp being offered by the 
 Government. In some places countless droves of them 
 blacken the plains, eating up every vestige of grass, 
 and literally starving the sheep off the country. Some 
 of the squatters have gone to a vast expense in fencing 
 in their runs with marsupial fencing, but it never pays. 
 
 The usual method adopted for slaughtering them is 
 to build a yard with a very high fence in one of the 
 " scrubs " on the plains. From this yard two fences 
 run out through the "scrub," widening out and 
 extending like wings for a long distance over the
 
 KANGAEOO-HUNTING. 107 
 
 surrounding plain. A whole crowd of men on horse- 
 back get together, with a mob of blacks to assist them, . 
 and drive the country for miles around up towards the 
 wings of the fence. Once between the fences, the 
 wretched animals are doomed. They make straight 
 for the " scrub," and never know where they are till 
 they find themselves inside the yard, with a mob of 
 black devils yelling behind them. The rails are then 
 put up, and the blacks go in and slaughter them with 
 tomahawks and clubs. Hundreds and hundreds of 
 kangaroos are often secured at a single " battue " of 
 this kind ; but when once a good herd of them gets 
 fairly started on a run, it is very difficult to get rid of 
 them, or even to keep them down. This, however, 
 is brutal work, though it is absolutely necessary it 
 should be done, and no one could possibly describe 
 it as sport. Even with good dogs and good horses, 
 there is not much fun to be got out of hunting kangaroos 
 singly. It is too much like coursing, which is of all 
 bastard forms of sport the most detestable ; and though 
 an " old-man " kangaroo will generally show fight when 
 he is bailed up, there is very little difficulty in knocking 
 him senseless with a stick. 
 
 Away up north an occasional raid after the wild 
 Blacks enlivens the monotony of life, and there are 
 some men who are brutal enough to enjoy hunting 
 them down. But apart from the chance of getting a 
 spear through his ribs, or a tomahawk in his skull, 
 no one who has not lost every vestige of decent feeling 
 could possibly look upon this as sport, or be induced 
 to undertake it except in self-defence. Of the few kinds 
 of sport which Australia does afford, undoubtedly the
 
 108 BLACK'S OEEEK. 
 
 finest is hunting wild cattle. It is part of the legitimate 
 business of a stockman, and a very necessary part too, 
 for nothing is more injurious to a tame herd than the 
 presence of wild cattle on a run. It ought, therefore, 
 to be classed as work rather than sport ; but anyone who 
 has once been at it will own that it is a form of enter- 
 tainment that is exceedingly bad to beat. Of course 
 there are no wild cattle indigenous to the country, but 
 in some places there are cattle that have been neglected, 
 and that have bred wild for generations, and they are 
 to all intents and purposes as wild, and twice as savage, 
 as bisons. There was one corner of Mount Spencer 
 run, on the coast-fall of the range, known as Black's 
 Creek, the creek itself being one of the heads of the 
 Pioneer river, and here the former owner of the 
 station had allowed a mob of wild cattle to establish 
 themselves. In reality it was the business of the 
 neighbouring run, below the range, to get rid of them. 
 The Black's Creek country belonged half to Mount 
 Spencer and half to our neighbours, whose yards were 
 very much nearer to it than ours, and very much 
 more accessible from the part where the wild cattle 
 were. But they neglected their business, and, as the 
 wild cattle were a great nuisance to us, we had great 
 sport for several years in hunting them down. 
 
 Black's Creek was about as wild a piece of country 
 as it would be possible to find in Queensland. Its 
 course lay right among the mountains, which towered 
 on both sides, sending rocky spurs down in many places 
 right up the banks of the creek. The grass was fright- 
 fully long, for it was not once in two years that we could 
 get it to burn, and in many places it was up to one's
 
 CAMPING-OUT. 109 
 
 elbows as one rode through it. There were a few little 
 open flats along the course of the creek, but the rest 
 of the country was very heavily timbered, the banks 
 of the creek, and a good deal of the country being 
 covered with dense scrub, for which the cattle made 
 the instant they were disturbed. Once in the scrubs, 
 one never saw them again that day, and the only chance 
 was to corner them off, and hunt them out on to the 
 more open country. 
 
 One day my brother and I settled we would make 
 an expedition down Black's Creek, and hunt up some 
 of the " clean-skins " as the wild cattle are called, in 
 allusion to their never having been branded. We sent 
 over to Haslewood for Billy Burgess, who appeared 
 armed with an uncomfortable-looking sort of old musket, 
 which he declared was a most reliable weapon if it was 
 only held straight. My brother and I had a " Win- 
 chester " rifle each, and we provided Frank with an 
 " Express," with which he was not half a bad shot. 
 Rolling up our weapons in our blankets, which were 
 strapped on to the saddle, in front, we set off one 
 afternoon in October, taking a black boy and some 
 rations with us. The head of Black's Creek was about 
 thirteen miles from the station ; so we meant to camp out, 
 and start early the next morning to look for the cattle. 
 
 There are various phases of camping-out in the Bush, 
 some of them very pleasant, and some of them very 
 much the reverse. On a warm dry summer night, with 
 plenty of food and tobacco, and one or two good mates, 
 there are few things more thoroughly enjoyable than to 
 turn your horses out, light a fire and boil a " billy " of 
 tea, and, after supper, to sit round smoking and yarning
 
 110 A DISMAL NIGHT. 
 
 till it is time to roll yourself up in a blanket and sleep 
 like a top under a tree. Occasionally, however, there 
 are times when the camper-out does not have by any 
 means a good time, and anyone who has knocked about 
 the Bush for some time is sure to have spent more than 
 one night of which the dismal recollection will not easily 
 be wiped out of his mind. When the rain is falling in 
 torrents, and a cold winter's night overtakes the solitary 
 wanderer who has lost his way and knocked-up his 
 horse, it is by no means pleasant to find that he has got 
 between two flooded creeks, and that the only thing to 
 do is to wait for the morning's light before he attempts 
 to go any farther. Soaked to the skin, and shivering 
 with cold, without shelter and without food, he is lucky 
 if he can find a rock, or the trunk of a big tree, to keep 
 the piercing winter's wind from freezing the marrow in 
 his back-bone. As he sits there huddled up, with his 
 horse's bridle between his numbed fingers, the howl of 
 the native dog, and the forlorn wail of the stone-curlew, 
 strike with a mournful cadence upon his ears, about 
 which the dead sticks from the trees overhead are flying. 
 Mechanically he cuts up a pipe of tobacco, and fills his 
 pipe, fumbling with shaking fingers in the recesses of 
 his pouch for a dry match. Fortunate for him if he 
 finds one dry enough to raise a smoke ; but if the hours 
 before morning do not seem preternaturally long he 
 must be of an exceedingly cheerful disposition. 
 
 Just before sundown we got to the place where we 
 meant to camp, on the bank of the creek. The creek 
 was not running ; but just here there was a small water- 
 hole in the bed, full of clear water, with rocks all round 
 covered with beautiful maiden-hair fern.
 
 OUR CAMP. Ill 
 
 A little way back from the bank a huge mass of rock 
 rose up, and between this and the creek we camped. 
 Having unstrapped our blankets, we put our weapons 
 together, and, taking off the saddles, we piled them 
 against the rock, spreading the saddle-cloths over them 
 to keep off the dew, and then, having hobbled the horses, 
 we turned them out, with a small bell hung round the 
 neck of one of them to tell us their whereabouts in the 
 morning. In a few minutes the black boy had got a 
 good fire going, with a couple of quart-pots set down to 
 boil for making tea. " Quart-pot " tea, as tea made in 
 the Bush is always called, is really the proper way to 
 make it. A tin quart of water is set down by the 
 fire, and when it is boiling hard a handful of tea is 
 thrown in, and the pot instantly removed from the fire. 
 Thus the tea is really made with boiling water, which 
 brings out its full flavour, and it is drunk before it has 
 time to draw too much. 
 
 Frank, meanwhile, went and chopped a piece of bark 
 off a tree, and set about making some "Johnny cakes " 
 for supper with a small bag of flour which he had 
 brought with him. Emptying some of the flour into the 
 sheet of bark, he poured some cold water into the middle 
 of it, and stirred it quickly up into a paste. "Johnny 
 cakes " are made with nothing but flour, but there is a 
 great art in mixing them. If it is done properly, they 
 are about the lightest and nicest sort of bread that can 
 be made ; but the efforts of an amateur generally result 
 in a wet heavy pulp, that sticks round one's teeth like 
 bird-lime. Frank, however, was quite a professor, and, 
 having got his dough to his satisfaction, he pressed it 
 out very thin, and tossed it on to the hot ashes in three-
 
 112 JOHNNY CAKES. 
 
 cornered pieces, which he kept turning over with a stick 
 every few seconds. In a very few minutes a good supply 
 of them were done, and as the tea was made, and a 
 " Johnny cake " is nothing unless it is eaten red-hot, we 
 produced the salt beef, and set to work at once. 
 
 After supper we all lit our pipes, except Frank, who did 
 not smoke, and lay down round the fire with a sensation 
 of absolute contentment and peace that one must go and 
 camp-out in the Bush to understand. The only single 
 drawback to my enjoyment was that Frank did not 
 smoke. There is always something uncomfortable about 
 a man who does not smoke ; but in the Bush, where 
 one's pipe gets to be such a companion as it never does 
 elsewhere, it was really quite painful to think of Frank 
 setting off out on the run every day by himself without 
 a pipe. He and Billy, not having seen each other for 
 some weeks, began instantly to jaw about cattle, and the 
 way in which they went at it laid over anything in the 
 way of " shop '" that I ever heard. Two fox-hunters 
 fighting their battles over again are bad enough, and a 
 couple of old University men recounting their college 
 experiences will drive anyone who is obliged to listen 
 nearly out of his mind. But for pure professional " shop- 
 talking," unbroken by a single pause, and undiluted by 
 a single digression, commend me to a pair of stockmen 
 who take a hearty interest in the cattle that they are dis- 
 cussing, and who have not seen each other for a month. 
 
 Frank began it. 
 
 " I say, Billy," he said, " I was over at the head of 
 Running Creek yesterday, and I saw that red bullock 
 that we missed last time we mustered on Tommy's 
 Camp."
 
 STOCKMAN'S CONVERSATION. 113 
 
 " Ah ! " said Billy, " he runs about there now. Was 
 that dying old crow-bait of a white cow along with 
 him ? " 
 
 " Yes ; and that strawberry heifer too, whose mother 
 died in the yard this time last year, when Stewart came 
 up for fat cattle." 
 
 " I remember ; and a fine old bit of stuff her mother 
 was, too. She was a calf of one of the last of old Lloyd's 
 lot, that were here when I came." 
 
 " What! not that big roan cow that used to run down 
 at the Gum Swamp, that broke away the time you and 
 me and Fraser were yarding that mob down at the 
 Hut ? " 
 
 " No, no, not that one at all. Do you remember a 
 dark-red cow, branded AL on the cheek, that was always 
 with that mob that used to be about the ridges behind 
 the Black Swamp about five years ago ? " 
 
 " Of course I do. She was a milker." 
 
 " Well, she wasn't the mother of that strawberry 
 heifer's mother, but her sister was. They were both of 
 them milker's calves, and their mother was the mother 
 of that big yellow bullock that went away down to Rock- 
 hampton with Kirwan's mob, five years ago." 
 
 " My word, what a rowdy brute he was ! Do you 
 remember how nearly he horned Dick in the yard ? And 
 when we let them out that white down-horned bullock 
 hunted you half-way across the swamp. His mother 's 
 alive yet, and got another calf, as like its mother as can 
 be, only it 's got a white star. I saw them the other 
 day down Back Creek, the time I fetched in that big 
 roan calf belonging to that white cow, that was a calf of 
 old ' Susan's.' " 
 
 8
 
 114 ENTHUSIASTS. 
 
 And so they go on, discussing the appearance and the 
 performance of one animal after another, and all its 
 sisters and its cousins and its aunts, till one's brain reels 
 in trying to follow them. 
 
 I had always heard Brahmins upheld as the posses- 
 sors of the most marvellous memories in the world, but 
 until a Brahmin gives some better proof of it than 
 merely reciting five or six thousand lines of prose by 
 heart, he must sink into insignificance compared to 
 men who have twelve thousand cattle to look after, 
 ranging over four hundred square miles of country, and 
 increasing at the rate of three thousand every year, and 
 who apparently know them every one by sight, and can 
 remember most of the ones that they have seen during 
 the preceding ten years, whereabouts they used to run, 
 and how they were bred. 
 
 Hour after hour Frank and Billy went on, and when 
 I lay down to sleep, with my feet to the fire and a big 
 stone for a pillow, they were still hard at it, in the 
 middle of a discussion as to whether the great-great- 
 grandmother of a big roan bullock on the Main Camp 
 had a black nose or not. 
 
 Next morning we all woke up just before day-break, 
 while the stars were still shining, the straw-coloured 
 light over the hills to the east showing that it would 
 not be very long before the sun appeared. The ashes 
 of last night's fire were still hot, and the addition of a 
 few dry sticks soon raised a blaze again. After a wash 
 in the creek we lit our pipes, and, leaving Billy to boil 
 the tea for breakfast, we sallied out to look for our 
 horses. The grass was up to our waists, and saturated 
 with dew, so that before we had gone fifty yards we
 
 LOOKING FOR HORSES. 115 
 
 were soaked to the skin ; but the weather was warm, so 
 it did not matter. In winter, when the ground is 
 covered with hoar frost, it .is no joke to have to wade 
 perhaps a couple of miles through the long grass to 
 look for your horse, for it is hours before the sun has 
 sufficient strength to dry your clothes. On such occa- 
 sions I used to leave all my clothes at the camp-fire, 
 and set out without a rag on, as I infinitely preferred a 
 slight cut or two from the grass to sitting on my horse, 
 shaking with cold and perfectly wet through, for four or 
 five hours. This time our horses had not gone very 
 far, and we were back in the camp by the time that the 
 tea was made. Breakfast did not take long, and the 
 instant we had done, we loaded our weapons, and, clam- 
 bering on to our horses, we set off down the creek to 
 look for the cattle. 
 
 Frank had been down some weeks before, and burnt 
 as much of the grass as he could, but it was only in 
 places that it would burn. In such a country it was 
 perfectly hopeless to dream of getting any of the " clean 
 skins " home to the yards, and all we wanted to do was 
 to shoot as many of them as we could. Sneaking 
 silently along for about a couple of miles, we came to a 
 crossing of the creek, on the opposite side of which was 
 a small plain. As we emerged on to this, we came sud- 
 denly upon a mob of about thirty wild cattle, among 
 which were six or seven bulls, one of them about the 
 biggest I ever saw. The instant they saw us the whole 
 mob charged, and cleared us out in every direction. 
 The black boy's bridle came off, and his horse tore 
 wildly into the middle of a mob of raging bulls, with 
 him yelling murder and absolutely white with funk. 
 
 8 *
 
 116 A MOB OF OLBAN-SKINS. 
 
 Frank and my brother disappeared into the creek after 
 the big bull and one or two others, and Billy and I tore 
 across the plain after a small mob that were going like 
 mad for the ridges beyond. As we came up with them, 
 Billy discharged his weapon at a young bull that was a 
 little behind the rest, the bullet breaking his shoulder, 
 and bringing him bellowing on his head. Away we 
 went after the rest ; but a little further on Billy got a 
 most awful buster over some rocks in the long grass, he 
 and his horse rolling over each other in a most uncom- 
 fortable kind of way. Looking back over my shoulder 
 as I galloped on, I saw him on his legs again, so I hit 
 out like anything to get a shot at the rest of the mob 
 before they got away into the ridges. Just on the edge 
 of the plain I came up with them, and put a bullet 
 behind the shoulder of a good-sized bull that was 
 nearest me. He turned and charged, but my horse 
 cleared out too quick for him, and after struggling on 
 for about a hundred yards, he rolled over. The others 
 were gone where it was hopeless to follow them, so I 
 rode up and put another shot into him to finish him, 
 and then turned back to see how Billy was getting 
 on. 
 
 Fortunately he had landed clear of the rocks, in the 
 long grass, but his saddle was smashed to pieces, and 
 his horse's legs very much cut and knocked about. We 
 rode back and finished off the bull that Billy had shot 
 first, and then went over the creek to see what had 
 become of the others. Following their tracks for about 
 half a mile, we came upon my brother sitting upon a 
 log all alone, smoking a pipe, and mopping the blood 
 from his forehead.
 
 TETE-A-TETE WITH A WILD BULL. 117 
 
 " Hullo," I said, " are you hurt ? had a buster ? 
 where 3 s Frank ? and what 's happened to your horse ? " 
 
 " Why, my horse has cleared out, and Frank has 
 gone after him. He and I cornered off that big bull, 
 and I rode up alongside and put a shot into him. I 
 never saw anything turn as quick. He got me full on 
 the ancle, and that kept his horn out of ' Darkie's ' 
 ribs ; but the fool, instead of clearing, went into figures, 
 and what with the cant I got from the bull, and the 
 rifle, and one thing and another, down I went. It was 
 all so mixed I thought the bull had upset me. ' Darkle ' 
 cleared out then, and left me on the ground five yards 
 from the bull, on a dead level plain, without a bush 
 for a hundred yards. I struggled on to my knees, and 
 worked the rifle so as to load again ; but before I 
 could get it up the brute charged, and caught me full 
 over the eye. Frank was yelling to me to lie down, 
 but it 's all gammon. I saw a bull the other day root- 
 ing up a daisy with perfect ease. I scrambled up 
 again, and 3 the rifle being loaded, I put another shot 
 into his shoulder, when he fortunately gave me best 
 and left me. He 's dead somewhere in the creek down 
 there, I think. The ' Winchester ' is good, and they 
 always die of it, but the bullet is not stopping enough 
 to prevent a charge. However, I 've got off very well, 
 with a sprained ancle from the first charge, and as to 
 my eye, I think my head must be nearly as hard as 
 the bull's, for, beyond cutting it open, it hasn't hurt me 
 much." 
 
 "Well, hold on a minute," I said, " and I '11 fetch 
 you a pannikin of water out of the creek, if there is 
 any here."
 
 118 CHAPTER OF ACCIDENTS. 
 
 A little lower down I found a small pool of water, 
 and having got my brother some, and washed his head 
 for him, I set off down the creek to look for the bull. 
 Sure enough, he was lying in the bed of the creek, stone 
 dead, about a quarter of a mile below where my brother 
 had last shot at him. Just then Frank reappeared 
 leading " Darkie," whom he had managed to bail up 
 amongst some big rocks lower down. Billy's horse was 
 dead lame, and my brother's ancle so swollen that he 
 could only just manage to ride ; so we concluded to 
 knock off and go home, and altogether, considering 
 the frightful nature of the country, we had not done 
 so badly to kill three of the bulls before they got 
 away. 
 
 The next time we went down Black's Creek after 
 the clean-skins we had a still more lively time. In the 
 early part of the day my horse got badly horned in the 
 belly, and not long after, while galloping after a beast, 
 he went head over heels into a hole where the stump of 
 a big tree had been burned out, and broke his shoulder. 
 O'Donnell, the stockman from the neighbouring run, 
 who came with us, came to fearful grief. He and his 
 horse, and the bull that he was after, all went head 
 foremost into a deep rocky gully. When we found 
 them, the bull was lying in the bottom, among the 
 rocks, with its neck broken, and O'Donnell on top of it, 
 quite insensible. We got him out, and carried him 
 home on a litter of saplings. For twenty-four hours he 
 lay quite still, bleeding at the ears, and we thought 
 he was away, but he came round, and eventually got all 
 right again. The rest of us managed to get a mob of 
 cattle, mostly clean-skins, into the yards ; and about
 
 MISCHIEVOUS EFFECT OP WILD CATTLE. 119 
 
 the gayest time that we had was drafting them. They 
 exhibited shocking temper. 
 
 The worst of having wild cattle anywhere near one's 
 run is that the tame ones go and join them, and become 
 nearly as wild themselves. The country was so rough 
 down Black's Creek that it was almost impossible to 
 clean it up thoroughly, and we hardly ever went down 
 there without crippling somebody. But there is no 
 doubt that hunting wild cattle there was as healthy a 
 form of sport as anyone could wish for.
 
 120 
 
 CHAPTEE IX. 
 
 COMPARISON OF CATTLE AND SHEEP STATIONS. 
 
 THE whole of the coast country of Queensland is un- 
 suited for sheep, chiefly owing to the prevalence of 
 grass-seed, but it fattens cattle admirably, and it is 
 along the coast-range that most of the cattle-stations in 
 the Colony are situated. Grass-seed is an abomination 
 which appears in autumn in all the grass on the coast. 
 It forms in bundles of hundreds of seeds, each of which 
 is a hard, black, little weapon, about a third of an inch 
 long, with a sharp barbed point at the business end. 
 When ripe, they shake off the instant anything touches 
 them, and attach themselves to it. and, the point being 
 as fine as a needle, they work their way into any soft 
 substance in a marvellous way, the barb preventing 
 them from ever going backwards. Anyone walking or 
 riding through the long grass in seed-time is certain to 
 get his clothes full of them, and the sharp pricks from 
 their points are most irritating. Life for a sheep in 
 such a country is an impossibility. Their wool becomes 
 so full of seeds that it is perfectly worthless, and eventu- 
 ally the seeds work their way right into the flesh of the 
 sheep, and, of course, when they reach the vital organs, 
 destroy its life. I have seen the unfortunate wretches 
 with their fleeces stuffed so full of grass- seed that they
 
 CATTLE. 121 
 
 are absolutely incapable of moving, and can only stand 
 still, with their legs wide apart, looking more like a 
 hedgehog on stilts than a sheep. Of course, grass-seed 
 does not affect cattle, which do very well on the coast 
 runs. But it is a remarkable thing that, although they 
 lay on just as much fat upon the coast-country as they 
 do upon the western downs, they will not travel without 
 losing it. Cattle fattened upon the salt-bush and grasses 
 of the west will, if driven carefully, carry their condition 
 for hundreds of miles ; but the fat that they acquire on 
 the coast-grass, and especially below the range, runs off 
 them like melting butter when they travel. 
 
 Cattle -growing is not nearly so profitable as sheep, 
 but, on the other hand, it requires far less capital to 
 start with, and is attended with much less risk. The 
 vast difference between a cattle- station and a sheep- 
 station is this, that whereas the former can be made 
 to pay its own way from the first, the latter requires a 
 heavy outlay before it can be safely stocked at all. 
 
 Of course, in proportion as a man lays out money in 
 improving a cattle -station at the first start, so his returns 
 will be quicker, heavier, and more certain. But, if he 
 is unable to do so, he will find that the expenses abso- 
 lutely necessary to keep the place going are by no means 
 heavy. We will suppose that a squatter puts 5,000 
 head of cattle on to a piece of entirely unimproved 
 country. He ought to get the cattle, and sufficient 
 country to carry 10,000 head, for 20,000. For about 
 400 he can put up yards, and a weaning-paddock for 
 working the cattle, horse-yard, and paddock, and com- 
 fortable houses for himself and his men. Another 150 
 will start him with sufficient horses, and, if he is at all
 
 122 CATTLE. 
 
 inclined to work himself, two stockmen and a black boy 
 will be quite enough hands to work the cattle.' The 
 wages of the two former, at 75 a year, and the black 
 boy at 10s. a week, come to .176 per year, and another 
 ,100 a year ought to find them all in rations. 
 
 We will suppose that the increase is allowed to 
 accumulate, nothing but fat cattle being sold off the run 
 for the first five years. 
 
 During that time the proceeds from sales of fat cattle 
 should be amply sufficient to cover all working expenses, 
 and to enable the squatter to keep on improving his run 
 by fencing, &c., to meet the increasing requirements of 
 his herd. 
 
 At the end of five years he should have at least 10,000 
 head of cattle, and have completed all the improvements 
 necessary for working them. 
 
 Allowing a liberal per-centage for deaths, his annual 
 increase from 10,000 head would be fully 2,500, of 
 which about 800 would be fat cattle. 
 
 Supposing him, for the future, to keep his herd at 
 10,000, and sell the whole of his annual increase, his 
 yearly profits would be as follows : 
 
 
 
 By sale of 800 fat cattle, at M . . 3,200 
 1,700 store cattle, at 1 10s. 2,550 
 
 5,750 
 
 To working expenses 
 , Balance 
 
 5,750 
 In the above calculation the price of fat cattle is taken
 
 CATTLE. 123 
 
 at the average price in Queensland for some years past, 
 and the price of store cattle at the lowest possible figure, 
 which is called "boiling-down" price; for when store 
 cattle are perfectly unsaleable, as they sometimes are, it 
 is always possible to clear 1 10s. a head on them by 
 boiling them down for tallow and hides. 
 
 The working expenses have been put rather high, and 
 the increase below the average of fair seasons. 
 
 Thus, in five years the squatter's original capital of 
 20,000 will have increased to 40,000, for which he 
 will get a return of 4,000. 
 
 Of course, in good times, when fat cattle are up to 5 
 or 6, and store cattle to 2 10s., his profits will be 
 very much larger, but, at the same time, a squatter must 
 always be prepared to spend a large sum of money upon 
 the purchase of land, to secure his run against selectors. 
 No allowance has been made for this in the above cal- 
 culations, for legislation on the land question is con- 
 tinually assuming different phases, but a squatter may 
 take it for granted that, sooner or later, he will have to 
 lay out a great deal of money in securing his run, and 
 he is generally quite willing to do so when the time 
 comes. 
 
 The risks attending the working of a cattle-station 
 are the possibility of an epidemic of pleuro-pneumonia 
 breaking out in the herd, and, of course, the danger 
 of a very severe drought. But the coast country, to 
 which cattle are chiefly confined, is, as has been already 
 said, not nearly so liable to drought as the interior 
 where sheep-farming is carried on ; and although 
 isolated cases of pleuro-pneumonia are nearly always 
 to be met with in a big herd, it is extremely seldom
 
 124 CATTLE. 
 
 that the disease assumes an epidemic form. On the 
 whole, therefore, the risks of growing cattle may be 
 considered as being very small. The disadvantages 
 of a cattle-station from a business point of view are, 
 that in the first place, although it will return a high 
 and safe rate of interest if properly managed, still it 
 will never afford a chance of making the rapid fortune 
 that four or five consecutive good seasons on a sheep- 
 station ensure. In the second place, a cattle-station 
 requires very few hands, and not much capital to 
 work it, and opens no connection with the banks 
 and the business men in the towns. No one cares 
 the least for the connection with a cattle-station, for 
 it is worth nothing. The cattle are raised at a small 
 expense, driven down to market by the station hands, 
 sold to the butchers, and there is an end to them. 
 
 It is very often greatly to the interest of a squatter to 
 be able to raise money on the security of his run, either 
 to tide over bad times, to make improvements, or to 
 secure his country by the purchase of freehold land. 
 The indifference of the banks and of business men 
 generally to the cattle industry makes it very much 
 more difficult to raise money upon a cattle-station than 
 upon a sheep-station. With the latter there is not 
 the slightest difficulty. Wool is the staple product 
 of the country, and represents an enormous proportion 
 of the aggregate wealth of the community, and the 
 bulk of the population are either directly or indirectly 
 connected with its growth. Consequently " financing" 
 is rendered very much easier upon the security of a 
 sheep-station ; and if a man puts ^20,000 of his own 
 money into forming a sheep-station, if he knows any-
 
 SHEEP. 1 25 
 
 thing at all of finance, he will easily get 40,000 of 
 someone else's money to help him, at a rate of interest 
 that will pay him remarkably well. All over the country 
 a bale of wool is nearly as good security as the bank-note 
 that represents its value ; and it is no matter if a man's 
 wool be in his wool-shed in the centre of Australia, 
 under a tarpauling on the banks of a flooded creek, 
 or in a vessel coming down the coast, he can always 
 get an advance upon it from the bank. 
 
 Sheep -farming in Australia is now a very different 
 thing to what it was twenty or even ten years ago. In 
 those days a man had nothing to do but to go far 
 enough into the interior, and he could take up as much 
 new country as he pleased, paying nothing for it beyond 
 the annual rent to the Crown. He put his sheep 
 on to it, and in a few years, if he had good seasons, 
 he made an enormous fortune, partly from his annual 
 profits, but chiefly from the extraordinary rise in value 
 of his country and stock. But if in the meantime he 
 had two bad seasons, he was probably ruined ; for the 
 early settlers did not comprehend the vital importance 
 of laying out capital in storing water upon their runs, 
 to guard against the possibility of a long drought. 
 
 Long experience has now shown that every part 
 of Australia that is fit for growing sheep is subject 
 to occasional periods of very severe drought, at uncertain 
 intervals, the occurrence of which it is quite impossible 
 to foretell. Some of these droughts have been of 
 extraordinary duration, and the early settlers were 
 astonished to find that water -holes and creeks which 
 they had been for years accustomed to regard as afford- 
 ing an inexhaustible supply of permanent water, sue-
 
 126 SHEEP. 
 
 cuinbed at length to the severity of one of these 
 visitations, and left their country without a drop of 
 water upon it. Hundreds of men were ruined by 
 trusting to the natural water upon their runs, while 
 others, of course, who were fortunate enough to have 
 a run of good seasons, made tremendous profits. 
 
 But the lesson which has been learned is this, that 
 in order to provide against the possibility of a pro- 
 longed drought, the squatter must treat his country 
 as if practically there was no natural water upon it 
 at all, and expend a large amount of capital in making 
 dams and tanks, so as to have, if possible, a supply 
 of water stored in every part of his run that is 
 capable of holding out against any drought, however 
 severe. This entails vast expense, but it is the only 
 possible way of making a safe and profitable invest- 
 ment of sheep-farming in Australia. Of course there 
 are some lagoons and water-holes upon which the most 
 prolonged drought has little or no effect, and their 
 existence greatly enhances the value of any piece of 
 country upon which they may happen to be found. 
 
 An immense amount of loss was sustained in the 
 early days by over-stocking the country, and in some 
 parts the evil effects of so doing are still felt ; for to 
 such extremities were the unfortunate sheep reduced 
 in a drought, that they not only ate up every blade 
 of grass, but tore out the roots and ate them as well, 
 so that it took years before any grass would grow 
 there again. It is by no means uncommon in such 
 districts as the Eiverina, to be reduced to feeding the 
 sheep upon the leaves of gum-trees to keep them alive 
 during a dry season, when every vestige of grass has
 
 SHEEP. 127 
 
 disappeared. In most parts of Australia, however, 
 water is the main thing, for, unless the country has been 
 over-stocked, sheep will manage to eke out an existence 
 in a most extraordinary way, provided they have a 
 sufficient supply of water. A dozen years ago, if it had 
 been represented to an English capitalist that the safest 
 and most profitable investment that he could possibly 
 find for his money would be to take up dry country 
 in Queensland, and make a permanent supply of water 
 on it, the idea would probably have struck him as 
 eminently fantastic and unpractical. But it is probable 
 that the world has never yet seen so certain and so 
 quick a means of realising an enormous fortune. At 
 that time an unlimited extent of country was to be 
 had for next to nothing, which has since risen to a 
 fabulous value, where money has been expended in 
 storing water upon it. 
 
 At the present time, there is not the same amount 
 of money to be made at it as there was in the old days, 
 because every mile of country that is worth anything 
 in Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland, and the 
 greater portion of South Australia and the Northern 
 Territory, has been taken up; so that instead of getting 
 his country for nothing, the squatter has now to start 
 by paying at least <10 a square mile, even in the 
 back-blocks of Queensland, for, say, a twenty-one years' 
 lease of perfectly bare country, without permanent water, 
 stock, or improvements of any kind. 
 
 In Victoria the plundering and blundering of an 
 ignorant radical legislature has considerably reduced 
 the market value of every acre of pastoral land in the 
 colony. In New South Wales the value of land is
 
 128 SHEEP. 
 
 about stationary ; but in Queensland and South Australia 
 its value is still increasing, though not at the same 
 rate as formerly. The tremendous sums that have 
 lately been paid for sheep-stations in Queensland might 
 at first seem like fancy prices, but the profits subse- 
 quently derived forbid the application of any such term. 
 Hitherto, most of the large fortunes that have been 
 made in connection with sheep-farming have been 
 made more from the rise in value of the country than 
 from the annual profits derived from the industry itself, 
 though these have been very great. 
 
 If we follow the career of the " leviathans " of 
 Australia in the squatting line, we shall see that most 
 of them made their fortunes by constantly taking up 
 new country, stocking it and improving it, and selling 
 it again as soon as possible, at an immense profit. 
 Now, however, this can only be carried out in a very 
 modified form. The value of country, whether dry or 
 watered, stocked or unstocked, all over New South 
 Wales and Queensland, has risen to such a point that, 
 for the future, profit must be expected more from the 
 annual proceeds of working the country than from 
 any great subsequent rise in its value. Of course there 
 are still districts, such as the northern territory of South 
 Australia, and the Gulf of Carpentaria in Queensland, 
 where a considerable rise in the value of bare country 
 may be confidently looked for during the next few years. 
 But in the central and southern districts the country 
 itself may be considered to have attained a value at 
 which it will remain steady for some years, and profits, 
 as I have said, must be derived from increase of stock 
 and sale of wool. What these profits amount to in fair
 
 SHEEP. 129 
 
 seasons will be seen from the statistics appended below, 
 and it must be acknowledged that they are in them- 
 selves sufficiently startling. 
 
 The following are the particulars of a station in the 
 Barcoo district of Queensland, consisting of 800 square 
 miles of country, of which only about 600 are avail- 
 able : 
 
 Bought in 1882 for 200,000, with 135,000 sheep. 
 Out of these there were 62,000 ewes in lamb, 
 from which they got 54,000 lambs the first year. 
 Clip of wool 1882 (135,000 sheep), 1,730 bales 
 valued at 35,000. Sold since purchase 30,000 
 sheep off the run, at 15,000. 
 In 1883 they shore 190,000 sheep, and including 
 lambs there are now 210,000 sheep on the run. 
 The value of this year's clip is 48,000, and 
 the value of the increase is between 30,000 
 and 40,000. 
 
 Taking the expenses at 15,000 per annum, this 
 leaves a nett profit in two years of at least 
 113,000, besides which the station has risen 
 greatly in value. 
 
 The following shows the rise in value and returns 
 of another sheep-station in the Aramac district of 
 Queensland. It consists of about one thousand square 
 miles of country, and was bought in June 1881, for 
 70,000, together with 41,703 sheep, and 2,230 cattle 
 on the run. 
 
 Original number of sheep . . . 41,708 
 
 In all to date (Oct. 1888) they have had . 77,327 lambs. 
 
 And bought ...... 86,014 sheep. 
 
 205,044
 
 130 SHEEP. 
 
 Deaths and killed for rations to date ; 12,996 
 
 Lost travelling on road . . > . 216 
 
 Sold 84,830 
 
 Number at present on the station . . 157,002 
 
 205,044 
 
 Number of sheep at present on station . 157,002 
 ,, cattle ,, . 5,610 
 
 In 1882 they shore 93,204 sheep, producing 385,174 
 pounds of wool, which brought .21,000 in London. 
 Improvements since June 1881 have cost about 18,000. 
 This year, 1883, they will shear 157,000 sheep, the 
 wool from which will be worth 33,000, and the station 
 is now valued at 200,000. 
 
 We will now consider the case of an outlying piece 
 of country, which has never been stocked with anything 
 but cattle, and which it is proposed to turn into a sheep- 
 station. 
 
 The following tables of expenditure, income added 
 to paid-up capital, and approximate increase and 
 numbers of sheep, refer to an estimate made by the 
 manager of a leading firm in Melbourne, for forming 
 and stocking a piece of country in the Burke district 
 of Queensland, about two hundred and fifty miles from 
 Normanton, a township on the Gulf of Carpentaria. 
 The run consisted of 500 miles of the best description 
 of sheep country, and there were on it 2,000 head of 
 cattle, and no improvements of any kind. It was 
 proposed to form a company with a capital of 100,000 
 to purchase the run and stock it with sheep. The 
 former owners agreed to take 5,000 in cash, and 
 20,000 in paid-up shares for the property. 
 
 The accompanying tables show the position of the
 
 SHEEP. 131 
 
 station at the end of four years. The run is capable, 
 when fully improved, of carrying from 180,000 to 
 200,000 sheep, and would be worth at the end of four 
 years, with the sheep, at least 150,000. In computing 
 the cost of management ,100 per annum has been 
 allowed for every thousand sheep, whereas 70 per 
 thousand is allowed to be the average cost ; but th6 
 country being new, and labouring therefore under some 
 disadvantage for the time being, so much more has 
 been allowed for the cost of management. 
 
 The cost of everything has been put at the highest, 
 and the selling price of wool and sheep at the lowest. 
 The calculations have only been made for four years, 
 showing the position of affairs, value of the station and 
 stock ; and the returns, if the stock were allowed to 
 increase, and improvements to carry the extra number 
 of sheep were made, would increase wonderfully if 
 allowed to go on. In computing the number of sheep 
 at the end of four years, 2^ per cent, which is usually 
 allowed per annum for losses has not been taken into 
 consideration, but at the same time the per-centage 
 of lambs has been put at only 70 per cent., which is 
 much under the mark in anything like a favourable 
 season ; the expense of water to be made in the pad- 
 docks has been put at a very high figure, and the fact 
 of there being a good deal of natural water on the 
 run has not been taken into consideration. If sheep 
 were placed on the run at once, and improvements com- 
 menced, there can be no doubt that within three years 
 the cost of management, &c. would be at least 20 
 per cent, less than that computed. In allowing for 
 the cost of water to be made the second and third years, 
 
 9 *
 
 132 SHEEP. 
 
 a great reduction has been made, as the cost of plant, 
 &c. would not have to be calculated ; and experience 
 has shown that, after stocking a run, plenty of water 
 that has not been permanent before becomes so, as 
 the country is trodden in by the stock. Due allowance 
 may, therefore, be made for a certain amount of natural 
 water lasting permanently. 
 
 ESTIMATE OF EXPENDITURE. 
 
 First Year. 
 
 Cost of 40,000 ewes, and driving them to station 40,000 
 Fencing four paddocks five miles square ; fencing 
 
 to consist of five wires, at 50 per mile . 4,000 
 
 Dams to be constructed in each paddock . . 4,000 
 
 Wool-sheds, hut and yards. . . . . 8,000 
 
 Management, at 100 per 1,000 sheep j . 4,000 
 
 Horses, plant, and contingencies . . 2,000 
 
 Earns . , . . . 1,200 
 
 68,200 
 Second Year. 
 
 Cost of fencing paddocks for first year's lambs, 
 
 say 70 per cent, on 28,000 sheep ; three 
 
 paddocks as above 3,000 
 
 Dams made in paddocks . . ' . . . 2,000 
 Management, 100 per 1,000, on 68,000 sheep . 6,800 
 
 11,800 
 Third Year. 
 
 There would be 54,000 ewes to lamb, which at 
 70 per cent, would be 87,800 lambs, for 
 which fencing would have to be put up, say 
 
 at a cost of 4,000 
 
 Expenditure for water . '. . . . 2,000 
 Management, 96,000 at 100 per 1,000 . . 9,600 
 
 15,600
 
 SHEEP. 133 
 
 Fourth Year. 
 
 There would be in all 132,000 sheep on the run 
 by this time, and if it were intended to keep 
 the numbers at this, the cost of management 
 with that amount of sheep at 100 per 1,000 
 would be (though it certainly would not be more 
 than 80 per 1,000) 13,200 
 
 CAPITAL AND INCOME during four years expended on the 
 
 Property. 
 
 After paying the original owners in shares, it was 
 proposed to call up two-thirds of the remaining capital, 
 which, after deducting 5,000 due to the original 
 owners in cash, would leave 48,333 6s. 8d. to com- 
 mence operations with, the balance to be called up as 
 agreed on. 
 
 Capital, two- thirds of 80,000, less 5,000 paid 
 
 to original owners 
 
 Clip of 1st year, 40,000 sheep at 4s. nett . . 
 2nd ,, 68,000 
 
 3rd 96,000 
 
 4th 132,000 
 
 Sale of increase, 14,000 wethers, half of first 
 
 year's increase, at 5s. per head . . . 3,500 
 
 119,033 6 8 
 
 EXPENDITURE. 
 
 First year . . 58,200 
 
 Second year . 11,800 
 
 Third year 15,600 
 
 Fourth year 18,200 
 
 98,800 
 
 At the end of four years, supposing the number of 
 sheep to be kept at 132,000, the station would be 
 worth at least 150,000, and should return an annual 
 profit of fully 30,000.
 
 134 DEOUGHT. 
 
 In fair seasons, with good management, experience 
 shows that the above figures are below rather than 
 above what is certain to be realised from working a 
 good piece of sheep country. Against this, there is 
 always the danger of a drought such as the whole of 
 New South Wales and Queensland are now suffering 
 from. An ordinary drought can be provided against by 
 the precaution of storing water, and by carefully avoiding 
 over-stocking the country. But a period of such excep- 
 tional severity as the drought which has now (Dec. 1884) 
 lasted for nearly two years in the above countries, cannot 
 fail to do a certain amount of injury to everyone, and, of 
 course, brings utter ruin to all who have not provided 
 an artificial storage of water. A great deal of well- 
 sinking has been done lately in Queensland, and so far 
 with very satisfactory results. In many parts of the 
 Burke district, round the Gulf, water has been struck 
 at a few feet below the surface, which, of course, increases 
 the value of the country considerably. 
 
 The effects of a drought in Australia at the present 
 time are not nearly so disastrous as was the case for- 
 merly. In the first place, from the amount of artificial 
 water that has been made, the country is far better fitted 
 to withstand a severe season. In the second place, the 
 extraordinary rallying powers of the country have been 
 so conclusively proved, that a drought, even although 
 the mortality among the stock at the time may be very 
 heavy, does not produce the commercial crisis that in- 
 variably followed in the early days. The banks see 
 that it is their interest to go on backing the squatters 
 who are in their books, instead of selling them up, as 
 they used to do ; and the squatters whose stations are
 
 THE GULF-COUNTfiY. 135 
 
 free from debt simply lay themselves oat to cut down 
 expenses in every way, and wait for better times, in- 
 stead of giving way to panic and putting their property 
 in the market at a ruinous reduction in price. A run 
 of bad seasons may make pastoral property almost un- 
 saleable for the time, owing to the reduction it produces 
 in the amount of floating capital throughout the country ; 
 but it has not the effect of materially lowering prices, 
 except in the case of unstocked and outlying runs. 
 
 Civilisation is continually extending further inland 
 from the coast, and as it advances the halcyon days of 
 the squatter are swept away. It is in the early part of 
 his tenure that he must look to realise vast profits ; for 
 when once his run is thrown open for selection, he 
 must be prepared to secure the freehold of a great por- 
 tion of it at a heavy outlay, and his subsequent profits 
 will not exceed 10 per cent, on the money expended. 
 
 There is a fine opening at the present time for invest- 
 ing capital in developing the country in the Gulf district 
 of Queensland. A great deal of it is allowed to be 
 equal to any sheep country hi Queensland, and in point 
 of carriage always a heavy item of expenditure on a 
 sheep-station it compares most favourably with the 
 central and western districts, where sheep are now raised 
 most profitably; for the distance to Normanton and 
 Burketown, on the Gulf of Carpentaria, is not above 
 300 miles. Ifr further possesses the incalculable advan- 
 tage of being free for many years to come from all 
 danger of selection, and, altogether, it is undoubtedly 
 the " coming country" of Australia ; for eventually one 
 of the chief outlets to the commerce of the continent 
 must inevitably be a port on the Gulf of Carpentaria.
 
 136 NEW LAND ACT. 
 
 An English company has recently been formed, with 
 a capital of 275,000, to work a large tract of country 
 in this district ; and with good management there is no 
 doubt that they will get an excellent return for the 
 money invested. 
 
 The new Land Bill in Queensland is not yet through 
 Committee, but from the draft there is every reason to 
 believe that it will be a most favourable one for the 
 squatters, the main feature of it being that while half 
 the squatter's run is taken from him and thrown open 
 to selection^ his tenure of the remaining half is rendered 
 secure. For the half which is thrown open he can, 
 of course, compete on equal terms with any other 
 selector. 
 
 It is an ill wind that blows no one any good, and there 
 is no doubt that the severity of the recent drought has 
 had an excellent effect in moderating the severity of the 
 Land Bill. Had the so-called reform been undertaken 
 by the Legislature in the midst of good seasons, when 
 the squatting industry was flourishing, there is no sort 
 of doubt that we should have been plundered in the 
 same ruthless manner that our neighbours in Victoria 
 have been, who have escaped the drought. " Cantat 
 vacuus coram lair one " ; and the Queensland squatters 
 have suffered so severely from natural causes, that even 
 the Government realised that it would be unwise to rob 
 them any further for the present.
 
 137 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 THE BLACKS. 
 
 IF you ask what sort of a race the Blacks of Australia 
 are, nine people out of ten will immediately answer 
 your question with that prompt assurance which no one 
 ever ventures to bring to bear on any subject, except 
 one about which he knows nothing and has thought 
 less, and will tell you that they are physically and 
 intellectually the most degraded race in the world. 
 
 There being no fixed standard to apply to the different 
 races of the world for the purpose of gauging their 
 physical and intellectual merits, we can only do so by 
 comparing them with each other. When compared 
 with those nations of the Old World who are uni- 
 versally admitted to have reached the highest point of 
 civilisation as yet known, the Australian Black is, of 
 course, a very low specimen of the human race indeed. 
 But compared with the Digger Indians, the Bushmen 
 of South Africa, and the inhabitants of not a few of 
 the islands of the Pacific Ocean, he at once assumes a 
 different aspect. I had thought of comparing him to 
 some of those savages by no means extinct in the Old 
 Country at the present day ; but the comparison seems 
 more than usually odious, and I will pass on.
 
 138 PHYSICAL 
 
 From a physical point of view, many of the Australian 
 Blacks are exceedingly fine specimens of humanity, and 
 possess great muscular strength. In swimming, diving, 
 climbing, picking up and following a trail, they are a 
 match for any race under the sun ; and in running and 
 jumping many of them would give a good deal of 
 trouble to a professional athlete. The extraordinary 
 art of throwing a boomerang is peculiar to them, and 
 with a spear they are not to be surpassed. 
 
 It will be objected that these are a very low class of 
 accomplishments, displaying, with the exception of the 
 boomerang, no inventive genius whatever. This is quite 
 true, but it is equally true that they answer the end in 
 view, which is more than can be said of many more ela- 
 borate contrivances ; and, as a rule, the simplest means 
 of obtaining an object are the best. Now the object of 
 an Australian Black, in common with most of his fellow- 
 creatures, is to provide himself with food ; and it has 
 been frequently brought forward as a proof of great 
 want of intelligence, that he has never invented a bow 
 and arrow for this purpose. But necessity, we all know, 
 is the mother of invention, and so long as a Black can 
 with perfect ease kill as many birds and beasts as he 
 wants with sticks and spears, it is hardly fair to accuse 
 him of want of intelligence for not employing the more 
 complicated appliances which are necessary in countries 
 where food is less plentiful and less easily obtained. 
 We might with equal justice and discernment abuse the 
 inhabitants of Upper Egypt, where it rains once in five 
 years, for not having invented umbrellas ; or the Esqui- 
 maux for not using refrigerators to preserve their meat. 
 That the Blacks are by no means deficient in natural
 
 BliACK-FKLJjOW PREPARING TO GO UP A TREE.
 
 SENSE OF HUMOUR. 139 
 
 ingenuity is proved by the stone-headed tomahawks, 
 heavy wooden swords, and bone-tipped spears which are 
 in use amongst the wildest of the tribes. No doubt, 
 when game becomes too wild or too scarce to be easily 
 killed with sticks and stones, they will invent some more 
 ingenious way of procuring it. 
 
 The countenances of these niggers, often very pleasing, 
 are seldom devoid of a good deal of intelligence, and 
 after a short intercourse with civilisation are highly 
 susceptible of that expression of finished rascality which 
 is usually supposed to be a peculiarity of the white 
 man. Their sense of humour and perception of the 
 ridiculous is exquisitely keen. A cow tumbling head 
 over heels across a log in the long grass, a man looking 
 for a pipe which he has got in his mouth, or a dog in 
 search of food upsetting something on to its own head, 
 and running away like the deuce, with nothing after it, 
 will make a black fellow laugh for a week afterwards 
 whenever he thinks of it. Nothing with the ghost of a 
 joke in it escapes him, and finer shades of humour that 
 are entirely lost upon many well-educated whites will 
 be instantly and thoroughly appreciated by him. 
 
 We had a black fellow on the station, by name 
 Wakarra, who was as pleasant a companion for a day's 
 ride as could be wished. It is not too much to say his 
 manners were those of a perfect gentleman. No amount 
 of hurry ever made him forget himself for an instant, 
 no scolding made him sulky, and no kindness made him 
 disrespectful. The graceful ease with which he used to 
 remove his. battered hat to any ladies that happened to 
 be staying on the station, was a sight that might have 
 moved an Old Country swell to tears of admiration.
 
 140 DOMESTIC HABITS. 
 
 He learned to read with ease, and had a most surprising 
 faculty for asking questions. One day he wanted to 
 know how the sun set and rose. I explained to him 
 that the earth went round, which he understood per- 
 fectly ; but when I told him how fast it went, he thought 
 for a bit, and asked why the trees and houses and 
 things did not all fall off-? I told him that they were 
 stuck on with a kind of invisible glue, which only par- 
 tially allayed his thirst for information. He is certainly 
 rather an extraordinary black, and perhaps hardly a fair 
 specimen of his race. But I never saw one upon whose 
 education so much pains had been bestowed ; and most 
 likely here, as elsewhere, there are just as good fish in 
 the sea as ever came out of it. 
 
 In acquiring the rudiments of civilisation, such as 
 drinking, lying, thieving, and twisting red handkerchiefs 
 round their heads, the Blacks show themselves to be 
 very apt pupils. But in all the higher branches of social 
 science they are very backward. For instance, when 
 their relations become incapacitated by age or disease 
 from following the wanderings of the tribe, they have a 
 nasty low habit of beating in their heads with a club, 
 instead of gently assisting the course of nature by giving 
 them little or nothing to eat, a method which I have 
 occasionally seen pursued with the greatest success by 
 the inhabitants of more civilised countries. Then, again, 
 they are extremely particular about their wives, and 
 resent any interference with them on the part of the 
 rest of the tribe, with a violence which civilised society 
 of modern times has branded as being in the worst 
 possible taste. 
 
 It has often been said that it is impossible to teach
 
 RELIGIOUS INSTRUCTION. 141 
 
 any sort of religion to the Australian Blacks. I never 
 heard of any great exertions being made in this direction ; 
 but undoubtedly the great obstacle to success would be 
 not so much a black fellow's want of intelligence, as his 
 unrestrained sense of the ridiculous. One of our poets 
 has declared that 
 
 Life is a jest, and all things show it ; 
 
 and seeing that it is impossible at the outset to impress 
 a nigger with the solemnity of religion, there is great 
 likelihood that he will fall in with the views of the 
 poet, and laugh at it immoderately. 
 
 I remember once trying to give a fairly intelligent 
 Black some idea of a future state. In the course of con- 
 versation he pointed up to the sky, and said : 
 
 "Big one Master stop up there? Where you been 
 see Him that One ? " 
 
 " Yowi" (yes), I replied, "you better believe it. By- 
 and-bye you see Him that One too." 
 
 After a pause he again inquired, " That One got a 
 store up there ? " 
 
 Now the possession of a store implies unlimited power 
 to a black fellow, so I promptly replied : 
 
 " My word ! altogether big one store up there. 
 Plenty flour, plenty tobacco ; supposin' you good one 
 nigger, by-and-bye you get plenty up there." 
 
 His next remark was, " I say ! you go along o' that 
 One by-and-bye ? " 
 
 "Yowi," said I, "mine think it. By-and-bye go 
 along o' that One, get wings, fly about close up like a 
 bird." 
 
 This appeared to interest him immensely, without
 
 142 OEEED AftD SUPERSTITION. 
 
 striking him as the least odd. But when I told him 
 that if he behaved well he would go there too, he had 
 barely time to say " Gammon ! " with an amount of 
 expression that no one but a nigger can put into that 
 one word, before rolling on to the ground in perfect 
 convulsions of laughter. That a white man should go 
 to heaven seemed perfectly natural to him ; but the 
 idea of a black fellow by any possibility getting there 
 too, struck him as so utterly funny that he went on 
 laughing for a week after whenever he saw me. 
 
 The Blacks that have received any religious instruc- 
 tion generally sneak up to you in the towns and offer 
 to parade their knowledge for a consideration. " I 
 say! you give it me one fellow sixpence, plenty mine 
 yabber-yabber belief ! I say ! Glass of whiskey Our 
 Father," and so on. 
 
 The most notable instance of anything like success 
 attending the attempt to proselytise a Black, was that 
 of an old nigger who once observed, in answer to some 
 inquiry as to his views of a future state, that, " sup- 
 posin' he was a bad nigger, altogether debbil-debbil 
 come and take him off." 
 
 Their ordinary creed is very simple. " Directly me 
 bung (die) me jump up white feller," and this seems to 
 be the height of their ambition. 
 
 They have some sort of religion or superstition of 
 their own. When a warrior of celebrity dies, or suc- 
 cumbs to a blow on the head from a nullah, they skin 
 him with the greatest care, and, after eating as much of 
 him as they feel inclined for, they pick his bones beau- 
 tifully clean and wrap them up in his skin. Instances 
 have been known where Blacks have carried these
 
 MUMMIES. MISDIRECTED ZEAL. 143 
 
 relics about with them in all the wanderings of their 
 tribe for many years. Sometimes they embalm their 
 chiefs, but very rarely one would suppose, as up to the 
 present time very few of these mummies have ever 
 fallen into the hands of white men. One of them is 
 now in the Queensland Museum at Brisbane, and, 
 according to the account of the tribe from which it came, 
 it is over two hundred years old. 
 
 Whether it would be possible to teach Christianity to 
 the Australian Blacks, or not, I do not pretend to say ; 
 but I am very certain that it would be far better to 
 begin by teaching them to behave as respectable mem- 
 bers of the community. By the time that they have 
 learned to refrain from smashing the skulls of decrepit 
 relations, from killing a man simply because he has 
 some article about him which they wish for, and from 
 eating him afterwards if they are hungry, it will be 
 quite time enough to direct their attention to a future 
 existence. The task of persuading an average nigger 
 that punishment follows crime, and prosperity is the 
 reward of virtue, will be found quite arduous enough to 
 satisfy the most zealous of missionaries, even though it 
 be the business of these admirable men to " turn black 
 into white," after a fashion. Having, at any rate, got 
 him to comprehend that there are certain rules that he 
 cannot transgress with impunity, and certain enjoyments 
 that he can only obtain by exertion, he will be more fit 
 to be initiated into the mysteries of Christianity than 
 when he had no idea of right and wrong. 
 
 A more lamentable example of misdirected zeal than 
 is afforded by the South Sea Islanders cannot be 
 imagined. If we may take as examples the large
 
 144 MISSIONARY BOYS. 
 
 number of Kanakas who come over to Australia every 
 year, we are obliged to conclude that any teaching that 
 they get from the missionaries does them infinitely 
 more harm than good. No one will have anything to 
 do with a " missionary boy," if he can by any means 
 get another one. We cannot for a moment allow the 
 blame of this to rest on the religion taught, and we 
 should be sorry to think that it was entirely the fault 
 of those who teach it. Experience proves that it has 
 nothing whatever to do with the Kanakas themselves ; 
 for until they are persuaded to become Christians, they 
 are an orderly, contented, and industrious race. The 
 fault, then, must lie in the manner of teaching. 
 
 Religion, someone says, makes an excellent roof, but 
 a very bad floor ; and it is the height of folly to try and 
 teach Christianity to a savage before he has any idea of 
 those fundamental laws which, quite independent of any 
 revealed religion, govern the welfare of a community. 
 It is not only teaching him to run before he can walk, 
 but expecting him to jump over obstacles at every other 
 step which, from the earliest ages, have brought the 
 most eminent divines to grief. More than this, it is 
 putting an exceedingly dangerous weapon into the 
 hands of an inexperienced and mischievous child. 
 
 For example, suppose that you make a savage under- 
 stand that the God whom you are teaching him to serve 
 has bade all the rich in this world to sell all that they 
 have, and give it to the poor. What will be the effect 
 upon his mind ? An earthly paradise of rum, blankets, 
 and tobacco is at once opened up before him ; and having 
 most probably gone to sleep the night before without 
 even one of these luxuries, he must inevitably arrive
 
 EFFECT OP liELIGIOUS TEACHING. 145 
 
 at one of two conclusions, either that you are telling 
 him a lie, or that there are a number of rich people 
 around him sadly ignorant of their duties. 
 
 Most probably the latter is the view to which he 
 will incline, and, fully persuaded that he is only pro- 
 moting the gospel of peace on earth and good-will 
 towards men, he will set off to the nearest plantation, 
 and give the owner of it a lesson in practical Christianity 
 by removing as many articles of value as he can, and 
 retiring to distribute them amongst his friends. Be 
 this as it may, one broad truth remains, that in attempt- 
 ing to convert a South Sea Islander into a Christian, 
 the missionaries rarely fail to convert an innocent and 
 industrious savage into an idle and worthless scoundrel. 
 
 Nearly every station in Queensland has one or two 
 black boys employed on it as stock-riders, in which 
 capacity they are very useful, as they soon learn to 
 ride well, and are invaluable in tracking lost cattle and 
 sheep. As a rule, however, they are not much use after 
 they get about twenty years eld. By that time they 
 have begun to find out that they are useful ; and as 
 their idea of the value of their services seldom corre- 
 sponds with that of their employer, they generally get 
 sent away. Having once been employed by white men, 
 they would instantly be killed if they tried to rejoin 
 their tribe ; so they generally take to loafing about 
 the nearest town, and sooner or later die of drink. 
 
 There is a school now, down in Mackay, to teach 
 Blacks to read and write, and get their living by some 
 sort of work. It has hardly been started long enough 
 to see how it will work. At present the only place 
 where Blacks are employed in any numbers is upon the 
 
 10
 
 146 SEMI-CIVILISED BLACKS. 
 
 Mackay tobacco -plantations, and their being so is a 
 most unqualified nuisance to the district. Of course 
 any effort to induce the Blacks to work for their living, 
 instead of spearing other people's cattle and picnicing 
 on their own relations, deserves the highest praise. 
 But we solemnly protest against their being turned 
 loose on society before their education is completed; 
 and we infinitely prefer having to deal with an entirely 
 wild Black, than with one who has imbibed a great 
 deal of mischief, and very little good, from a temporary 
 residence amongst white men. The services of these 
 Blacks are only required for a few months during the 
 year on the plantations, and they are then allowed to 
 wander off into the Bush, and amuse themselves until 
 the busy season comes round again. Familiarity having, 
 of course, bred contempt, and cunning taken the place 
 of timidity, they no longer scruple to turn the hitherto 
 sacred runs into their Happy Hunting-grounds. Pic- 
 nics on the cattle camps, and wild chases amongst if 
 not after the cattle, form the principal amusements 
 of these emancipated scholars. The results are appal- 
 ling. We have all heard of swine urged by devils 
 running violently down a steep place and being lost 
 to their owners in the sea. Here in the Antipodes 
 we observe that our cattle, under similar circum- 
 stances, pursue an opposite but equally disastrous 
 course, and are lost to us in the mountain ranges. 
 
 It is annoying to go and muster a camp where a 
 few days before you had been gloating over thirty or 
 forty fat bullocks, and to find that the Blacks have 
 been scouring the whole country around, and fright- 
 ening the cattle into fits ; so that instead of thirty fat
 
 NATIVE POLICE. 147 
 
 bullocks you probably only find half-a-dozen wretched 
 crow-baits, with staring coats, and protruding ribs, 
 and altogether such a played-out appearance, you can 
 hardly believe they are the same animals that a few 
 days before you watched swaggering up to camp, with 
 that satisfied well-to-do air that so endears a fat 
 bullock to the eye of his owner. In the more settled 
 districts along the coast of southern Queensland, and 
 in New South Wales and Victoria, the Blacks have 
 given up spearing cattle, and, beyond frightening them 
 occasionally, do not do much harm. But in the north 
 and interior of Queensland they are still very trouble- 
 some, and never lose a chance of killing cattle and 
 horses, and spearing any unfortunate shepherd or 
 traveller if they get a chance. They will follow a man 
 for days, just keeping out of his sight, until they get 
 an opportunity for killing him. Sometimes, when they 
 feel more than usually cheerful, even the half tame 
 Blacks in the settled districts cannot resist the tempta- 
 tion of spearing a traveller. It is not long since they 
 killed two South Sea Islanders on the range about 
 fifteen miles from our head station. For the purpose 
 of repressing this kind of joviality, there are native 
 police-stations, at tolerably wide intervals, all over the 
 country. At each of these are stationed a few black 
 troopers, under the charge of a white man. These 
 troopers become perfect devils for hunting down 
 and killing the wild tribes from which they have them- 
 selves been taken when young. The duty of the white 
 man who commands them is a very unpleasant one. 
 Whenever the wild Blacks in the neighbourhood become 
 troublesome, and take to spearing cattle, or otherwise 
 
 10 *
 
 148 "DISPERSING" THE BLACKS. 
 
 misbehave themselves, it is his business to sally out 
 with his mounted troopers, and "disperse" them, the 
 meaning of which word is well known all through the 
 colony. If it can be proved that in " dispersing " a mob 
 of Blacks he has killed a single one except in self- 
 defence, he is liable by the laws of the country to be 
 hanged. On the other hand, he knows perfectly well that 
 unless he manages to shoot down a decent number of 
 them before they can escape, his services will soon be dis- 
 pensed with. The Government will then replace him 
 by a man who is better able to understand the peculiar 
 form of justice which hangs a man for being detected 
 in carrying out his recognised duty. It is very difficult 
 to know what to do with the Blacks. It seems unjust 
 to drive them out of a country to which they have at 
 least as good a right as we have. On the other hand, 
 we know that if they are allowed to remain, they take 
 every opportunity of killing us and our cattle. It is 
 impossible to tame them unless they are caught very 
 young, and even then they are not always to be relied 
 on. Whether the Blacks deserve any mercy at the 
 hands of the pioneering squatters is an open question, 
 but that they get none is certain. They are a doomed 
 race, and before many years they will be completely 
 wiped out of the land. 
 
 A gentleman who shall be nameless, but who once 
 resided at a place well known as the Long Lagoon, in 
 the interior of Queensland, is still famous for the 
 tremendous "haul" of Blacks which he made in one 
 day. They had been giving him a great deal of trouble, 
 and had lately killed four of his shepherds in succession. 
 This was past a joke, and he decided that the niggers
 
 POISON. 149 
 
 required something really startling to keep them quiet, 
 and he hit upon the following device, which everyone 
 must admit was sufficiently startling. One day, when 
 he knew that a large mob of Blacks were watching 
 his movements, he packed a large dray with rations, 
 and set off with it from the head station, as if he was 
 going the rounds of the shepherds' huts. When he 
 got opposite to the Long Lagoon, one of the wheels 
 came off the dray, and down it went with a crash. This 
 appeared to annoy him considerably ; but after looking 
 pensively at it for some time, he seemed to conclude 
 that there was nothing to be done, so he unhitched 
 the horses and led them back to the station. No sooner 
 had he disappeared than, of course, all the Blacks came 
 up to the dray to see what was in it. To their great 
 delight, it contained a vast supply of flour, beef, and 
 sugar. With appetites sharpened by a prolonged absti- 
 nence from such delicacies, they lost no time in carrying 
 the rations down to the waterside, and forthwith 
 devoured them as only a Black-fellow can. 
 
 Alas for the greediness of the savage ! alas for the 
 cruelty of his white brother ! The rations contained 
 about as much strychnine as anything else, and not 
 one of the mob escaped. When they awoke in the 
 morning they were all dead corpses. More than a 
 hundred Blacks were stretched out by this ruse of the 
 owner of the Long Lagoon. In a dry season, when 
 the water sinks low, their skulls are occasionally to 
 be found half buried in the mud. 
 
 As a rule, however, few people are ambitious of in- 
 dulging in such wholesale slaughter, and, when the 
 Blacks are troublesome, it is generally considered suffi-
 
 150 "MYALLS" DEFEATED. 
 
 cient punishment to go out and shoot one or two. 
 They are easily discouraged in their wild state, espe- 
 cially by anything that they cannot understand. Not 
 very long after this station was first taken up, while 
 the wild Blacks were still very bad round about, my 
 partner Rice was digging one day in the garden. Sud- 
 denly he became aware that half-a-dozen of these 
 " Myalls," as they are called, were creeping towards 
 him through the long grass. Armed with spears and 
 boomerangs, they were evidently on anything but hospi- 
 table thoughts intent. Eice waited until they got about 
 fifty yards off, and then, as they stood up ready to sling 
 their spears at him, he suddenly pointed his spade at 
 them like a gun. Two warriors fell flat down on the 
 spot from sheer fright, upsetting a third one who was 
 just about starting to flee. Two of the remaining three 
 tried to run away so fast that they hardly made any 
 progress at all, and the last one, while scattering a 
 Parthian glance at the object of terror in his rear, ran 
 with awful violence against a gigantic gum-tree. The 
 prevailing idea of all six of them seemed to be a wish 
 for seclusion, and in an incredibly short space of time 
 they had all picked themselves up and disappeared over 
 the horizon in a cloud of dust. 
 
 Some of the northern Blacks, however, are not so easily 
 frightened. They are a much finer race than those in 
 the interior and the south, and will stand up and fight 
 like anything. 
 
 There seems to be an inherent dislike in all Blacks 
 to anything like regular work. They will hit out like 
 Trojans for about a week, and then they cave in, and 
 declare they are sick. A few days' spell, and the diver-
 
 A NEW SORT OF PADDOCK. 151 
 
 sion of a kangaroo -hunt will sometimes induce them to 
 try another term of treadmill; but, as a rule, they 
 never stick long to any heavy work. Sometimes, when 
 they see any work going on in the Bush, the half-tame 
 ones come up and offer to help, and are quite content 
 with half a stick of tobacco and a good feed for a day's 
 work. Sometimes they content themselves with criti- 
 cising, without offering to assist. 
 
 There was a party (I use the word in its plural sense) 
 putting up a telegraph-line not far from here. One 
 day a Black-fellow sauntered up to them with the easy 
 air of an owner of the soil, the freedom of his move- 
 ments being unhampered by anything but a red cotton 
 handkerchief twisted round his head. Securing the loan 
 of an atom of tobacco from the superintendent, he put 
 it in his mouth and sat down on a log. Presently he 
 glanced contemptuously at the telegraph-wire high over- 
 head, and remarked : 
 
 " Altogether fool mine think it white-feller." 
 
 This did not look promising for an extended con- 
 versation. The superintendent, however, had the 
 curiosity to ask why ; whereupon the child of Nature 
 pointed to the telegraph-posts and wires, and said : 
 
 "You think it bullock stop along o' that one pad- 
 dock ? My word ! you plenty stoopid ! " 
 
 And then, without listening to the infuriated official's 
 explanation that it was not a paddock that he was 
 putting up at all, the Black-man sauntered off again 
 into the Bush. 
 
 They are incurable nomads, these Blacks, and never 
 stay long in one place. They wander about the country 
 in mobs, invariably accompanied by a vast army of the
 
 152 NORTHERN BLACKS. 
 
 most wretched-looking mange-stricken dogs. They 
 camp for a while where there is a good supply of food, 
 and when that is done they move on. A couple of 
 hours after they have camped they have completed as 
 good a house as a Black-fellow ever wants, by stripping 
 a few sheets of bark off the nearest trees and propping 
 them up with saplings. 
 
 They are passionately fond of tobacco, and the chil- 
 dren begin to smoke, when tobacco is plentiful, literally 
 before they can walk. I have often seen a little object, 
 not many months old, slung over its mother's shoulder, 
 puffing away at a short pipe stuck in its mouth. 
 
 Away in the far north, round about the Herbert and 
 the Cooktown district, numbers of white men are " put 
 down " by the Blacks every year. A few months ago, 
 the manager of Eocklands, a station on the Herbert 
 water adjoining ours, was killed ; and many a solitary 
 traveller who disappears in the lonely wilds of the Bush 
 of northern Queensland doubtless owes his death to 
 these black devils, who are always lurking in his tracks, 
 waiting for a favourable chance to kill him. The tra- 
 veller in the north carries his life in his hand. Any day 
 he is liable to be attacked by the Blacks ; and at night 
 when he lies down, he can never be sure that his awaken- 
 ing may not be a spear through his ribs, or a blow on 
 the head from a tomahawk. 
 
 It is very seldom that the Blacks will attack a man 
 on horseback. They will sooner follow him for days, 
 until, perhaps, they get a chance at him when he is off 
 his horse, stooping down to drink at a water-hole. 
 Upon one occasion a traveller was riding quickly round 
 the corner of a scrub, when he came suddenly on to a
 
 A B.LACK OIN AT HOME.
 
 SAVED BY A LAUGH. 153 
 
 camp of wild Blacks. His horse propped short, and 
 sent him flying over its head right into the middle of 
 them. If he had displayed the slightest signs of alarm 
 he would most certainly have been instantly killed ; 
 instead of which he burst into wild shrieks of laughter, 
 as if he had done it for a joke, which so delighted the 
 Blacks that they all began to laugh too, and let him go 
 unmolested, after helping him to catch his horse.
 
 154 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 SUGAR. 
 
 ALTHOUGH the cultivation of wheat is developing very 
 rapidly, sugar-growing is at present the only agricultural 
 industry of any importance that Queensland possesses. 
 Her climate and soil are no doubt favourable to others, 
 and, in small quantities, tobacco, coffee, and cotton have 
 been grown successfully. But, so far, sugar alone has 
 been cultivated to any great extent, and undoubtedly it 
 is an industry that has a great future before it. It is 
 only of late years that it has commanded much atten- 
 tion, and it is extremely interesting to see the rapid 
 progress that has been made. For along time sugar- 
 growing languished. As is always the case in a new 
 country, the pioneers were not altogether successful, and 
 the losses which many of the early planters sustained 
 deterred capitalists from investing their money until it 
 was proved whether sugar could be successfully grown 
 or not. 
 
 To Mackay belongs the honour of being the parent of 
 all sugar-growing in Queensland. In 1866 Mr. John 
 Spiller first made the experiment of growing cane in 
 this district, and the end of the year saw twelve acres 
 growing, which was increased to 140 acres the following 
 year.
 
 BUST. 155 
 
 In 1868 the first mill was erected by Mr. John Ewen 
 Davidson, and the output for the first season was 230 
 tons of sugar. From this date the progress was steady 
 until 1875, when a serious visitation of " rust " took 
 place. This disease for a long time puzzled all the 
 efforts of scientific men and planters either to discover 
 its cause or to arrest its progress, and its effects were so 
 serious that at one time the sugar industry seemed 
 about to entirely collapse. Many of the planters were 
 working on borrowed capital, and the ravages of the 
 rust were so great as to completely ruin some of them. 
 Even now the real origin of the disease remains a 
 mystery. All that is certain is that some varieties of 
 cane are more liable to it than others, and the epidemic 
 has so far been of service that it has enabled the planters 
 to determine what varieties can be most profitably grown, 
 and turned their attention to the economical working of 
 their plantations a consideration that had been too 
 much effaced by the enormous profits made before the 
 appearance of the disease. 
 
 In two years the district had pretty well recovered 
 itself, and in 1879 the crop amounted to 10,000 tons. 
 The following season was a bad one, and the yield fell 
 off to 7,500 tons. In 1881 10,000 tons was again 
 reached, and then a " rush " on sugar commenced among 
 the southern capitalists. The success of sugar-growing 
 was considered to be assured, and, after the manner of a 
 new country, a perfect spasm of speculation set in. 
 Many of the older planters of Mackay took advantage of 
 the sugar mania that prevailed down south, and sold 
 their plantations at high prices. 
 
 The profits made about this time were very great.
 
 156 LARGE PROFITS. 
 
 One of the oldest planters in Mackay in one year cleared 
 ,40,000 on his crop, and the next year sold one of his 
 plantations for 95,000 and the other one for 85,000. 
 The run on land anywhere within twenty miles of 
 Mackay was astounding, and every acre, good, bad, and 
 indifferent, was taken up. Land that had been for 
 years considered barely worth paying rent for as a pas- 
 toral selection, and that nothing but the most vivid 
 imagination could suppose capable of growing sugar, 
 was readily disposed of to southern speculators at 10 
 per acre. 
 
 In the course of two years (1 882, 1883) eleven new 
 mills were erected, with a crushing capacity of 12,000 
 tons per season, bringing the total of the whole district 
 to more than 30,000 tons. Taking the average price at 
 J625 per ton, the annual output of the district has risen 
 in fifteen years from J03,500 to 350,000, and the total 
 value of the sugar grown during that time is fully 
 two millions sterling. When we consider that this 
 represents merely the probationary period of sugar- 
 growing in the district, we may safely predict that its 
 future is a great one ; and the impetus that the industry 
 has received from the tremendous accession of capital 
 invested during the last few years, makes it certain that 
 the progress that has already been made will be trifling 
 compared to the advance that will take place during the 
 next ten years. 
 
 There are now thirty mills at work in the district, and 
 others in course of construction. The white population 
 has more than doubled during the past two years, and 
 now amounts to 7,000. 
 
 As soon as it was proved that sugar could be grown
 
 OVER-SPECULATION. 157 
 
 successfully in Mackay, the rush for sugar-land extended 
 to every other part of Queensland. To the north of 
 Mackay, on the Burdekin, Johnson, and Herbert rivers, 
 every acre of land was taken up, and a great deal of 
 sugar is now being grown there. At present it seems 
 doubtful whether the climate of any other part of Queens- 
 land is as favourable for growing sugar as that of 
 Mackay. On the Burdekin the rainfall is too light ; on 
 the Johnson and northern rivers it is too heavy, amount- 
 ing sometimes to 180 inches a year. In Mackay the 
 average rainfall is 83 inches, which is distributed 
 over a longer period than almost any other district, a 
 circumstance which is extremely favourable to the growth 
 of the young cane. 
 
 There is very little doubt that a great deal of money 
 will be dropped in these northern sugar speculations. 
 When the sugar mania set in, people who knew nothing 
 about sugar, except the market price, rushed at it like a 
 bull at a gate, quoting the enormous profits made in the 
 Mackay district, and firmly believing that nothing but 
 land and capital were necessary to grow sugar anywhere 
 on the coast of Queensland. They quite forgot that not 
 even the favourable climate of Mackay saved numbers 
 of people from being ruined in the process of discovering 
 what varieties of cane were best suited to that particular 
 locality. It is probable that in the future the growing 
 of sugar will develop into an enormous industry, and 
 will include many other districts besides Mackay ; but 
 it is certain that numbers of people will be ruined in 
 the process of developing it. The prices paid for land 
 during the run on sugar-growing were far too high to 
 allow of any profit, and in many cases, even supposing
 
 158 BISKS OF SUGAR-GROWING. 
 
 the climate to turn out favourable, the expense of 
 clearing will be ruinous. By-and-bye the reaction will 
 set in. Most of the pioneers will collapse, and a fresh 
 lot of capitalists will come and buy up their improve- 
 ments for next to nothing, and make a real good thing 
 out of it. 
 
 Sugar has also been grown for some time at Mary- 
 borough and Bundaberg, to the south of Mackay ; but 
 the frosts to which these districts are liable make it 
 an exceedingly risky speculation. On the whole, 
 Mackay, as it was the first, so it is also the finest, 
 sugar district in Queensland; and is likely always to 
 hold a leading position, whatever may be the progress 
 of the more northern parts. The great rock ahead of 
 sugar-growing in Queensland at present is the difficulty 
 of obtaining coloured labour, and it is astonishing that 
 the planters do not display more enthusiasm on the 
 subject. They are at present waiting with apparent 
 indifference until their masters the working-men 
 have made up their minds how to legislate in the 
 matter. 
 
 No class in the colony is so entirely at the mercy 
 of legislation as the planters. No class has shown 
 itself more apathetic to its own interests until it is too 
 late to protect them. The planters are a small com- 
 munity ; but the absolute identity of their interests, and 
 the fact that numbers of them live close together, 
 makes it very easy for them to co-operate. Their trade 
 is one involving an enormous outlay of capital, and a 
 heavy current expenditure, so that any interruption in 
 the work on the plantations is a matter which entails 
 very serious loss. They are absolutely dependent for
 
 THE SOUTH SEA LABOUR TRADE. 159 
 
 their existence upon being able to obtain a sufficient 
 supply of coloured labour to do their work in the cane. 
 It has been conclusively proved, in the first place, that 
 white men cannot and will not do the work done by 
 niggers in the field ; and, in the second place, that if 
 white labour were available, it would only be at wages 
 which the planter could never afford to pay. The sugar 
 industry, therefore, is entirely dependent upon coloured 
 labour. 
 
 Now in this matter the planter knows perfectly well 
 that every man's hand is against him, and yet he takes 
 no pains to protect himself. The conditions under which 
 the existing labour traffic with the South Sea Islands is 
 conducted, leave much to be desired. Though the 
 frightful accounts which are constantly circulated by 
 sensation-mongers and alarmists as to the cruelty prac- 
 tised towards the Islanders are very much exaggerated, 
 still there is just enough truth in them to make it ex- 
 tremely dangerous for the planter that things should be 
 allowed to continue as they are. The labour trade 
 should not be in the hands of the planters and specu- 
 lating captains of schooners. It should be conducted by 
 the Government at the expense of the employers. I am 
 taking the planter's view, of course. As far as the 
 kanakas themselves are concerned, the fact of the Go- 
 vernment of Queensland superintending the trade by 
 no means implies that all abuses connected with it would 
 cease, but rather the reverse. But it would take away 
 one great weapon of attack from the working-man, which 
 is the accusation of cruelty and slave-driving that is now 
 so constantly urged against the planters. 
 
 The legislation of Queensland is entirely in the hands
 
 160 RAPID PROGRESS OP MACKAY. 
 
 of the working-men ; and it is only in a new colony, 
 where a six-months' residence suffrage gives full scope 
 to ignorance and prejudice, that we can realise the 
 suicidal mistakes which they are occasionally capable 
 of making. A more extraordinary instance of inability 
 on the part of working-men to understand their own in- 
 terests than is afforded by the agitation against coloured 
 labour in Queensland, cannot be imagined. 
 
 We will take the case of Mackay. Before sugar- 
 growing was started there were not a hundred residents 
 in the whole district, and there were never likely to be 
 any more as long as it was merely used for pastoral pur- 
 poses. It is now one of the most thriving and rapidly- 
 increasing places in Queensland, with a population, as 
 has been above stated, of 7,000 whites and 3,500 kana- 
 kas. Last year's sugar crop was worth over ,300,000, 
 and next year's will be very much larger. The amount 
 of money annually expended in wages in the district is 
 startling. The monthly pay-sheet of one of the planta- 
 tions alone is ,5,000. There is a very fair foundry in 
 the town, and the demand for timber is so great as posi- 
 tively to have run the southern markets dry at times. 
 Houses are being run up as fast as material can be pro- 
 cured, and are let before the piles to carry them are in 
 the ground. 
 
 The whole of this progress is entirely due to the 
 development of the sugar industry, which is, as has been 
 said, dependent upon coloured labour. If this were 
 withdrawn, the Mackay district would shut up like a 
 match-box. And yet, so obstinate are the prejudices 
 of the working-classes in the colony, that the very men 
 in the district themselves, carpenters, sawyers, plough-
 
 COLOURED LABOUR. 161 
 
 men, engineers, and all who get their living entirely 
 from the plantations, are foremost in the insane outcry 
 that has been raised against coloured labour. The 
 planters are represented as slave-drivers, and as taking 
 the bread out of the mouths of white men to put it into 
 the mouths of niggers. The fact is that the niggers do 
 work in the plantations that no white man could or 
 would do in such a climate, and by doing it they develop 
 an industry that supplies thousands of white workmen 
 with a means of living in clover. 
 
 In return the working-men of Queensland are doing 
 all they can to bring in a Bill for prohibiting the intro- 
 duction of Black labour, which, if passed, would for 
 a time paralyse the growing of sugar throughout the 
 colony. That so important an industry as the sugar- 
 growing of Queensland has now become could be per- 
 manently destroyed by any such false legislation, I do 
 not for a moment believe. 
 
 The result of any attempt on the part of the Brisbane 
 Government to stop Black labour would inevitably be 
 to make the north of Queensland, where the sugar is 
 grown, insist upon separation from the south. But 
 in the meantime, before this could be done, the trade 
 would sustain a very serious shock, and the loss to the 
 planters would be enormous. To many of them, who 
 work upon borrowed capital, it would mean utter ruin. 
 Seeing that the planters are perfectly well aware of 
 the feeling of the working-classes in the colony against 
 coloured labour, it is really surprising that they do not 
 take more pains to prevent its finding expression in 
 legislation. Were the planters to form a sort of trades 
 union, and shut up their mills for a couple of months, 
 
 11
 
 162 KIDNAPPING. 
 
 the white men would get a practical lesson that would 
 enable them to determine the exact source from which 
 their livelihood is derived, with an accuracy they never 
 would forget. 
 
 Up to the present time, the coloured labour market 
 of Queensland has been supplied by kanakas, as the 
 inhabitants of the South Sea Islands are called. The 
 word " kanaka " is really a Maori word, signifying a 
 man, but in Australia it has come to be applied exclu- 
 sively to the inhabitants of the South Sea Islands. The 
 trade is carried on by means of schooners which run 
 between Queensland and the Islands. These vessels 
 are usually the joint property of one or two planters 
 and the captain, who share the risks and the profits of 
 the venture between them. At first there was not much 
 difficulty in inducing the kanakas to come to Queensland 
 and enter into an engagement for a term of years' 
 work there. But as the demand increased, greater 
 difficulty was experienced in obtaining a sufficient 
 supply ; and there is no doubt that in many cases the 
 captains of these vessels resorted to unlawful means 
 to induce the kanakas to leave their homes. Kidnap- 
 ping became frequent, and as a matter of course this 
 aroused the resentment of the natives, who in one or 
 two instances have retaliated by massacring the crews 
 of the schooners that visited their islands. The kana- 
 kas themselves, when well treated, are a cheerful, hard- 
 working, and rather intelligent race. 
 
 The inhabitants of some of the islands are very 
 much superior to those of the others, but all of them 
 are admirably qualified for the work that is required 
 of them in the cane -fields of Queensland. Their agree-
 
 KANAKAS. 163 
 
 ment with the planters is for a term of three years, 
 during which time they are fed, housed, and supplied 
 with blankets, and receive J66 a year wages. At the 
 expiration of their agreement the planter is bound to 
 ship them back to their own country at his own ex- 
 pense, if it be their wish to return. But they can, if 
 they like, remain in Queensland and enter into other 
 engagements for such wages as may be agreed upon. 
 Many of them remain as indoor servants, in which 
 capacity they are very useful, and some of them make 
 excellent cooks. 
 
 There is not the slightest doubt that as a general 
 rule they are well treated on the plantations, and 
 perfectly contented and happy, There are, of course, 
 instances where they have been treated with injustice 
 and cruelty, but they are the exception and not the 
 rule; and a convincing proof of this is to be found 
 in the fact that many kanakas elect to remain in 
 the country of their own free will, and many others 
 return a second time after having paid a visit to their 
 native country. They are strong, sturdy men, as a 
 rule, capable of doing a good day's work, but their 
 constitutions seem to be perfectly incapable of stand- 
 ing against any sort of illness. Directly a kanaka 
 gets ill he lies down, and apparently very often dies 
 for no reason at all except pure funk and lack of the 
 wish to get well. They are especially liable to con- 
 sumption ; and when an epidemic of measles breaks 
 out, as it sometimes does, amongst them, its ravages are 
 appalling. When they feel the fever upon them, nothing 
 can keep them from going and plunging themselves 
 into the water, and they die off like rotten sheep. 
 
 11 *
 
 164 PLUNDERED -BY STORE-KEEPERS. 
 
 Not a shilling of their wages do they ever carry back 
 to their own country, either in money or in money's 
 value. The whole of their wages passes into the hands 
 of the store-keepers of the nearest town, whose right 
 to plunder them there is none to dispute. It is illegal 
 to supply liquor to kanakas, so the store-keeper has 
 no rival to fear in spoiling them of their hard-earned 
 gains. The store-keepers of Mackay have earned an 
 unenviable notoriety by the alacrity with which they 
 have turned the ignorance of the unsuspecting savage 
 to account. They import a special class of fancy goods, 
 of the most utterly worthless description, and realise 
 fabulous profits by selling them to the kanakas for 
 about four hundred times what they are worth. There 
 is no one to interfere with them, and it is difficult to 
 see how it could be done, for, of course, at the end of 
 his agreement the kanaka is entirely his own master, 
 and if he likes to pay an exorbitant price for a worth- 
 less article, there is no way of preventing him. 
 
 Indirectly the planters could do a great deal if they 
 chose, by intimating that their custom would be with- 
 drawn from any store-keeper who continued the 
 practice of fleecing kanakas. The store-keepers are 
 entirely supported by the planters, and they would have 
 to give in. Undoubtedly the temptation is a very great 
 one. A cheerful and perfectly ignorant savage, who 
 has just been long enough in the land to know that 
 money will procure certain articles, but without the 
 slightest idea of their relative value, exhilarated by the 
 prospect of an immediate return to his native country, 
 and with 18 in his possession, is a bait which, perhaps, 
 it is too much to expect any tradesman to resist.
 
 A SAVAGE S INVESTMENTS. 165 
 
 Certainly in Queensland they improve the occasion. 
 Knives and tomahawks made of that peculiarly vile iron 
 which combines the brittleness of glass with the softness 
 of lead, muskets and pistols of a class unknown to 
 modern warfare, handkerchiefs, hats, tobacco-pipes, and 
 fancy rubbish of every description, fit only to hang upon 
 a Christmas-tree, are palmed off upon these unfortunate 
 savages for enormous prices. Many a time have I seen 
 one of them returning from investing his wages in 
 Mackay, with nothing on but a tomahawk and a tall 
 hat, and perhaps a miniature lady's travelling bag 
 on his arm, the delighted grin upon his countenance 
 expressing perfect satisfaction and conscious pride in 
 his recent purchases. 
 
 Of course the store-keepers justify their conduct by 
 saying that as long as the kanaka is satisfied they fail 
 to see what injury he sustains. That is all very well ; 
 but to my mind there is something intensely melancholy 
 in the spectacle of an industrious savage returning to 
 his native country, after three years' toil in a foreign 
 land, with nothing to show for it but a musket that 
 would kill him if he tried to fire it off, and a cotton 
 handkerchief that would fly to pieces if he blew his nose 
 in it. 
 
 Intercourse with civilisation is producing its usual 
 results among uneducated savages, and the kanakas 
 in Mackay are beginning to get troublesome. The 
 other day, at the Mackay races, a big mob of them 
 attacked the whites, and a general scrimmage ensued. 
 Had the kanakas only been armed with such weapons 
 as the Mackay tradesman might have supplied them 
 with, they would have been quite harmless. But they
 
 166 A FIGHT. THE KANAKA INVASION. 
 
 had provided themselves with a supply of glass bottles, 
 which they slung with infinite precision at the whites. 
 
 A glass bottle is by no means a contemptible weapon 
 in the hands of athletic savages, trained to throw clubs 
 and stones ever since they could walk. A lot of the 
 white men climbed on to their horses and charged the 
 kanakas, armed with their stirrup-irons, with which they 
 knocked them over like nine-pins. The fight did not 
 last long ; but there were a good many broken heads 
 even amongst the white men, and several of the kanakas 
 were killed before they were finally driven off the race- 
 course into the cane-fields. This is the only instance I 
 ever knew of kanakas joining together to show fight 
 away from their own country ; but now that they have 
 begun, no doubt this will not be the last disturbance of 
 the kind. 
 
 The evening after the fight on the race-course a scare 
 was got up that the kanakas were going to storm the 
 town of Mackay. No one knows who started the report, 
 and nobody cared; but it was quite sufficient to terrify 
 the inhabitants. The peaceful town of Mackay presented 
 a most ludicrous appearance; everyone having armed 
 himself with some sort of weapon, a musket, a pistol, or 
 a butcher's knife, with which he paraded the streets, 
 giving all the corners a wide berth as he turned them, for 
 fear of falling a prey to some bloodthirsty kanaka. The 
 Mackay Volunteers, never having had an opportunity 
 before of displaying their valour, except by shooting at 
 each other with blank cartridge, showed the greatest 
 enthusiasm and firmness upon this trying occasion. 
 
 Just after dark the most piercing shrieks from a 
 woman's voice were heard, coming from the opposite
 
 HEEOIO BESCtJE BY THE VOLUNTEERS. 167 
 
 side of the river from the town. No one lived over 
 there except an old man and his wife, who kept a market 
 garden; and the idea at once seized the citizens of 
 Mackav that the man was away from home, and the 
 kanakas were murdering his wife. A wild rush was 
 made for the ferry, and four or five men, armed to the 
 teeth, jumped into a boat and pulled like mad for the 
 opposite bank. A volunteer who was with them assumed 
 the brevet rank of captain for the occasion, and directed 
 the movements of the attacking force. As they got 
 near the other bank the shrieks for help became perfectly 
 heart-rending ; and the captain, wild with excitement, 
 exhorted his men to redouble their exertions. 
 
 " Pull, boys ; pull like mad," he exclaimed, " or, by 
 Jove ! we '11 be too late. These treacherous devils of 
 niggers must have swum across here. Look out for 
 their heads in the water, or we '11 be having some of 
 them in the boat. They swim like fish, and it 's so 
 dark you can't see ten yards." 
 
 The instant the boat touched the shore they all sprang 
 out, and rushed up the track to the house. The cries 
 by this time had ceased, and it was feared that all was 
 over. "When they got there a sad sight presented itself. 
 The hut was quite quiet, and the lights all out ; but just 
 then the moon appeared from behind a cloud, and 
 revealed the figure of an old woman, with nothing on 
 but a night-gown, sitting on a log in front of the hut, 
 crying and sobbing in the most pitiable manner. In 
 answer to a hurried inquiry as to what was the matter, 
 and where the niggers were, she replied that " she 
 hadn't seen any niggers about the place, and the matter 
 was that her old devil of a husband had come home very
 
 168 'THE RETURN. 
 
 drunk, and given her the almightiest hammering she 
 ever had in her life." 
 
 "Well, boys," said the captain, "this is the infer- 
 nalest, meanest swindle I ever was amongst in my life. 
 Never mind, we '11 go back and have a drink. And I 
 say, Missus, hadn't you better turn in again ? That 's 
 rather an unhealthy get-up for a winter's night." 
 
 But the woman absolutely refused to go near her hus- 
 band again that night, and was rowed across to the 
 town by the disappointed warriors and taken to some of 
 her friends. The whole town was assembled to see them 
 return, and yells of laughter arose when it was dis- 
 covered that the weird, white figure in the stern-sheets 
 was nothing but the ill-used wife of one of the oldest 
 inhabitants of Mackay, and that never a nigger had 
 been seen. A vast procession escorted the poor old 
 woman to her friends' house; after which all hands 
 adjourned for a drink, and the scare of the kanaka 
 invasion subsided. 
 
 In the meantime the present supply of labour from 
 the South Sea Islands is rapidly becoming quite inade- 
 quate to meet the increasing demand. Not only has 
 the cost of obtaining kanakas greatly increased, but 
 much difficulty is experienced in inducing them to come 
 to the country. In view of this state of affairs, the 
 attention of the planters was naturally directed to India 
 as a source of labour supply. Both from her enormous 
 population and from her geographical position, this 
 country seems to be most fitted to supply the require- 
 ments of Queensland in this respect. It is known that 
 in India there are millions of coolies exactly suited for the 
 class of employment that Queensland can supply, and to
 
 THE COOLIE QUESTION. 169 
 
 transfer some of them from the one country to the other 
 
 ould be to confer a benefit upon both. It would help, 
 if ever so little, to relieve the great difficulty which is 
 experienced in India in finding work for the enormous 
 working population, and at the same time it would 
 supply what is rapidly becoming a pressing want in 
 Queensland. 
 
 The proposal to introduce coolies into the colony was 
 met with a universal howl of rage. For electioneering 
 purposes it was invaluable, and dismal pictures of the 
 future of Queensland overrun by niggers, and her white 
 population starving, formed the piece de resistance in every 
 idiot candidate's address. 
 
 About this time a change of Ministry took place. Sir 
 Thomas Mcllwraith retired after the collapse of the 
 Transcontinental Railway Bill, and Mr. Griffith formed 
 a new Ministry. Had Mr. Griffith and his party re- 
 mained content with having defeated the iniquitous pro- 
 ject of their predecessors, they would have been entitled 
 to the undying gratitude of the colony. But they 
 advanced under the anti-coolie flag, and must therefore 
 be regarded either as enemies to the progress of Queens- 
 land or as strangers to common-sense. An attempt was 
 made to pass regulations for the purpose of restricting 
 coolies solely to the work of sugar-growing ; but the 
 present Ministry have refused to legislate on the subject 
 at all, and its leader declares that he is incapable of 
 devising any regulations that would be respected in this 
 connection. 
 
 The very serious position in which the planters now 
 find themselves, has induced them to try several experi- 
 ments for the purpose of obtaining such low-class
 
 170 CINGALESE. MALAYS. MALTESE. 
 
 labour as they require to carry on their operations. 
 So far, these experiments have all resulted in some- 
 thing worse than failure. A shipment of Cingalese 
 was brought down. Anything less like agricultural 
 labourers never was seen. They were arrayed in fine 
 linen, with tortoise-shell combs stuck in their hair, and 
 looked as if they had never done a harder day's work 
 than stealing their own dinner, in their lives. Some 
 of them were very well educated, and spoke three or 
 four languages ; but evidently they had all been induced 
 to come under false pretences, and had no notion of 
 the sort of work that they were expected to perform. 
 The majority of them absconded from service, taking 
 with them as much of their employers' property as they 
 could conveniently remove, as a souvenir of their visit 
 to Mackay. A few Malays have been introduced, and 
 a shipment of Maltese were tried, but with very dis- 
 couraging results. 
 
 The remedy for which the working-man clamoured 
 was then tried in an increased supply of white immi- 
 grants. The result followed which everyone who knew 
 anything at all about the matter predicted. There was 
 an immediate fall in wages, and it was discovered that 
 the white men were entirely unable to compete with 
 kanakas in the low-class labour on the plantations, and 
 consequently took the first opportunity that occurred to 
 break their engagements. 
 
 In the face of all this, it is still maintained by the 
 working-classes in the Colony that the industry can be 
 carried on by white men alone, and the problem seems 
 as far off solution as ever. The capitalists who are 
 engaged in the industry demand a large supply of
 
 DEAD-LOCK ON THE LABOUE QUESTION. 171 
 
 coloured labour, and are perfectly willing that such 
 labour should be so restricted as to make it impossible 
 that it should ever come into competition with white 
 men, and should be entirely confined to a class of labour 
 that, from climatic reasons, white men have shown 
 themselves quite unable to perform. 
 
 On the other hand, we have the insane outcry raised 
 by the working-classes against every sort of coloured 
 labour, backed up by the admission of the present 
 Premier of his inability to frame any laws that would 
 restrict the employment of coolies to sugar-growing. 
 Unless some satisfactory solution of the difficulty can 
 be found, there is undoubtedly a very bad time in store 
 for the planters. But the importance of the sugar 
 industry to Queensland is so manifest, and the amount 
 of capital already invested in it so great, there is no 
 doubt that eventually common-sense will triumph even 
 over the prejudices of the working- classes in the colony, 
 and coolie labour will be introduced. If this were done, 
 the future success of sugar-growing would be assured, 
 and there is no doubt that it is an industry which is 
 capable of contributing largely towards placing Queens- 
 land in the position of the leading agricultural colony of 
 Australia.
 
 172 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 GOLD-MINING. 
 
 ONE day I heard that gold had been found in a creek on 
 the western fall of the coast range, about forty miles 
 from here, and that a "rush" had already set in, so 
 I determined to go up and see what was going on. I 
 was delayed for a few days by the flooded state of the 
 creeks between here and the diggings. While I was 
 waiting I was joined by Dick Absolon, formerly in our 
 employ as stockman, and now on his way to the new 
 rush. 
 
 Dick Absolon is the beau ideal of a colonist. Brave 
 as a lion, which animal he somewhat resembles in 
 appearance, gentle as a child, with a capacity for hard 
 work that nothing can satisfy, and a cheerfulness that 
 no run of bad luck can discourage, whatever he starts 
 at he is a bad man to beat. His brother Jack, in every 
 way as good a bit of stuff as himself, was already on the 
 diggings waiting for him. They both came to the 
 colony very young, and, through many ups and downs, 
 have stuck together ever since. To use an Americanism, 
 they have been pulled through all sorts of knot-holes ; 
 stock-riding, carrying on the road, contract-fencing, 
 gold-mining, copper-mining, managing stations, they
 
 THE ABSOLONS. A START. 173 
 
 have worked hard at all of them, and finally, having 
 made a rise, they went into sugar-growing in the 
 Mackay district at a bad time, and lost all they had 
 made. 
 
 Altogether they are sad examples of the fact that 
 it is possible, even in Australia, for a shrewd sensible 
 man to work hard and keep sober, and still to be 
 pursued by a run of bad luck, that leaves him no richer 
 in pocket than when he began, and poorer by the loss 
 of the best years of his life. " Hope springs eternal," 
 however, and here they are, ready to try again with 
 undefeated ardour and cheerfulness, confident that this 
 time at last fortune's wheel will give them a turn. 
 
 The weather, being the middle of our wet season, 
 had been, as they say in the west of Scotland, " showery 
 and rain atween whiles " ; but the morning after his 
 arrival Absolon went down to' the first creek, half a 
 mile from the station, to see if it was crossable, while I 
 ran up the horses ready for a start. He came back and 
 said he thought we could just do it without a swim, so 
 we settled to go. 
 
 My swag was soon ready, consisting of a pick and 
 shovel, a tin prospecting dish for washing gold, 20 Ibs. 
 flour, 12 Ibs. beef, some tea and sugar, a couple of 
 changes of clothes, and a blanket, unlimited tobacco 
 and matches, a revolver, a quart pot, a calico fly of a 
 small tent, a Shakespear, a pack of cards, a piece of 
 soap, two towels, and a tooth-brush. Having planted 
 these scientifically on the back of a pack-horse, we 
 climbed on to our own horses, and, lighting the inevitable 
 pipe, sallied down to the first creek. 
 
 It was coming down very strong, muddy and thick,
 
 J74 SWIMMING FLOODED CREEKS. 
 
 but from the marks on the banks we thought it was 
 good enough, and, sousing in, we just managed to sneak 
 across without absolutely swimming, a performance to 
 be carefully avoided in Queensland creeks. The banks 
 are always very steep and high, and the bed of the 
 creek heavily timbered, and full of snags and fallen 
 trees. The current is usually very strong, and the 
 crossing-place, where the trees in the bed and on the 
 banks of the creek have been cleared away, very narrow ; 
 so that if you happen to be swept down below the 
 opposite crossing, the chance of ever getting out again 
 is very small. Your horse is certain to be drowned, 
 and the strongest swimmer when swept by a furious 
 current into a forest of big trees and saplings, and 
 tangled masses of creepers along the banks, has no 
 more chance than a fly in a cobweb. Numbers of 
 travellers are drowned every year in this way. 
 
 Having crossed this creek we had the satisfaction of 
 seeing it get up rapidly behind us, effectually barring 
 our return. The next creek was seven miles ahead, 
 and if that happened to be up too, we should have 
 the pleasure of finding ourselves between two flooded 
 creeks, with the cheerful prospect of sitting on the bank 
 of one of them until it subsided. Of course, as a rule, 
 we should not have thought anything of having to swim, 
 but when you have got all your belongings with you on 
 a pack-horse, and are on your way to a place where 
 you cannot replace them, you are rather shy of risking 
 a swim. 
 
 Some horses swim most beautifully, and will carry 
 their rider in the saddle across almost any creek or 
 river. Others lose all heart, and go down like a stone
 
 THE GOLD FEVER. 175 
 
 or roll over on their backs. The best way is, just as 
 your horse gets into deep water and begins swimming, 
 to slide quietly off, hang on to his tail, and let him tow 
 you across in his wake. This time we were fortunate, 
 and we managed to cross the eight creeks between us 
 and the open country without any delay, and without 
 wetting the pack. 
 
 We camped the first night at an old bark hut, the 
 remains of a deserted station, about fourteen miles from 
 the diggings. 
 
 Next morning we made a fresh start. Neither of 
 us knew exactly where the diggings lay, beyond a vague 
 idea that they were in the western fall of the main 
 range, somewhere to the north of us ; but after jogging 
 along for a few miles we came across a new mark-tree 
 line, made by the first prospectors of the diggings, 
 which took us right away into them. As we got near 
 the place, we began to overtake a few straggling swags- 
 rnen, pounding along through the black soil as if the 
 devil was behind them instead of in front of them. 
 
 To the initiated it did not require the pick and 
 shovel slung on their backs to tell where they were 
 bound for. The pace at which they were going, so 
 different from the languid dawdle habitual to men who 
 are merely wandering about in search of work, betrayed 
 at once that the " gold fever " was upon them. Once 
 smitten by this malady, a man seldom or never 
 thoroughly recovers, and the exertions he will make 
 while under its influence are perfectly incredible. 
 
 All the evils that humanity naturally shrinks from 
 at once assume a cheerful aspect. When the Palmer 
 rush broke out on the Gulf of Carpentaria, it is a
 
 176 THE PROFESSIONAL DIGGER. 
 
 positive fact that a man walked the whole way from 
 Melbourne to get to it, a distance of nearly two thou- 
 sand miles. 
 
 While I was on Mount Britten diggings, a man came 
 in, wheeling his Lares and Penates before him in a 
 wheel-barrow. The whole certainly weighed over one 
 hundred and fifty pounds, and he had wheeled it through 
 two hundred miles of heavy black-soil country, in pour- 
 ing rain, in just a fortnight's time. 
 
 The true professional digger passes his life in wander- 
 ing about from one new rush to another. Any regular 
 employment he considers beneath him ; and except for 
 the purpose of raising sufficient money to carry him on 
 to the next diggings, he will never work for wages. 
 No class of men work so hard ; as soon as it is light 
 in the morning, he is off, and seldom knocks off 
 before dark. That a man should work so hard to get 
 gold is not in the least odd, but it is odd that the 
 value he sets on it should be in exactly inverse pro- 
 portion to the trouble it costs him to get it. And 
 yet such is the case. As long as he is at work, no 
 miser could be more careful than a real digger in the 
 actual process of collecting gold. When he has got it, 
 no spendthrift could be more reckless in flinging it away. 
 Whether up to his knees in the freezing waters of the 
 Snowy river, or grilling under the fires of a Queensland 
 sun, no day is too long for him while he is on gold. 
 Not a crevice of his claim is unexplored, not a particle 
 of dirt likely to contain gold is wasted ; and he will 
 spend as much time and trouble in collecting the finest 
 particles of gold in his dish, as if he were an analy- 
 tical chemist making an experiment in weights and
 
 THE DIGGER'S TRADE. 177 
 
 measures. He toils patiently on, day after day, week 
 after week, undismayed by failure, and quite unelated by 
 success, until the moment comes when something impels 
 him irrresistibly to squander all that he has collected. 
 
 The instant this happens, he knocks off work, and 
 his fetische at once assumes a different aspect. Not 
 only does the gold he has taken such pains to get become 
 worthless, but apparently it becomes an incumbrance 
 that some hidden law of his being obliges him to get rid of 
 without delay. The only variation in the method of this 
 madness, is in the time allotted respectively to collect- 
 ing and to spending. This varies with the individual. 
 Some men will never work more than a week at a time 
 before spending all they have made ; others will go on 
 for several weeks, even for months, before going on the 
 spree, but invariably with the same purpose, which 
 seems to be simply that of collecting sufficient to make 
 fools of themselves. At least ninety per cent, of their 
 earnings goes in drink, of course ; and the rest in good 
 living when it is to be had. Whilst working, a digger 
 generally keeps sober, but he lives on the best of food 
 he can get. His drinking is reserved for when he 
 knocks off work. As a rule, if he is getting gold, from 
 Monday to Friday is about as long as a digger can stand 
 without a spree- ; he then flings down his tools, leaves his 
 claim, though he knows perfectly well that by so doing 
 he is liable to have it taken from him by the first comer, 
 and retires to the nearest public-house, to spend what 
 plunder he has amassed in getting hopelessly drunk till 
 Monday morning. He then creeps back, dejected in ap- 
 pearance, and shaking in every limb from the effects of 
 the poisonous liquor he has swallowed, probably to find 
 
 12
 
 178 A NEW OHTJM'S LUOK. 
 
 that some less fortunate individual, who had not raised 
 sufficient for a spree by Friday, and so had to go on 
 working, has "jumped" his claim. A row ensues, 
 which is referred for immediate settlement to the arbi- 
 tration of a couple of shovels, or whatever weapons are 
 handiest, and subsequently to the decision of the Warden 
 of the gold-field. 
 
 The idea of saving any money, and settling down 
 anywhere to live comfortably, never enters a digger's 
 head. He goes on at the same old game, some- 
 times for twenty or thirty years, exactly as eager to 
 get to a new field and peg out the best claim, as the 
 first day he started, until drink, exposure, and disease 
 put an end to his wanderings. It is only the new chum 
 who occasionally has sense enough to let well alone, and 
 clear out on his first rise. I remember a man who had 
 only been a few months in the colony, who used to dig 
 in our garden at the station. He went up to the dig 
 gings, with no more notion of a digger's craft than of 
 astronomy. He had not been above a week or two at 
 it when he stumbled across a nugget of pure gold weigh- 
 ing seventy ounces. The very same day he set off 
 down to the coast, climbed on to the first boat that 
 started, and went back to the old country. I never saw 
 anyone in such a hurry to get anywhere. But he was a 
 very rare instance of an uneducated man who did not 
 get more harm than good by finding gold. Although 
 gold-digging is a profession requiring the exercise of 
 some of the best qualities of human nature enterprise, 
 perseverance, a disregard of hardships, accompanied by 
 unceasing toil still there is something about the acqui- 
 sition of the raw material direct from the ground that
 
 UNCERTAINTY OF MINING. 179 
 
 has anything but an elevating effect upon the lives of 
 those who make it their business. This is probably 
 accounted for by the enormous element of pure chance 
 that enters into it. When employed in any other 
 profession, a man knows that, with fair abilities and 
 advantages, hard work is likely to be followed by the 
 acquisition of money in direct proportion to the amount 
 of energy and perseverance displayed. Profit follows 
 labour to a greater or less extent, as regularly as day 
 follows night in summer or winter. 
 
 But it is quite otherwise with the profession of mining, 
 which is, in fact, the rankest gambling. Not only does 
 a digger know that it is quite possible he may find a 
 great deal of gold with very little trouble, but, worse 
 still, he knows he may work very hard without getting 
 any gold at all. He may toil for ten hours a day, and 
 not " raise the colour," while his neighbour in the next 
 claim, with half the exertion, is getting an ounce of gold 
 to the dish. He therefore very justly ceases to connect 
 the idea of profit and labour in any way, and comes to 
 regard his profession as one of pure chance. Both 
 wealth and labour lose their true value in his estima- 
 tion, the one from its being occasionally unmerited, the 
 other from its being frequently unrewarded. 
 
 The history of a new colony teems with examples in 
 every profession and occupation of money quickly made 
 and lightly lost; of men, on the one hand, who have 
 squandered vast fortunes in the attempt to increase 
 them, and, on the other hand, of men who have started 
 with nothing at all, and by their own exertions and 
 perseverance amassed colossal wealth. 
 
 The subsequent career of many of the latter has shown 
 
 12 *
 
 180 ITS EVIL EFFECTS. 
 
 them to be capable of employing their riches to the 
 credit of themselves and for the benefit of mankind. It 
 is reserved for the profession of mining to deal destruc- 
 tion to its followers with the two-edged sword of profit 
 and loss ; and it would seem that the only worse thing 
 that can happen to a man than losing money at it, is 
 that he should make any. 
 
 Numerous as are the instances of enormous fortunes 
 made in mining, I doubt if the history of the Australian 
 Colonies affords a score of examples where money so 
 made has not done more harm than good. As a rule 
 its possessor becomes bitten with an incurable mania for 
 wild speculation, if for nothing worse ; and whether he 
 makes a few ounces out of a pot-hole in a creek and 
 spends it at the nearest shanty, or makes a rise of 
 100,000 out of a good reef and fools it away trying 
 to get more, it seems to be an inevitable law that 
 money made by mining should be provided with some- 
 thing worse than wings. 
 
 Innumerable are the cases where it has brought utter 
 ruin ; a whole legion of the lost rises before me when 
 I think of it. 
 
 I remember four men on Gympie, who in a short time 
 took ,25,000 a-piece out of a claim. Previous to their 
 striking gold they had been sober, industrious men; but 
 in two years three out of the four, and one of their 
 wives, were dead from drink, and the fourth had lost 
 all he was worth in prospecting other claims. 
 
 Another sad case I remember, of a man on Charters 
 Towers. He was a blacksmith by trade, but he dabbled 
 a little in mining, and by degrees got so much in debt 
 to the bank that they would not allow him to leave the
 
 THE COST OF GOLD. 181 
 
 field and go to the Palmer, a new rush which broke out a 
 few hundred miles away. He stuck to his claim, and 
 one day struck gold. In a short time he was in receipt 
 of 500 a day, and continued at that for a very long 
 while. I do not think anyone, not even himself, ever 
 knew exactly how much he was worth. If he had simply 
 sat down, and stuck to his money as fast as it came in, 
 he would have been one of the richest men in the 
 colony. But he never did any good. He taught him- 
 self to read and write ; took to wild speculation in other 
 mines, in race-horses, in wheat, in everything ; drank 
 like a fish ; and finally completed his downward career 
 by becoming a member of the Legislative Assembly in 
 Brisbane, and his bankruptcy appeared a short time ago 
 in the London Times. 
 
 Besides the fatality that apparently attends all profits 
 made from mining, the statistics show that it is the 
 least profitable of all professions. The average value of 
 an ounce of gold is 3 10s., but every ounce of gold 
 raised costs nearly 5 to get. In Victoria, where 
 mining is more economically and profitably worked 
 than in any of the other colonies, the average earnings 
 of every man connected with it in 1873 was only 98 
 per head, considerably less than he could have made 
 at the lowest wages' work in the colony. When we 
 consider that every year some few individuals make 
 enormous fortunes at it, the balance of loss to be dis- 
 tributed amongst the remainder is considerable. 
 
 Still, it is an industry most necessary to the world at 
 large, and especially conducive to .the prosperity of a 
 young colony, and it is well that there are men found 
 willing to carry it on. The auri sacra fames is a very
 
 182 A NEW GOLD-FIELD. 
 
 pretty subject for a moral essayist to decry, but it would 
 be extremely awkward if that particular form of it which 
 impels men to seek gold in the earth were eliminated 
 from a community. It is to that same hunger that no 
 surfeit can satisfy, and no defeat blunt the edge of, that 
 we owe the constant supply of victims, eager to embark 
 in an industry which all must allow is a very necessary 
 one, but which is clearly proved to be anything but 
 profitable to those actually employed in it. Besides 
 the race of veteran diggers, a new rush, of course, always 
 attracts a heterogeneous crowd of outsiders, many of 
 whom have never handled a pick and shovel in their 
 lives, and whose pale faces and dissipated appearance 
 proclaim them town-loafers, and strangers to the bush 
 and hard work. 
 
 When I first arrived on Mount Britten gold-field there 
 were seventy men on it, all living in tents. The only 
 building that had any appearance of permanence about 
 it was a butcher's shop and store, made out of a few 
 sheets of bark and saplings. Flour had run out, the 
 drays having all stuck in the mud half way from port 
 to the diggings ; but there were tea, sugar, and tobacco, 
 and a few tools to be had, and any amount of beef, sup- 
 plied by fat cattle from the neighbouring run, two or 
 three of which were run in every week into a sapling 
 yard near the butcher's shop, and killed. For some time 
 beef was all we had to eat ; but it was very good, and 
 there was plenty of it, so we were glad enough to get it. 
 
 The diggings are very prettily situated in the centre 
 of a horse-shoe formed by a spur running out from the 
 main range on to the plains. A heavily-timbered creek 
 running up the centre of the valley was where the gold
 
 THE VALLEY OF MOUNT BRITTEN. 183 
 
 was found first. Vast ranges of mountains rise up all 
 round, the slopes of which are covered with forests of 
 gigantic trees, and patches of dense scrub. The summit 
 of the range is formed by a crown of cliffs, which rise 
 sheer from the slopes below to a height varying from 
 400 to 1,000 feet, the red and yellow tints of their rocks 
 contrasting beautifully with the sombre mass of dark- 
 green woods below them. 
 
 Three very startling peaks, known as the Marling- 
 spikes, guard the entrance to the valley ; bare sugar- 
 loaves of weather-beaten grey rock, quite detached from 
 the main range, which rise right out of the surrounding 
 country to a height of 1,700 feet, and form a glorious 
 landmark over miles and miles of the adjacent plains. 
 
 The first time I saw the valley of Mount Britten was 
 about sundown, and I never remember a more beautiful 
 sight. To the dwellers in the valley the sun sets early 
 behind the false range that lies between them and the 
 west. But just at the head of the valley there is a 
 narrow dip in the range, and through this the sunlight 
 streams long after the sun himself has disappeared. As 
 I surveyed the scene, seated on a rock at a considerable 
 elevation above the valley, the effect was most startling. 
 
 Below my feet was stretched out a vast forest of every 
 conceivable shade of green, from black to emerald; here 
 and there the stem of some gigantic tree showing white 
 and ghostly against the surrounding mass of foliage. 
 
 Along through the forest the creek wound its way, 
 its course distinctly marked by the darker green of the 
 trees that fringed its banks. A soft blue mist, the smoke 
 of many a camp-fire, was rising and creeping gently up 
 the valley, lingering just above the tops of the trees, as
 
 184 STARTLING EFFECT. 
 
 if unwilling to leave their shelter. In the centre of the 
 valley rose a stupendous mass of rock, the rugged off- 
 spring of some awful convulsion of nature, towering like 
 a ruined castle over the woods below, shadowy, vast, and 
 indistinct in the deepening shades of evening. 
 
 Away to the head of the valley, through the gap in 
 the range, there swept across the forest a flood of amber 
 light, the dying glory of a setting sun, turning rocks 
 and trees, where it touched them, into figures of molten 
 gold, and lighting up the face of the opposite cliffs with 
 a ruddy glow, made all the more startling by the gloom 
 of the valley beneath. To the east, above the cliffs, the 
 soft azure of an autumn sky was hardening into the 
 pure steel-blue of a night such as only Queensland 
 knows. 
 
 Not a cloud marred the purity of the expanse above, 
 not a sound broke the stillness of the valley below. One 
 by one the stars blazed out in the deepening blue of 
 their eternal home, the green shades of the valley sank 
 to rest in the obscurity of advancing night, and still the 
 amethyst light lingered on the face of the cliffs above. 
 The effect was so weird I was spell-bound as I watched 
 it, and began to experience an uncomfortable feeling of 
 unreality, which was fortunately dispelled by a dens ex 
 machina, in the shape of a green-head ant, which just 
 then bit the back of my neck. The bite of this insect is 
 well calculated to dispel any momentary illusions as to 
 the reality of existence. For some minutes the pain is 
 excruciating, and by the time I had recovered my temper 
 the last rays of sunlight had departed, leaving me to 
 stumble down the steep side of a mountain covered with 
 long grass and rocks the best way I could.
 
 ALLUVIAL GOLD. 185 
 
 Most of the men who were on the ground when I 
 arrived were getting fair gold, though nothing heavy 
 had as yet been discovered. Alluvial digging in Queens- 
 land is never worth very much ; in fact, with the excep- 
 tion of the Palmer, on the Gulf of Carpentaria, nothing 
 worth calling an alluvial diggings has as yet been dis- 
 covered. In Victoria the alluvial diggings are of enor- 
 mous extent and great richness. They are worked on a 
 scale requiring a large capital, and go on for years and 
 years yielding tremendous profits. 
 
 The underground workings of many of them are on a 
 gigantic scale. But in Queensland the run of gold is 
 very irregular, and never of any great extent. 
 
 Seldom at any depth, it is generally confined to " pot- 
 holing " and " crevicing " in the banks and bed of the 
 creeks. This was the case at Mount Britten. The 
 alluvial digging never extended above a few yards from 
 the banks of the creek, and all the heavy gold was found 
 in the bed of the creek itself, and cost little or no trouble 
 to get, beyond the bare labour of shifting and washing 
 the soil. No sinking or timbering was required, and 
 what gold was got paid those well who got it. 
 
 Taking into account the comparative worthlessness of 
 alluvial in Queensland, and the richness of many of the 
 reefs, Jack Absolon had not thought it worth while to 
 peg out a claim in the creek, but was spending his time 
 prospecting the ranges at the head of it, in search of a 
 reef. 
 
 From the appearance of the gold found in the creek, 
 which was very little water- worn, and mostly in the form 
 known as " specimen," that is, quartz and gold mixed, 
 and from the formation of the surrounding country, it
 
 186 "DIVIDING MATES." 
 
 seemed certain it must have come from a reef somewhere 
 in the ranges to the head of the creek. As yet nothing 
 in the shape of a reef carrying payable gold had been 
 found ; but a prospector, Charley Gibbard by name, had 
 got on to a leader carrying nice gold, at the head of the 
 valley. 
 
 Jack Absolon and I had a consultation, and it was 
 determined that he and I, and his brother Dick, should 
 go on looking for a reef, without troubling about the 
 alluvial. Henceforth we were what is known on a dig- 
 gings as " dividing mates." No written agreement is 
 necessary. The fact of two or more men working to- 
 gether on a diggings constitutes a partnership in colo- 
 nial law, which enables either party to claim his share 
 of anything found by the others, and which can only be 
 dissolved by the parties forming it declaring before 
 witnesses that they are no longer mates. 
 
 The process of searching for a golden reef is often 
 one requiring unlimited patience, and a great deal of 
 hard work. The first thing to do is to apply to the 
 Warden of the gold-field you are on for a Protection 
 Area. You can get one four hundred yards square for 
 a month. In this piece of ground the prospector has 
 the exclusive right of hunting for a reef. No one else 
 can come on to it, provided he works eight hours a day 
 on it. Having secured his ground, the prospector sets 
 to work to see if he can find gold on the surface, by 
 washing prospects of surface dirt in a tin dish. Often 
 he has to carry the dirt a long distance to water, and to 
 wash hundreds of dishes before he gets a colour of 
 gold. 
 
 Once let him get on a trail of gold, however, if he
 
 PROSPECTING FOE A BEEP. 187 
 
 knows his trade he will never lose it. He will follow it 
 up with the instinct and patience of a hound, and it is 
 a hundred to one, unless the country is very broken, 
 he will find the reef it came from. 
 
 Having followed the gold as far as he can trace it on 
 the surface, he then knows the reef is not below him, 
 and begins to look for it above. The usual course of 
 true reefs is nearly due north and south; sometimes 
 they crop out of the surface of the ground, with what 
 is called a big " blow " of quartz. 
 
 Generally, however, the cap of the reef is a little 
 distance below the surface, and it is necessary to .dig for 
 it, which is done by cutting narrow trenches, a foot or 
 two deep, east and west, so as to cut across the course 
 of the reef you are looking for. 
 
 Sometimes the reef or leader is merely a thread of 
 pipe-clay, or rotten quartz, no thicker than a sheet of 
 paper, but there is no mistaking the formation when 
 once you know it. 
 
 Having hit on the reef, if it is what is known as 
 " mullocky "that is, soft and rotten the next thing 
 is to take out a prospect from between the walls, and 
 wash it to see if it carries gold. If the reef is well de- 
 fined, and the quartz hard, it requires to be crushed in 
 an iron mortar before the prospect is washed. 
 
 Day after day the Absolons and I used to scour the 
 ranges, opening up and prospecting numerous reefs and 
 leaders, without coming upon anything that looked at 
 all payable. Meanwhile, every hour brought news of 
 richer alluvial finds in the creek below. 
 
 A real rush had now set in. Men poured in by 
 hundreds, and the whole creek was pegged out in claims
 
 188 A DUFFER RUSH. 
 
 from the lowest point where gold had been found right 
 up to the head in the ranges where we were working. 
 In two months from the time I came there were nearly 
 two thousand men on the field. Hundreds came from 
 the adjacent colonies, and many even from New Zea- 
 land, attracted by the fabulous reports that never fail 
 to be circulated about a new rush, and never fail to be 
 believed. 
 
 These mad stampedes to a new rush are occasionally 
 attended with very serious consequences. Thousands 
 flock from all sides, each anxious to get first on to the 
 field, without the slightest idea of how he is going to 
 support life when he gets there, and usually entirely 
 destitute of means to carry him away from it should 
 the new field prove a failure. 
 
 Kockhampton, the second largest town in Queensland 
 owes its existence to a " duffer rush." Gold was dis- 
 covered at a place called Canoona, thirty miles higher 
 up the Fitzroy river. In a short time there were about 
 fifty thousand men deposited by steamers on the bare 
 banks of the Fitzroy, with no means of procuring food, 
 or of getting away again. 
 
 The Government was obliged to supply them with 
 means of getting away ; but before this was done, many of 
 them were reduced to absolute starvation. The township 
 of Kockhampton was formed to supply the diggings. 
 
 The rush to Mount Britten was stopped before it as- 
 sumed a serious phase, but at no time was the field 
 capable of supporting more than two hundred men on 
 payable gold. Most of those who came were rank new- 
 chums at digging. Instead of setting to work to look for 
 a new run of gold, they generally confined themselves to
 
 CHINAMEN. 189 
 
 the melancholy pastime of sitting down and watching 
 others getting it, and by-and-bye, finding that, with a 
 few exceptions, gold is no more to be picked up with- 
 out hard work on a diggings than anywhere else, 
 they cleared out, leaving the fortunate ones who had 
 secured good claims to work them out. 
 
 It is always difficult to estimate the amout of allu- 
 vial gold taken from a field, owing to the unwillingness 
 of all old hands to tell anyone how much they have 
 got or are getting. But I reckon that at least ten 
 thousand ounces must have been taken from the two 
 miles of the creek to which the diggings were confined, 
 and, from the inexperience of many of those who 
 worked the ground, it is certain that as much gold 
 was wasted as was got. 
 
 By-and-bye a mob of Chinamen, the most patient, 
 persevering, hard-working of all races under the sun, 
 will start and systematically " ground-sluice " the whole 
 course of the creek, from one end of the workings to 
 the other, and make a real good thing of it. 
 
 A dead set has been made at this unfortunate race 
 by the inhabitants of Queensland. A poll-tax of 10 
 a head has been imposed upon them on entering the 
 colony, and they are not allowed upon any gold-field 
 until it has been open two years. 
 
 Very heavy gold was now being got in the creek 
 below where we were working, and the finding of 
 nuggets ranging from ten to twenty ounces was no un- 
 usual occurrence. Occasionally a wild shout would 
 come ringing up the valley, hailing the appearance of 
 one of these " welcome strangers." A knot of men 
 would immediately congregate round the finder, whose
 
 190 WE DISCOVER A REEF, 
 
 joy betrayed him a novice at the trade, and the whole 
 lot would probably adjourn incontinently to the pub., 
 and, handing the plunder over the counter, never 
 cease drinking as long as the publican's conscience im- 
 pelled him to supply them with liquor, which would 
 probably be to about one -fourth of the value of the gold 
 he had received from them. 
 
 These repeated cries of joy were getting too much 
 for Dick AJbsolon. The gold fever attacked him with 
 a violence not to be allayed by wandering about the 
 ranges looking for a reef. It was with difficulty that 
 Jack and I dissuaded him from going to try his luck 
 at the alluvial. But the more gold they found in the 
 creek, the more certain we were that there must be a 
 good reef somewhere near us. 
 
 Meanwhile Gibbard was opening up his reef, which 
 looked very promising ; so when he offered to sell me an 
 eighth share in the claim, I closed with him. He had 
 christened his reef the " Little Wanderer." 
 
 One day soon after this, Jack, who had been patiently 
 following a trail of gold up a little gulley in our Protec- 
 tion Area, discovered the cap of a reef from which it 
 seemed likely the gold had come. A few hours' work 
 exposed the reef clearly defined between two walls 
 about two feet thick. The cap was of hard, hungry- 
 looking spar ; but when we had removed that, a vein of 
 very healthy-looking blueish quartz was opened up. We 
 broke up a few pieces, and in almost every one gold 
 was plainly visible. 
 
 It is very rich stone that shows gold when you break 
 it ; usually it has to be crushed to powder and washed 
 before gold shows, and many reefs pay well to work in
 
 AND OPEN IT UP. 191 
 
 which you never see a colour of gold in breaking 
 down. 
 
 Jack and I looked at each other, and our coun- 
 tenances expanded into a smile of satisfied delight. 
 Dick was called up from where he was working a bit 
 down the side of the mountain, and we all sat down and 
 had a smoke, a solemn rite never neglected by an 
 Australian when entering upon a new phase of his career. 
 
 Alas ! Aurum irrepertum et sic melius situm ! Perhaps 
 it would have been better for me if we had never found 
 it at all. No such misgivings crossed our minds at the 
 time, however, and we hit out with a will to see what 
 our new reef was worth. 
 
 A few days' sinking on the underlie of the reef opened 
 up such a fine-looking body of stone, carrying splendid 
 gold, that we decided to give notice to the Warden of the 
 finding of a payable reef, and get him to come and lay 
 off our claim. 
 
 Anyone finding a reef that in the opinion of the 
 Warden of the field is a payable one, can take up as 
 much ground along the line of reef as he pleases ; but 
 he is bound by the Government regulations to keep one 
 man at work on it for every hundred feet he takes up, 
 until there is machinery on the ground, and after that, 
 one man for every fifty feet. The breadth of a reef- 
 claim is always four hundred feet. 
 
 A few feet to the north of where we first found the 
 reef, its course was intersected by what is known as a 
 cross-course ; that is, a belt of foreign country cutting 
 diagonally right through the reef, and shifting the 
 course of it away towards the east. Beyond this cross- 
 course we found the reef again, carrying still richer
 
 192 THE "ERBATIO STAB." 
 
 gold than below, and it was here we finally decided to 
 commence operations. 
 
 We applied for six men's ground ; that is, three 
 hundred feet along the reef, which, with a reward claim 
 of one hundred feet which is always given to the first 
 prospectors of a new reef, would give us a claim four 
 hundred feet square. Nothing can be done without the 
 sanction of the Warden of the gold-field, whose business 
 it is to see that the Government regulations are carried 
 out, and who has full power to settle any disputes about 
 claims that may arise, in the most arbitrary manner. 
 
 Mount Britten was not yet of sufficient importance to 
 be honoured with a Warden of its own, so the Warden 
 for Clermont had his jurisdiction extended to take in 
 our field. Clermont is 180 miles from Mount Britten, 
 and often we had to wait a couple of months before 
 getting the decision of the Warden as to some point in 
 dispute. 
 
 The first thing to do upon finding a new reef is to 
 christen it. After some discussion we decided to call 
 ours the "Erratic Star"; its subsequent behaviour 
 fully testified to the justice of the first part of the title. 
 I do not suppose there ever was a reef whose wanderings 
 so entirely mystified those who attempted to follow 
 them. 
 
 This time the Warden was not long coming ; but by 
 the time he came we had already driven a tunnel in 
 along the course of the reef for some distance, opening 
 up magnificent stone as we went along. Our claim was 
 situated on the fall of a very steep spur of the range, 
 down the centre of which the course of the reef ran. 
 
 The Warden climbed up the hill to inspect our
 
 A GOOD " PROSPECT." 193 
 
 workings, and we invited him to scratch a prospect out 
 of the reef for himself. He took a few pieces of stone 
 from different parts of the reef, and we all retired down 
 to the creek to crush them and wash out the gold. A 
 mob of at least a hundred idlers, attracted by the smell 
 of gold, sat round, like crows round a killing-yard, to 
 watch the proceedings. 
 
 When the prospects were washed out, the excitement 
 amongst the crowd was immense. As the last particles 
 of dirt were deftly washed out of the dish by Jack 
 Absolon, leaving the gold exposed, the Warden's jaw 
 dropped, and his eyes started out of his head with 
 surprise. Even Jack and I began to stare at each 
 other. We had expected to get a good show ; half a 
 pennyweight, or a pennyweight at most, which would 
 have been a tremendously rich prospect. Instead of 
 which, though the stone was by no means carefully 
 crushed, we got at least a quarter of an ounce of gold 
 out of about a pound and a half of stone. As soon as 
 he had recovered from his astonishment the Warden 
 congratulated us upon our discovery, and laid off our 
 claim on the spot. 
 
 In anticipation of this auspicious moment I had 
 armed myself with a couple of bottles of rum, with 
 which we proceeded to celebrate the occasion.
 
 194 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 GOLD-DIGGING. 
 
 WHEN I first came to the diggings, I pitched my camp 
 on the bank of the creek about two miles below the 
 reefs. It never was much of a camp at the best of 
 times. A piece of calico stretched over a pole supported 
 by two forked saplings formed the roof, and the sides 
 were made of a few sheets of bark knocked off the 
 nearest trees. It rained incessantly for weeks after I 
 got there, and, the calico roof being no more use for 
 turning water than a hair-sieve, everything I had was 
 always wet through, and the floor of my camp a morass 
 of black mud. 
 
 Besides having to walk two miles up a steep rocky 
 path to get to my work every morning, and the same 
 distance home at night, the increasing population of the 
 place made my camp a most undesirable one. A rowdy 
 township was springing up all round it. Two stores, a 
 post-office, a tobacconist and bookseller's shop, and no 
 less than five public-houses, surrounded my peaceful 
 abode. 
 
 Besides all these buildings, which were constructed 
 at considerable trouble and expense out of sheets of 
 box-tree bark and saplings, a perfect forest of tents 
 grew up like mushrooms all round. One of these in-
 
 CONVIVIAL SPIRITS. 195 
 
 fernal public-houses was put up a few yards from my 
 tent, and sleep at night became out of the question. 
 
 An army of drunken revellers made night hideous 
 with their yells. They used to start drinking about 
 sundown, and pass successively through the convivial, 
 uproarious, and quarrelsome stages of drunkenness 
 during the night, ending with total collapse about five 
 in the morning. No early- closing interfered with the 
 even tenour of their enjoyment, and there were no police 
 to damp the geniality of their proceedings. As a rule, 
 the fun did not begin much before one in the morning, 
 by which time they had drunk sufficient to make them 
 quarrelsome, and fighting took the place of singing for 
 the remainder of the night. 
 
 This sort of programme was no doubt infinitely enter- 
 taining to those who assisted at it, most of whom slept 
 solidly through the hours of sunlight, only waking up 
 in time to begin the next night's orgie ; but to anyone 
 who had to work in the day, and wanted to rest at night, 
 it was simply maddening. Nearly every night one or 
 more of these Bacchanalians would stagger into my 
 tent, and either collapse in a shapeless heap on the 
 floor or begin shouting for liquor in language that made 
 the whole place smell of sulphur. It was difficult to 
 know what to do with them. Threatening to shoot 
 them never had the slightest effect, and one has natu- 
 rally a great disinclination to hammer a man when he 
 is drunk, even though he does wake one out of a com- 
 fortable sleep at three o'clock on a cold winter's morning. 
 If they were very drunk, I used to drag them out and 
 roll them down the bank of the creek into the bushes 
 that grew below. 
 
 13 *
 
 196 THE COLD WATER CUBE. 
 
 One bitter cold night I was woke up by one of these 
 worthies hammering at the sheet of bark I had stuck in 
 the doorway of my tent to keep out intruders. He was 
 demanding a drink in a whining voice of abject distress 
 that would have done credit to a professional beggar. 
 A happy thought occurred to me, and instead of replying 
 in the language I was in the habit of using to my noc- 
 turnal visitors, I very civilly begged him to wait one 
 moment while I got him a drink. A bucket of ice-cold 
 water from the creek was standing by the doorway of 
 my tent. Rising softly, I crept to the door and peered 
 over the sheet of bark, which was barely five feet high, 
 to ascertain his exact whereabouts. He was crouching 
 close to the foot of it, so I seized the bucket of water 
 and emptied it gently but firmly all over him. A gal- 
 vanic shock could not have cleared him out quicker. 
 He disappeared into the distance, too much surprised to 
 say anything but "Oh dear! oh dear!" which he 
 kept on repeating as long as I could hear him. He 
 even forgot to swear. The night was so cold, and his 
 voice sounded so utterly dreary as he went off, not even 
 my fury at having been woke up prevented my being 
 sorry for him, and my heart smote me at the thoughts 
 of the miserable night he must have passed. 
 
 However, I had something better to do than shepherd 
 drunken men all night, and I settled to shift my camp 
 up the creek. I fixed on a place about a mile and a 
 half above the township, on the bank of the creek, about 
 half a mile below the reefs, for my new camp. I had 
 sent a man out, some time before, to strip me seventy 
 sheets of box-tree bark, on the plains a few miles away. 
 He made an attempt to draw them right up to my camp
 
 BULLOCK-DRIVERS. CARRYING BARK. 197 
 
 with a bullock-waggon, but the country was too rough 
 and too heavily timbered. He got his waggon stuck in 
 a short gully, and his team of sixteen bullocks so beau- 
 tifully mixed up round the trees on the opposite bank, 
 it took him a clear half-day to get out again. 
 
 When I found him he had been stuck about three 
 hours. He was then perfectly exhausted with swearing, 
 and as no team of bullocks will ever move without the 
 incentive of most awful language on the part of the 
 driver, he was obliged to hire a man to help him swear 
 at them for the rest of the afternoon. So universal is 
 this habit amongst bullock- drivers, and so well do their 
 bullocks know the words that precede the application of 
 the whip, they will not attempt to exert themselves until 
 they hear them. I knew a man who once bought an 
 admirable team of bullocks that were perfectly useless 
 to him, from his disinclination to address them in the 
 language they were used to hearing. 
 
 The driver had unloaded my sheets of bark about a 
 mile below my camp, so I hired a mob of blacks to 
 carry them the rest of the way. This is the sort of 
 work at which a black-fellow shines, and which no 
 white man I ever saw could do. Each sheet of bark 
 was from six to eight feet long, and four or five feet 
 wide. Many of them weighed considerably over a 
 hundredweight each, and it is difficult to imagine more 
 awkward things to handle. And yet some miserable, 
 half-starved looking " gin," whose spindle legs look 
 barely equal to supporting her own weight, will get 
 under one of these enormous sheets of bark, and, balan- 
 cing it on her head, walk off with it up a steep rocky 
 path, for half a mile at a stretch, with perfect ease.
 
 198 THE DOCTOR. 
 
 In a couple of days my new hut was finished. Of all 
 buildings a bark hut is the quickest and easiest to put 
 up, and the most comfortable to live in in a climate like 
 Queensland. The framework is made of round saplings, 
 on which the sheets of bark are laid and secured by 
 strips of green hide. If the bark is carefully put on, 
 and plenty of lap allowed for each sheet over the next 
 one, it is perfectly proof against wind and rain, and 
 in summer the thickness of the bark keeps the heat out 
 admirably. 
 
 One of the chief elements of amusement on the field 
 was an old German doctor who came and settled there. 
 Although he was one of the cleverest men in his pro- 
 fession I ever saw, and a wonderful surgeon besides, he 
 never made any money in Queensland because he was 
 a homoeopath. 
 
 The Queensland Government, not contented with 
 figuring before the civilised world as sordid and immoral 
 politicians, never lose an opportunity of proving them- 
 selves benighted barbarians as well. Accordingly, they 
 refuse to recognise a homoeopathic physician's diploma ; 
 and he is, therefore, not legally able to recover his 
 fees. The world is not slow to take advantage of this, 
 as the poor old doctor found to his cost. He was 
 far too kind-hearted ever to refuse his services to those 
 who were really in need of them ; but it speaks ill for 
 humanity that, out of the many patients I knew who 
 called him in, and were perfectly well able to pay him, 
 very few ever did so. Had he been paid one half of 
 what he justly earned, he would have made a very good 
 living on the field. 
 
 But I have known him keep sick men for weeks in
 
 HIS PATIENTS. 199 
 
 his own hut, sitting up with them at night, and feeding 
 them on the best of everything he could procure for 
 them, only to see them clear out without paying him a 
 farthing. Often I knew for a fact that the scoundrels 
 who did this had quantities of gold in their possession, 
 and they generally proved it by celebrating their recovery 
 at the adjacent pub. with a tremendous spree. 
 
 Later on, when the reefs were in full swing, and I 
 had nearly a hundred men in my employ, I used to help 
 him all I could by threatening to sack any men working 
 for me who availed themselves of his services without 
 paying him. But I could not do him much good, and 
 finally he was starved out and had to leave the field. 
 
 I was very sorry when he went. He had a claim in 
 the creek. I do not think there was ever anything in 
 it, but it was close to his tent, and it used to amuse him 
 to go and imagine he was working tremendously hard 
 in it. 
 
 One day the doctor was subpcenaed to attend an 
 inquiry on the death of a man at Nebo, a township 
 about twenty-seven miles off. While he was away a 
 party of men jumped his claim, and on his return he 
 found them hard at work in it. They had not the 
 slightest right to do it, as he was called away on 
 Government work ; but what annoyed the doctor more 
 than anything was, that they absolutely refused to stop 
 working until the dispute was settled. 
 
 The rule is, that, if there is any dispute about a claim, 
 it is to be referred at once to the Warden of the field. 
 Pending his decision neither party has any right to 
 work in the claim, and anyone who works a disputed 
 claim at once forfeits any right in it.
 
 200 THE DOCTOR'S CLAIM. 
 
 The three men who had jumped the doctor's claim 
 had done about as much work in the forty-eight hours 
 he had been away as he had done himself in the six 
 weeks he had been there ; and from the rapidity with 
 which they progressed, it became perfectly apparent that 
 long before the Warden could arrive, the biggest part of 
 his claim would be worked out. 
 
 The doctor's fury knew no bounds. He stormed and 
 swore, and threatened and raved, but without the 
 slightest effect in stopping the plundering of his claim. 
 
 Before two days were over, there was not a man in 
 the field who did not know all about it, and the Doctor's 
 Claim became the sort of theatre of the diggings, to 
 which anyone, who had nothing better to do, adjourned 
 to see what was going on. A more amusing scene than 
 it occasionally presented it is impossible to imagine. 
 
 The old doctor was very short, very fat, and quite 
 bald. His usual get-up was the most entirely dis- 
 reputable one I ever saw, consisting of a pair of untanned 
 leather slippers, no socks, a pair of flannel pajamas, 
 a thin jersey with as many holes to the square foot as 
 a herring net, finished off with a red cotton night-cap 
 balanced on one ear. Thus attired, he was generally to 
 be found executing a frantic war-dance on the edge of 
 his claim, hurling the most awful language at his 
 enemies below, three murderous-looking Italian scoun- 
 drels, who continued grubbing away, perfectly indifferent 
 to everything but their one object of looking for gold. 
 A fair-sized audience of loafers was generally seated 
 around, encouraging the doctor, and trying to wind him 
 up to the point of dropping a stone on his foes' heads 
 below.
 
 CHOLERIC NERVOUSNESS. 201 
 
 The poor old doctor was far too good-natured ever 
 willingly to hurt a flea, but to hear him talk when 
 excited would make anyone feel quite weak who did not 
 know him. He was absolute master of the English 
 language, and displayed a knowledge of its back 
 premises I had not the slightest idea a foreigner could 
 ever attain. Under the influence of passion, he would 
 run down a chromatic scale of declamation, with an orna- 
 mental fluency that never failed to excite admiration, 
 even from those at whom it was levelled. 
 
 I remember one day, after a more than usually severe 
 attack of what he called " Choleric nervousness," the 
 old doctor turned suddenly round, and found he had 
 been overheard by a clergyman. The countenance of 
 this worthy man, I am grieved to say, indicated more 
 admiration, and less regret, than the occasion called 
 for. 
 
 " My dear doctor," he observed, " I suppose it is my 
 duty to tell you it is very wrong to use such language ; 
 but I am going to do nothing of the kind. I am simply 
 going to ask you how, when, and where on earth did 
 you learn to swear like that ? " 
 
 "Learn?" said the doctor; "learn! my good sir, 
 you cant learn it. It is a gift ! " 
 
 About this time the Government thought fit to honour 
 the field with the presence of a policeman. He was a 
 poor miserable crow -bait of an Irishman, and, like most 
 of his compatriots, an arrant coward when alone. 
 
 I have often noticed that if half a dozen Irishmen can 
 manage to set upon two or three men, they are all as 
 brave as lions. But get one by himself, and he is a 
 wretched funk.
 
 202 THE ABM OF THE LAW. 
 
 The specimen sent up to keep the peace on the dig- 
 gings was no exception to the rule. He used to creep 
 about under the shade of a pith helmet, with a huge 
 revolver dangling in front of him, like a Scotchman's 
 sporran. He never ventured beyond the most crowded 
 parts of the field, and, if called upon to act in an official 
 capacity, his face used to turn the colour of cigar- 
 ash with terror. 
 
 The doctor, however, hailed his arrival with delight, 
 as he thought he saw his way to bringing the arm of 
 the law to bear upon the plunderers of his claim. Off 
 he started and called upon the constable to interfere at 
 once, and stop the work. So far from doing this, it 
 was with the greatest difficulty the constable could be 
 persuaded to visit the claim at all, and, when there, he 
 absolutely refused to interfere. 
 
 The doctor, whose last hope had now departed, be- 
 came perfectly beside himself. The foam flew in spray 
 from his lips, but for the first time in his life language 
 failed him, and he became inarticulate from fury. Sud- 
 denly a horrible sort of spurious calm came over him, 
 and he retired into his tent. In a minute he reappeared 
 armed with the fossil remains of an aged pistol. One 
 glance at it was sufficient to show that it was fearfully 
 dangerous everywhere except at the business end, and 
 that if it ever did go off, the safest place to stand would 
 be straight in front of it. 
 
 No such reassuring considerations entered the mind 
 of the constable. He remained rooted to the spot with 
 terror, while the doctor's shaking fingers accomplished 
 the task of loading. 
 
 An enormous audience had by this time assembled,
 
 SAVED BY A PARROT. 203 
 
 most of whom were stretched on the ground in convul- 
 sions of laughter. Even the three ruffians in the claim 
 became interested, and ceased their monotonous occupa- 
 tion of baling water and cradling to watch the proceed- 
 ings. Stetit urna paullum sicca, while the doctor delivered 
 his harangue at the constable, for whom flight had now 
 become impossible. He was trembling so that he cer- 
 tainly could not have walked, besides which, the doctor 
 had edged round, and pinned him against a bank from 
 which there was no escape. Drawing gradually nearer 
 towards him, and brandishing his weapon all the while, 
 the doctor swore all he knew that he was going to kill 
 him on the spot. 
 
 The wretched man's terror now almost overcame him. 
 His jaw dropped, he half-shut his eyes, and threw back 
 his head in a mute appeal, which ought to have softened 
 the doctor's heart, but which merely excited him afresh. 
 
 " Call yourself a policeman ! " he screamed ; " why do 
 you hold your head back like a fowl drinking water ? I 
 kill five better men than you on the Lachlan before 
 breakfast, for nothing at all ! So help me three men 
 and a boy, I shoot you now like one damn dog ! " 
 
 The few of us who were not too weak from laughing 
 began to think it was time to interfere, when suddenly 
 the doctor's attention was caught by a parrot seated in 
 a tree over his head. 
 
 " Look ! " he shouted in a voice that would have 
 frightened anything but a parrot into the next colony. 
 " Look ! you say I can't shoot ! I soon show you. 
 Watch me knock the stuffing out of that parrot, then 
 you know what I do to you next time I catch you loaf- 
 ing round my side of the creek 1 "
 
 204 THE DOCTOR'S HUT. 
 
 A breathless silence ensued, while the doctor levelled 
 his weapon at the now interested parrot. After aiming 
 for about two minutes and a half, he pulled the trigger. 
 The cap exploded and the parrot flew screaming away, 
 leaving one of its tail feathers, in its hurry, to float 
 gently down at the doctor's feet. 
 
 Nothing could exceed his pride and delight, and none 
 of us were cruel enough to mar it by suggesting he 
 could not have hit the parrot because his pistol had 
 never gone off. Brandishing the feather as a trophy, he 
 scattered a glance of withering contempt at the reviving 
 constable, and retired to his tent to spend the afternoon 
 in trying to give electric shocks to a mob of blacks, by 
 the bait of a shilling placed in a basin of water con- 
 nected with a small battery. 
 
 The inside of his hut presented the climax of dis- 
 order and untidiness. Rows of medicine-bottles were 
 littered along the shelves, some with corks, some with 
 none, mixed up with tins of pepper, boxes of ointment, 
 jars of pickles, old clothes, and carpenter' stools. Surgi- 
 cal instruments used for cutting up tobacco or spreading 
 butter, frying-pans, telescopes, boots, books, photographs, 
 tobacco-pipes, the remains of a damper, and several 
 packs of cards, were generally strewed about the floor, 
 in a way suggestive of nothing short of an earthquake 
 in a curiosity shop. Here he was generally to be found, 
 when not dancing around his claim, bending over the 
 fire, in the agonies of concocting some vile stew, which 
 none but a German is capable of eating. I have seen 
 him put tea, rum, milk, colonial wine, mustard, lime- 
 juice, vinegar, and ginger into a sauce for some hideous 
 mess which he afterwards ate.
 
 PLUM-PUDDING. POISON-WOOD. 205 
 
 The capacity of his internal economy was enormous. 
 One Sunday I invited a party of seven, including the 
 doctor, to dinner. I made two plum puddings in 
 honour of the occasion, each about the size of my head. 
 Seven of us ate one, and the doctor ate the other. He 
 had already stowed away two vast mountains of salt 
 beef, so no one was surprised when, after attending the 
 funeral of a whole pudding, he patted his distended 
 waistcoat, and observed that he " felt as if he had one 
 schnake coiled up there ! " After which he became 
 partially torpid for some hours. 
 
 The Little Wanderer reef, at which Gibbard was 
 working, soon began to show heavy gold. He had 
 three mates in the claim, two of whom drank them- 
 selves out, and I bought their shares at the same figure 
 which I had paid Gibbard for his. 
 
 The third, a young fellow called S , formerly an 
 
 officer in the navy, was killed in a very sad manner. A 
 
 drunken man came into his tent one night, and S 
 
 got up and turned him out. The man closed with him 
 and threw him, and, in falling, a stake of poison-wood 
 
 entered S 's leg, inflicting a shocking wound. His 
 
 hut was not far from mine, and after his accident I 
 used to go down and sit with him in the evenings after 
 work. For a few days he seemed to be going on all 
 right, and I believe, if it had been possible to have kept 
 him quite quiet and away from everyone, he might have 
 recovered. But he had been drinking heavily for some 
 time past, and now he drank more than ever ; for the 
 whole day long, and well into the night, his hut was 
 besieged by a succession of visitors anxious to show 
 their sympathy for his misfortune. Unfortunately their
 
 206 A DEATH BED SCENE 
 
 invariable method of doing so was to insist upon his 
 having a drink with them ; and his wound, which was a 
 serious one in any case, soon began to assume a dan- 
 gerous appearance. 
 
 On the fifth night the old doctor came and told me 
 that he thought very badly of him, so I immediately 
 went round to his hut. A sadder sight than the inte- 
 rior of it presented I never saw. There was no furniture 
 of any kind, of course, and the floor was a thick paste 
 of black mud. Seated on packing-cases or buckets 
 turned upside down, were five or six of the rowdiest men 
 on the diggings. On the floor was a tin prospecting 
 dish half-full of rum, and a bucket of water, and each 
 man helped him with a pannikin when he wanted a 
 drink. 
 
 The place was so thick with tobacco smoke that at 
 first I could hardly see across it, though the hut was 
 not above twelve feet long. By degrees, as my eyes got 
 accustomed to it, the light of a fat-lamp at the far end 
 
 showed me poor S lying on a rough sort of bed 
 
 made of a sheet of bark laid upon a 'heap of grass. 
 
 A great change had come over him since I had last 
 seen him, not very many hours before, and I felt cer- 
 tain, directly I looked at him, that he was dying. His 
 cheery features had a drawn and haggard look, and 
 already there was that unmistakable far-off look in his 
 eyes that too surely announces the speedy approach of 
 death. Evidently his companions had not the slightest 
 idea of the state he was in. To do them justice they 
 were all half drunk, and doing their best to become quite 
 so ; but when I came in they were all shouting and 
 laughing and blaspheming, with the most uproarious
 
 ON THE DIGGINGS. 20? 
 
 cheerfulness, and one of them had just called on S 
 
 to give them a song. 
 
 S himself was perfectly sober, and, I am certain, 
 
 knew that he had only a few hours to live. But he 
 came of the sort that die very hard, and, calling for a 
 pannikin of rum, he raised himself on his elbow to 
 comply with his mates' request. The hardened and 
 reckless countenances of those revellers, drinking in the 
 
 presence of death, the unearthly look upon S 's face, 
 
 rendered doubly ghastly by the miserable flickering light 
 over his head, formed a scene which I shall never forget. 
 His voice rang out clear in the weird, solemn silence 
 of a winter's night, and the words of his last song are 
 indelibly impressed upon my memory. They contain 
 only too true a history of his own ruined life, and of 
 hundreds of others who have fallen victims to the terrible 
 curse of drink. 
 
 Who cares for nothing alone is free: 
 Sit down good fellow and drink with me. 
 With a careless heart and a merry eye 
 He will laugh at the world as the world goes by. 
 He laughs at power, and wealth, and fame ; 
 He laughs at virtue, he laughs at shame ; 
 He laughs at hope, and he laughs at fear, 
 And at memory's dead leaves, crisp and seer ; 
 
 He laughs at the future, cold and dim, 
 Nor earth nor heaven is dear to him : 
 Oh ! that is the comrade fit for me, 
 He cares for nothing, his soul is free, 
 Free as the soul of the fragrant wine ! 
 Sit down, good fellow, my heart is thine ; 
 For I heed not custom, creed, nor law, 
 I care for nothing that ever I saw. 
 
 In every city my cup I quaff, 
 
 And over my liquor I riot and laugh.
 
 208 A SONG OF RUIN. 
 
 I laugh like the cruel and turbulent wave, 
 
 I laugh at the church, and I laugh at the grave ; 
 
 I laugh at joy, and right well I know 
 
 That I merrily, merrily laugh at woe. 
 
 I terribly laugh, with an oath and a sneer, 
 
 When I think that the hour of death is near ; 
 
 For I know that Death is a guest divine 
 Who will drink my blood as I drink this wine. 
 Ah ! he cares for nothing, a king is he ! 
 Come on, old fellow, and drink with me. 
 With you I will drink to the solemn past, 
 Though the cup that I drain should be my last ; 
 I will drink to the Phantoms of Love and Truth, 
 To ruined manhood and wasted youth. 
 
 I will drink to the woman that wrought my woe, 
 In the diamond morning of long ago ; 
 To a heavenly face in sweet repose, 
 To the lily's snow and the blood of the rose. 
 To the splendour caught from southern skies, 
 That shone in the depths of her glorious eyes ; 
 Her large eyes wild with the fire of the South, 
 And the dewy wine of her warm, red mouth. 
 
 I will drink to the thought of a better time, 
 
 To innocence gone like a death-bell chime ; 
 
 I will drink to the shadow of coming doom, 
 
 To the phantoms that wait in my lonely tomb. 
 
 I will drink to my soul in its terrible mood, 
 
 Dimly and solemnly understood. 
 
 And lastly I drink to the monarch of Sin, 
 
 Who has conquered that fortress and reigns within. 
 
 My sight is fading, it dies away ; 
 I cannot tell, is it night or day ? 
 My heart is burnt and blackened with pain, 
 And a horrible darkness crushes my brain ; 
 I cannot see you the end is nigh, 
 But we '11 drink together before I die. 
 Through awful chasms I plunge and fall, 
 Your hand, good fellow ; I die that 's all.
 
 A MODERATE ESTIMATE. 209 
 
 Exhausted by the exertion, S sank down again 
 
 on the couch, and a deadly look came over his face. 
 Even the drunkards began to see that there was some- 
 thing wrong, and obeyed a not very civil recommenda- 
 tion to clear out of the hut with unexpected readiness. 
 I got the doctor to come as soon as I could, and he at 
 once pronounced S 's case to be hopeless. Morti- 
 fication set in, and he died not many hours after. 
 
 He was a great favourite with all who knew him, and 
 much regretted, especially by his mates, as he used to 
 do all the work in their claim in the creek, while they 
 got drunk at the public-houses. His share in the 
 Wanderer Reef was sold by auction, and knocked down 
 to me at the reserve price, without a bid. 
 
 I and Gibbard were now sole owners of the Wanderer, 
 I holding seven-eighths and he one-eighth. 
 
 Meanwhile the Absolons and I had got down with our 
 shaft on the Erratic Star to a depth of sixty feet, and 
 the prospects on both reefs were so good that I deter- 
 mined to put up machinery for crushing the stone. 
 For this purpose I went down to Gympie, one of the 
 chief gold-fields of Queensland, and got the estimate of 
 a first-rate engineer for the cost and erection of a battery 
 of ten head of stampers, and a seventeen horse-power 
 stationary engine. His estimate was 1,500 for the 
 cost of the machinery in Melbourne, and 1,000 for the 
 cost of erection on the field. 
 
 I mentally doubled his estimate on the spot ; but, for 
 the benefit of anyone who is ever tempted to go in for 
 putting up a quartz -mill on a new field, I may here 
 observe that before I had completed the work it cost 
 9,000. It is almost impossible to estimate beforehand 
 
 14
 
 210 ADVANTAGE OF MINES TO A DISTRICT. 
 
 the cost of such an undertaking in new country, a hun- 
 dred miles from anywhere where you can buy a nail or a 
 piece of string. The natural difficulties incidental to 
 the work are great enough, but in my case the unnatural 
 ones I had to contend against were greater still. 
 
 As a rule, anyone who starts putting up machinery 
 on a new gold-field, or who does anything towards 
 developing any sort of mining, is hailed as a public 
 benefactor by the neighbouring towns. The inhabitants, 
 especially of the nearest seaport towns, hasten to dis- 
 play their appreciation of the good gifts of Providence 
 by putting the roads between themselves and the new 
 diggings in good order, and vie with each other in offer- 
 ing every assistance to the prospectors and promoters of 
 the mines. 
 
 The reason of this is not far to seek. Nothing gives 
 such an impulse to the trade of a seaport as the vicinity 
 of a diggings. Many large towns have been called into 
 existence by nothing else. The town of Melbourne 
 itself, one of the greatest wonders of the world, with its 
 300,000 inhabitants, its broad streets, its magnificent 
 public buildings, and its almost unlimited wealth, owes 
 its rise, its very existence, to the Ballarat diggings. 
 
 It is a very common thing for the storekeepers of a 
 town to supply parties of men with tools and rations 
 gratis, for months at a time, to prospect the adjacent 
 country in hopes of discovering a gold-field. 
 
 The Mount Britten diggings, upon which I was at 
 work, was most unfortunately situated. The only pos- 
 sible means of communication with the coast was through 
 the port of Mackay, from which it was distant 100 miles 
 by road. Now the distance was nothing, and the road,
 
 SELFISH ISOLATION OP MACK AY PLANTERS. 211 
 
 fairly good at all times, might easily have been made an 
 excellent one. But the township of Mackay is a very 
 peculiar one. It is the saccharopolis of Queensland, 
 and in point of intelligence may safely be described as 
 the Bosotia of Australia. 
 
 The planters of the district have long been a byword 
 for meanness and stupidity. Entirely absorbed in the 
 process of growing and making sugar, they absolutely 
 refuse to acknowledge the importance of any other in- 
 dustry, and have always entertained an unreasoning 
 aversion to any kind of mining in the neighbourhood, 
 only to be accounted for by the supposition that a pro- 
 longed course of sugar-boiling has turned their heads 
 into vacuum-pans, and raised the density of their" wits 
 to the level of that of their most prolific cane-juice. 
 
 Nothing is of more vital importance to the pro- 
 sperity of a coast town in Australia than to keep open its 
 communication with the interior. If the outside roads 
 are allowed to fall into bad repair, the wool and other 
 traffic is rapidly diverted to some other port ; and, once 
 lost, it is extremely difficult to regain. 
 
 The difference of fifty or sixty miles more or less is 
 nothing to a carrier, compared with the difference between 
 a bad and a good road. When in the interior he will 
 infallibly choose the best road to the coast, though it 
 may be very much the longest. 
 
 And yet I have heard one of the leading planters, at a 
 meeting of the Mackay Road Board, openly declare that 
 Mackay had nothing to do with the interior, that she 
 did not want the wool, or the copper, or the gold, or 
 the squatters ; and that there was no necessity to spend 
 a shilling in keeping up the road to the interior. 
 
 14 *
 
 212 MISTAKEN IDEAS. 
 
 Now I should be the last person to under-rate the 
 value of the sugar industry to Mackay. It has raised a 
 population of seven thousand people, where formerly 
 there were not thirty, and brought some millions of 
 capital into the district. But I cannot conceive why 
 Mackay, because it is blessed with one most prosperous 
 industry, should close its doors to every other. 
 
 The dislike of the planters to any sort of mining 
 being started in the district I can, to a certain extent, 
 understand. They are ignorant and short-sighted, and 
 no doubt imagine that the proximity of a diggings would 
 raise the price of labour on their plantations. It would 
 do nothing of the kind. The class of men who follow 
 mining as a profession are quite distinct from the sort 
 of hands required on a plantation. 
 
 Besides this, a diggings always attracts a large num- 
 ber of men who go there with a vague idea they are 
 going to get gold, but are destitute of either the know- 
 ledge or the means to set about it. They dig for a while, 
 and, finding the work very hard and gold very scarce, 
 they clear out, and are glad to find employment else- 
 where. 
 
 Our station, which lay half-way between Mackay and 
 the diggings, was inundated with men returning from 
 the field in search of work. So that it is probable 
 that the immediate effect of a diggings in the neighbour- 
 hood would be to lower, rather than to raise, the price 
 of labour on the plantations ; while the indirect benefit 
 that the planters would derive from the increased trade 
 of the town would be considerable. 
 
 Whatever the planters views might be, I should have 
 thought that the store-keepers in Mackay would have
 
 OPPOSITION OP MACKAY TO MINING. 213 
 
 held but one opinion as to the advantages they would 
 be likely to derive from a diggings. And yet so saturated 
 were they with the prevailing sugar mania, and so 
 servilely dependent upon the planters had they become, 
 I soon found out that any exertions upon their part 
 would be directed more towards retarding than assisting 
 the progress of the diggings. 
 
 The whole district unanimously refused to spend a 
 penny on repairing the road to the Mount Britten field. 
 My orders for goods were persistently unattended to or 
 delayed. The manager of one of the principal banks 
 took the trouble to ride up to the field, for the sole pur- 
 pose of returning to spread false reports as to the poverty 
 of the reefs which I was engaged in working. My own 
 agents left my machinery lying for weeks on the wharf, 
 and sent empty away the carriers whom I myself had 
 taken the trouble to hunt up and send down for load- 
 ing. The inconvenience and loss which I suffered in 
 consequence was incalculable. After hanging about 
 Mackay for some days, vainly endeavouring to induce 
 my agents to give them my machinery, the carriers 
 loaded up for elsewhere, and went off up the country. 
 
 It was months before I could get hold of them again. 
 Meantime the wet season set in, and the roads became 
 perfectly impassable. I had soon a vast army of men 
 at work on the diggings, sawyers, carpenters, boiler- 
 makers, brick-makers, and others, whom I was very 
 unwilling to leave to themselves for any length of time. 
 
 But after I discovered that the whole district of 
 Mackay had deliberately laid themselves out to block 
 my endeavours to develop the Mount Britten diggings, 
 and were prepared to resort to foul means to accomplish
 
 214 DIFFICULTY OF ERECTING MACHINERY. 
 
 their object, I resolved not to trust to any agents, but 
 always to personally superintend the loading of any of 
 my machinery or stores that might arrive in Mackay. 
 
 Many a hundred miles of travelling it cost me. It 
 was eighty-six miles to ride from the diggings to Mackay, 
 and sometimes I had to ride up and down twice in a 
 week. I soon found that this kind of business, com- 
 bined with superintending the working of the two reefs, 
 was more than could be done effectually by one man. 
 
 But the engineer I had engaged in G-ympie to put up 
 the mill turned out an invaluable acquisition. His name 
 was William Holliman ; and a smarter man at his trade 
 never existed. From morning till night he worked as I 
 never saw a man work for wages before. The erection 
 of a quartz-mill, at any time, is an undertaking that 
 involves very heavy work, and no little engineering 
 skill. But in an out-of-the-way place like Mount Britten 
 the difficulties are increased a hundred-fold, and can 
 only be overcome -by infinite patience and skill. Holli- 
 man, however, proved himself equal to any emergency, 
 and finally accomplished the work, in a way that has 
 earned for the obscure field of Mount Britten the repu- 
 tation of possessing the most perfectly erected mill in 
 Queensland. It is impossible to do justice to the 
 admirable qualities he displayed during the time he was 
 with me. Machinery stuck in the mud, broken castings, 
 drunken contractors going on the spree with their con- 
 tract uncompleted, thunder-storms sweeping away work 
 half finished, the wrong goods sent up by a mistake 
 which takes months to rectify ; these and many other 
 annoyances await the enthusiastic individual who is rash 
 enough to start putting up a mill on a new field.
 
 WILLIAM HOLLIMAN. 215 
 
 Holliman was equal to them all ; and, though his 
 professional reputation was at stake, and I believe he 
 felt any hindrance to the work far more than I did, I 
 never saw him discouraged for a minute, or otherwise 
 than cheerful. 
 
 For anyone who lives in the midst of civilisation, and 
 who has nothing to do but walk into a shop and buy 
 what he wants, it is impossible to realise the situation. 
 What words can depict the helpless fury of a man in 
 the mountains of Northern Queensland, who has ordered 
 a keg of a peculiar kind of nails from Sydney, and who, 
 after an interval of four months, receives a barrel of 
 rock-sulphur instead ? This actually happened, without, 
 however, in the least disturbing the equanimity of Holli- 
 man. He merely remarked, with an expression of 
 countenance it is impossible to describe, that " he hoped 
 my dog was not going to have the distemper." Though 
 not a teetotaller, he was strictly sober, and a keen 
 sense of humour, combined with an inexhaustible fund 
 of anecdotes, made him an exceedingly pleasant com- 
 panion. He was with me for eighteen months ; and 
 when at last I handed over the concern to a company, 
 who sent up their own manager, I parted with him with 
 the greatest regret. 
 
 A most absurd accident happened one day at a shaft 
 on the " Star " line of reef. The shaft was down 
 about thirty feet, and, as usual, one man was working 
 below, and his mate on top, winding up the stuff in an 
 old oil-drum instead of a bucket. Somehow or other 
 the man on top let fall the drum right on his mate's 
 head below. Fortunately, though made entirely of iron, 
 the bottom was very nearly worn out, and the man's
 
 216 ACCIDENTS IN THE SHAFT. 
 
 head went fair through it. He was naturally very 
 angry, but his rage redoubled when he discovered that 
 all attempts to get his head out again were perfectly 
 useless. Though bashed in, none of the bottom was 
 actually knocked out, and the jagged edges had closed 
 round his neck again, like a spring trap, causing him 
 excruciating pain. 
 
 He was wound up the shaft, perfectly helpless and 
 swearing fearfully, and led down the hill to the black- 
 smith's, to get his helmet knocked off. 
 
 Anything more ridiculous than he looked I never saw 
 in my life. He kept up a perfect hurricane of blas- 
 phemy, rendered absolutely awesome by the unearthly 
 metallic ring which the oil-drum gave to his voice. 
 
 We were, most of us, too weak from laughing to be 
 of the slightest assistance to him. Had the rim of the 
 drum caught him, instead of the bottom, of course it 
 would have killed him on the spot. Accidents of this 
 kind are very frequent. 
 
 The greatest care is required on the part of those 
 working at the mouth of a shaft to see that nothing, 
 however small, is allowed to fall down below. A very 
 small stone, falling from a great height on to a man's 
 head, is sufficient to cause instant death. 
 
 It is extraordinary what escapes some men have, and 
 what a slight thing will kill sometimes. I remember a 
 man being killed on the spot by a pound of candles 
 being dropped from a height of sixty feet on to his head. 
 On the other hand, Jack Absolon was once working at 
 the bottom of a shaft seventy feet deep, when the 
 whole windlass up above carried bodily away. It came 
 right down the shaft, together with a hundredweight of
 
 DEAF HARRY AND HIS MATE. 217 
 
 copper ore that was being wound up. He heard it 
 coming, squeezed himself into a corner of the shaft, and 
 never got a scratch. 
 
 No one on a diggings ever seems to possess a sur- 
 name. But there is generally some epithet attached to 
 their Christian names, whereby they may be distin- 
 guished. "Bed Pat," "Maori Bob," " Little Dave," 
 " Ironstone George," " Long Mick," and " Deaf 
 Harry " a host of them rises before me. Their faces 
 were better known to me than my own, seeing that the 
 back of a sardine-box was the only looking-glass I had 
 for months ; but if they ever had any surname it was 
 known only to themselves. 
 
 " Deaf Harry " had certainly the best right to his 
 name of any man I ever knew. The immoderate use 
 of quinine had made him so deaf that no combination of 
 sounds, however appalling, could attract his attention. 
 
 I used to work with him for a long while, sinking a 
 shaft, and soon gave up attempting to make him hear. 
 If he was below and 1 wanted him, I used to carefully 
 drop a small pebble on his head. 
 
 One day Deaf Harry was at the windlass, and an- 
 other man working below. They had arranged a series 
 of signals between themselves. Two jerks on the rope 
 meant " heave up," one meant " steady," and three 
 meant " lower away." 
 
 I was working a little higher up the hill, when all 
 of a sudden I heard most awful noises echoing out of 
 the shaft. Looking down the hill I saw Harry peace- 
 fully winding away at the windlass, quite unconscious 
 of the yells and oaths that were flying up the shaft past 
 his ear. I knew something must be wrong, so I ran
 
 218 A NOVEL WAY UP THE SHAFT. 
 
 down the hill, and arrived just in time to see Harry's 
 mate being wound slowly up to the mouth of the shaft 
 head-downwards, with his foot noosed in the rope. He 
 was struggling fearfully, and still trying to swear, but 
 was rapidly becoming speechless from having been 
 wound up a distance of seventy feet in that position. 
 
 For once in his life Harry's rugged countenance re- 
 laxed into an expression of delighted surprise. Instead 
 of making the slightest attempt to extricate the un- 
 fortunate man, he remained looking critically at him for 
 several seconds, with the windlass handle in his hand. 
 Then turning towards me, he said, quite quietly : 
 
 " Well ! I 've been twenty-two years digging, and I 
 never saw a man come up the shaft like that before ! " 
 
 I made a dive at the wretched man's leg, dragged 
 him out of the shaft, and laid him out to dry. He was 
 perfectly exhausted, and purple in the face, but, having 
 been revived by a bucket of water poured over his head, 
 he explained that he had been standing in the bottom 
 of the shaft, and, he supposed, had unintentionally 
 jerked the rope twice with his foot. Harry, of course, 
 began to wind up, and knew no more about it till his 
 mate appeared at the top. He lost all interest in him 
 as soon as he found he had not come up head down- 
 wards on purpose.
 
 219 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 DBINK. 
 
 ONE day a man known as Ironstone George died at one 
 of the public-houses on the field, entirely from the effects 
 of drink. It is really infamous that no one has any 
 power to interfere in such cases. I had seen the man 
 hopelessly drunk, day after day, at the same public- 
 house, and had warned the owner that I should take 
 the first opportunity of taking away his licence. 
 
 Being the only resident magistrate on the field, I 
 held an inquest on the body. In the inquiry it ap- 
 peared that the publican had supplied him during a 
 fortnight with as much liquor as he could drink, but 
 had never given him anything to eat. A nearer ap- 
 proach to wilful murder it is not easy to imagine. I 
 took the opportunity of repeating my assurance to the 
 publican that he need never expect a licence again, 
 coupled with an expression of my unfeigned regret that 
 the law of the land did not allow me to hang him. 
 
 I was unfortunately unable to attend the first licen- 
 sing board for the diggings, and the rascally local 
 magistrates granted no less than six licences for the 
 Mount Britten field. 
 
 These public-houses are a perfect curse all through
 
 220 ADULTERATION OF LIQUOR. 
 
 the Bush of Australia, and no finer field was ever open 
 to a philanthropist than a crusade against the iniquity 
 that goes on in them. 
 
 In touching upon this subject, I wish very clearly to 
 state the ground that I take up, which is not so much 
 reduction of drunkenness as the prevention of murder. 
 In spite of the most specious attempts on the part of 
 such fanatical optimists as Mr. Gladstone, Mr. Mundella, 
 and others, to cook the returns of drunkenness and liquor 
 consumed, statistics show that the amount varies very 
 little. Wherever a certain number of the British race 
 are gathered together, there a certain amount of liquor 
 will be consumed, and my own conviction is that legis- 
 lation can do little or nothing to prevent drunkenness. 
 It can, if it please, force men to get drunk in their own 
 homes instead of in public-houses, but here its power 
 ends. 
 
 There is no truer picture of humanity than John 
 Leech's cartoon of the British workman arriving home 
 on Saturday night, laden with an enormous jar of liquor, 
 to provide against the. inconvenience of a Sunday 
 Closing Act. 
 
 But legislation can and ought to do a great deal 
 towards the prevention of such monstrous crimes as are 
 universally prevalent throughout the Bush public -houses 
 in Australia. The most violent poisons are habitually 
 used to adulterate the liquor sold, and to an extent 
 which renders a very moderate consumption sufficient 
 to destroy life. Bluestone and tobacco are the most 
 favourite drugs in use, the effect of them being to 
 cause temporary insanity, accompanied by raging thirst. 
 
 I have seen a strong sober man driven perfectly mad
 
 ITS DEADLY CONSEQUENCES. 221 
 
 for the time being, by two glasses of so-called rum, 
 supplied to him at one of these shanties. He had not 
 the slightest appearance of being drunk about him, but 
 every appearance of having been poisoned, and he did 
 not recover from the effects for a fortnight. 
 
 There is not a shadow of a doubt that scores of per- 
 fectly healthy men die every year from the immediate 
 effects of being poisoned at these infernal dens. It is 
 a very common occurrence for a man to be found dead 
 within a short distance of one of them. Possibly he 
 has retained sufficient vitality to drag himself a few 
 hundred yards on his journey, after exhausting his credit 
 with the publican. Possibly he has actually died in 
 the house, and been dragged a little way down the road 
 by the publican, to avoid the unpleasantness which an 
 inquiry into a death in his house might entail. Fear of 
 any such unpleasantness, however, must be purely sen- 
 timental, for I never heard of a single case where any 
 death of the kind brought serious consequences to the 
 publican. 
 
 It is by no means necessary that a man should be a 
 drunkard for him to fall a victim to this system of 
 secret murder. 
 
 After a twenty-mile tramp, or a fifty-mile ride along 
 a scorching road, the traveller arrives at the public- 
 house, possibly the only building that lies between him 
 and a similar journey in front. There is no earthly 
 reason he should not have a drink. He is tired and 
 thirsty, and the water is probably very bad. And yet it 
 is possible that the very first glass he swallows may 
 entirely deprive him of his reason. 
 
 The object of every Bush publican is to make anyone
 
 222 KNOCKING DOWN A CHEQUE. 
 
 with money, who visits his house, as quickly as possible 
 drunk, in order that he may either voluntarily hand 
 over all he has got to the publican, and drink it out, or 
 become so helpless as to allow himself to be robbed. 
 
 A system known as " knocking down one's cheque " 
 prevails all over the unsettled parts of Australia. That 
 is to say, a man with a cheque, or a sum of money in 
 his possession, hands it over to the publican, and calls 
 for drinks for himself and his friends, until the publican 
 tells him he has drunk out his cheque. Of course he 
 never gets a tithe of his money's worth in any shape or 
 way indeed, the kindest thing a publican can possibly 
 do, is to refuse him any more liquor at a very early 
 stage of the proceedings ; for cheques for enormous 
 amounts are frequently " knocked down " in this way. 
 A quarter of the worth of them, if honestly drunk out 
 in Bush liquor, would inevitably kill a whole regiment. 
 
 I remember a man who, for years, had been a hard 
 drinker. He went on the square that is, he kept per- 
 fectly sober for five years, during which time he raised 
 a cheque of 600. With this he started down to the 
 coast, intending to go home to the old country. On 
 the way he was persuaded to have a drink. The old 
 madness came over him, and in three weeks he had 
 drunk out every penny of his cheque. 
 
 At one of the public-houses at which he stayed he had 
 champagne at a guinea a bottle, in a bath in front of 
 the house, with a pannikin by the side for all comers 
 to help themselves. 
 
 As if by instinct, crowds of loafers assemble at a 
 Bush pub. where a good cheque is going, like flies 
 round a honey-pot, and the wildest orgies prevail.
 
 HOSPITALITY. 223 
 
 The scene is generally pretty much the same. A crowd 
 of noisy blasphemers, enveloped in a haze of tobacco- 
 smoke, elbowing each other to get near the counter 
 where drinks are served. 
 
 Behind this stands the barman and the landlord, the 
 obsequious expression on the latter 's face indicating to 
 the initiated that the time has not yet arrived when his 
 conscience will allow him to declare the cheque drunk 
 out. He is still anxious to supply everyone with every- 
 thing they want. 
 
 In one corner of the room lies huddled a shapeless 
 mass, which few would suppose to be the hospitable 
 individual at whose expense the company are drinking. 
 An inarticulate moan bursts from the sufferer on the 
 ground. Possibly he has been in the same position for 
 some twenty-four hours. The landlord, who is civility 
 itself, springs to attention at once, and hastening to him 
 bends over him. 
 
 " Beg pardon, Sir what did you please to say ? " 
 
 Another groan. 
 
 " Certainly, Sir. All right, Jim," (to the barman,) 
 " drinks for thirteen." 
 
 And so it goes on. Half the men drinking at the 
 unfortunate wretch's expense probably never saw him 
 before, and the other half do not care if they never see 
 him again until he has raised another cheque. 
 
 The prevalence of drinking throughout the Bush, and 
 in all the big towns of Queensland especially, is one of 
 the most extraordinary features of the country. If it 
 were possible to obtain any accurate returns, it would 
 be very interesting to ascertain the exact proportion of 
 the whole amount of wages earned in the colony, that
 
 224 A BUSHMAN'S METHOD OF DEINKING. 
 
 passes into the hands of the publicans. The amount 
 of liquor consumed in no way represents it, owing to 
 the system to which I have just alluded, which enables 
 the publican to get possession of a man's money, without 
 supplying him with anything like the value of it in return. 
 It is no exaggeration to say it is the universal custom 
 of most of the working classes of Queensland, whether 
 stockmen, miners, sawyers, carpenters, fencers, or shep- 
 herds, to spend the whole of their earnings in drink. 
 
 Their method of doing so is peculiar, and not many 
 of them are what could fairly be called habitual drunk- 
 ards. That is to say, they do not, as a rule, drink 
 while they are at work, and they make a practice of 
 working steadily and industriously for long spells at a 
 time. But, in working, the object of nine out of every 
 ten of them is simply to raise enough money for a spree. 
 A periodical spree seems a necessity in the life of a 
 Bushman. It is, to him, what an annual excursion to 
 the seaside is to an over-worked London tradesman. 
 It brings him into contact with fresh faces and scenes, 
 empties his pocket, restores him to cheerfulness, and 
 sends him back with renewed ardour to work. 
 
 Now, if a Bushman were sure of being supplied with 
 good liquor, instead of poison, it is doubtful whether 
 this mode of living would ever do him any harm at all. 
 It is notorious that a man who gets occasionally drunk, 
 and drinks nothing between whiles, suffers far less than 
 a man who is continually drinking without ever getting 
 drunk at all. Further than this, a Bushman, while at 
 work, is of necessity restricted to the simplest possible 
 fare. Vegetables, or luxuries of any kind, he can seldom 
 procure. A prolonged course of nothing but tea, beef,
 
 PREVALENCE OF DRINKING. 225 
 
 and damper, renders a change of living indispensable, to 
 ward off scurvy and similar diseases. 
 
 Under these circumstances, though it is extremely to 
 be regretted that he should carry it to the length of 
 the orgies that prevail amongst his class, it is certain 
 that an occasional drinking-bout does a Bushman more 
 good than harm. 
 
 In considering the question, and the best means of 
 dealing with it, it is better at once to relegate to a 
 visionary Utopia the hope of universal thrift and sobriety ; 
 we may take it for granted that as long as men retain 
 their individual freedom of action, they will drink just 
 exactly as much as they want to. Of course, it admits 
 of argument whether you cannot educate men up to 
 the point of wanting to drink less. But the votaries 
 of any such scheme would derive little encouragement 
 from studying the subject in Queensland. So far from 
 drunkenness being confined to the uneducated, it is, 
 if anything, more prevalent among the upper and middle 
 classes than any other. They drink incessantly, while 
 the lower classes can only afford to drink occasionally. 
 Preventive legislation, in the shape of early closing, 
 or penalties for drunkenness, will never do the slightest 
 good. Early closing only makes men drink at home, 
 and drunkenness is not a vice upon which the fear of 
 consequences will ever exert any great restraint, for the 
 simple reason that few men, when they start drinking, 
 do so with the deliberate intention of getting drunk, 
 and when they are under the influence of liquor they 
 are, of course, utterly indifferent to consequences of any 
 kind. 
 
 What legislation can, and ought to do, is to interfere 
 
 15
 
 226 CONDUCT OP THE GOVERNMENT 
 
 to prevent a man being made to get drunk when he 
 does not want to, and to save him from being poisoned 
 after he has lost all command of his senses. 
 
 The conduct of the Queensland G-overnment with 
 regard to the adulteration of liquor in public -houses is 
 perfectly scandalous. The penalties for its detection 
 are by no meanp such as the gravity of the offence calls 
 for, and are rarely enforced. The excise is most ineffi- 
 cient, and its duties are discharged in a way that no one 
 acquainted with the morality of Colonial Government 
 would credit. It is not long since the Queensland 
 Government sent the excise round some public-houses 
 in the neighbourhood of Brisbane. They had no 
 difficulty in collecting a quantity of sixteen different 
 sorts of deadly poisons, used for the adulteration of 
 liquor. Instead of destroying them, the Government 
 had the shameless effrontery to sell these poisons by 
 public auction. 
 
 A great deal might be done by the local magistrates, 
 if they chose. They have discretionary power to grant 
 or refuse licences to holders of public -houses, and there 
 is no appeal from their decision. If it were known that 
 a man's licence was certain to be refused him if he 
 were in the habit of adulterating his liquor, it would 
 undoubtedly act as a check upon the practice. 
 
 If, in addition to this, a man were liable to be hanged, 
 if convicted of causing the death of a fellow-creature by 
 supplying him with poisonous liquor, it would go a long 
 way towards stopping it altogether. 
 
 The extreme difficulty of obtaining any such conviction, 
 the isolated position of these Bush publics, which makes 
 supervision next to impossible, renders some extreme
 
 RENDERS ANY REFORM DIFFICULT. 227 
 
 legislation on the subject imperative. Owing to the scar- 
 city of population, and the consequent facilities afforded 
 to crime, rape is punishable in Queensland by hanging. 
 I cannot conceive that the crime of wilfully taking a 
 man's life by poison calls for a less severe sentence. 
 As a matter of fact little or nothing is ever done towards 
 the prevention of this most dastardly of all forms of 
 murder. 
 
 The reformation of Bush public -houses in Queensland 
 would be a difficult task, even supposing that any large 
 section of the community were interested in its accom- 
 plishment. It is rendered hopeless by the universal 
 indifference on the subject that, to a certain extent, 
 pervades every class in the colony. 
 
 The sympathies of the whole of society are largely 
 with the publican. The squatters themselves, of whom 
 the licensing board is usually composed, will always up- 
 hold him. They may regret that he sells poisonous 
 liquor to stray travellers, but they have no fear of being 
 treated in the same way themselves at least, by the 
 publicans in the neighbourhood of their own station. 
 In return for the assurance of his licence, the publican 
 has always the wisdom to keep a supply of decent liquor 
 on hand for his supporters when they pay him a call. 
 
 A visit to the seat of power in Brisbane would be 
 the reverse of encouraging to anyone interested in this 
 subject. 
 
 A crusade against publicans is not likely to find much 
 favour with an executive composed of men who spend 
 half their time loafing around the drinking-bars in the 
 town, and whose ranks generally contain one or two 
 notorious drunkards, who are not in the least ashamed 
 
 15 *
 
 228 AUSTRALIAN JUDGES. 
 
 / 
 
 to take their seat in the House, or to be seen in the 
 streets while in a state of intoxication. It is no uncom- 
 mon thing to see a telegram in a Queensland paper to 
 the effect that at such and such an hour " Mr. So-and- 
 so, who was intoxicated, rose to move the adjournment 
 of the House." 
 
 Our neighbours in New South Wales and Victoria 
 are not behind us in this respect. If anything, the 
 Queensland Assembly is the most sober of the three. 
 The drunkenness of the judges throughout Australia 
 has become such a by-word as to entirely deprive the 
 time-honoured proverb of any but a sarcastic meaning. 
 
 I read, the other day, in the Sydney Bulletin, the 
 following interesting comment on the subject : 
 
 " We have all of us heard the expressions ' as drunk 
 as a lord,' and 'as sober as a judge.' Can anything 
 be more ridiculous ? Who ever heard of a lord being 
 
 drunk, or a judge being (ED. There is no occasion 
 
 to continue this subject any further)." 
 
 It is by no means an uncommon occurrence for a 
 magistrate or a judge to take his seat on the bench in 
 a state of intoxication. Not long ago a most absurd 
 scene took place at the petty sessions at a township 
 which shall be nameless, but which is not a hundred 
 miles from Bowen. One magistrate, as not unfrequently 
 happens, was sitting in solitary sjate on the bench. 
 His features wore that expression of ludicrous solem- 
 nity by the adoption of which a man who knows himself 
 to be drunk endeavours to disguise the fact from his 
 neighbours. 
 
 A prisoner was brought in, charged with having 
 removed goods to the value of Is. 4d. from a store.
 
 AN IMPRESSIVE SCENE IN COURT. 229 
 
 Before the evidence was half finished, a terrible frown 
 gathered on the magistrate's brow. Jamming his 
 battered cabbage-tree hat well over his eyes, in imitation 
 of the awful ceremony of putting on the black cap, he 
 rose slowly up, and, pointing a shaking finger at the 
 culprit, said: " Take'imawayand'ang'im ! " 
 
 "Beg pardon, your Worship," said the constable, 
 
 " this is only a case of " 
 
 " Take'im-'way and 'ang 'im ! " repeated his Wor- 
 ship, more slowly and impressively than before. 
 
 " But, your Worship," expostulated the bewildered 
 
 official, " you have no power " 
 
 "No power! Just aint I, though," shouted the 
 now thoroughly infuriated magistrate. " 'Ear what I 
 shay ? Take 'im away and 'ang 'im ! " And, subsiding 
 into his seat, he was heard to add, in a voice of maudlin 
 pathos : "An' Lor' a mercy on his soul ! " 
 
 Seeing that remonstrance was useless, the constable 
 removed the prisoner, and shortly afterwards returned. 
 
 " Taken'imawayand'ung'im ? " asked the magistrate, 
 cheerfully. 
 
 " Yes, your Worship." 
 " All right. I 'shmis shcase." 
 
 As long as the supervision of Bush public-houses 
 remains in the hands of such men as these, no reform 
 is possible. And no reform will ever come until a 
 healthier tone as regards the subject of drunkenness 
 pervades every class in the Colony. Throughout the 
 whole country the reputation of being mighty to mingle 
 strong drink carries no little admiration along with it, 
 while the fact of getting occasionally drunk entails little 
 or no reproach.
 
 230 AN EXCELLENT SUBSTITUTE. 
 
 Of course, in and near the big towns the possibility 
 of a visit from the excise makes the adulteration of 
 liquor rather more difficult than in the Bush. Away in 
 the back blocks it is done openly and shamelessly, and 
 looked on, by everyone concerned, in the light of rather 
 a good joke. 
 
 A friend of mine went into a Bush pub. near Hunger- 
 ford, on the borders of New South Wales and Queens- 
 land, accompanied by three or four other men, for whom 
 he was going to " shout." The usual invitation, " Give 
 it a name, boys," was followed by requests on the part 
 of his friends for various sorts of drinks. One called 
 for rum, another for beer, and a third was just remark- 
 ing that gin-and-bitters was what the doctor had ordered, 
 when a cynical smile was observed on the landlord's 
 face. 
 
 " Hold on," he said, " it 's no use going on like that. 
 We 've run out of every drop of liquor, and been drink- 
 ing ' Pain-killer ' for a week. So you can take that 
 or leave it alone." 
 
 On another occasion, I remember hearing a man ask 
 for a glass of gin, at a very out-of-the-way Bush shanty. 
 He was supplied with a glass of bluish-white-looking 
 stuff,- which, after the fashion of dwellers in the Bush, 
 he swallowed raw, intending to help himself to water 
 afterwards. No sooner had he swallowed it than an 
 expression of awful rage and terror came over his face. 
 
 " Why, damn everything an inch high," he exclaimed, 
 as soon as he got his breath, "that ain't gin that's 
 kerosene ! " 
 
 " Well," said the woman who had served him, 
 "and what if it is? There's no call to make any
 
 THREE GENTLEMEN. 231 
 
 flaming fuss. There 's three gentlemen in the parlour 
 drinking Farmer's Friend for rum, and they don't say 
 anything." 
 
 On the next annual licensing day after my arrival on 
 the diggings, I took the opportunity of refusing licences 
 to every single publican on the field except one.
 
 232 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 GOLD-DIGGING. 
 
 MEANWHILE the work of putting up the mill got on very 
 slowly. The A. S. N. Co.,* whose idea of handling 
 machinery is to raise it to as great a height as possible, 
 and then suddenly drop it, contrived to smash some of 
 my heaviest castings in landing them on the wharf at 
 Mackay. I had to send to Melbourne to get them 
 replaced, and this caused a delay of several months. 
 
 Water was so scarce in the creek on which the dig- 
 gings lay that I was obliged to put up the mill a mile 
 and a half below the reef, at the junction of another 
 creek. Even here there was so little water that I 
 thought it was advisable to throw a dam across the 
 creek. 
 
 Damming a Queensland mountain-creek is no joke. 
 The violent storms which occur, and the heavy freshes 
 that they cause in the creeks, make it necessary that 
 any sort of dam should be remarkably solid. 
 
 The creek here was about 120 feet wide, and there 
 was about ten feet of drift in the bottom. Of course it 
 was necessary to cut a trench through this, right down 
 to the bed rock, and fill it with clay, for the puddle- wall. 
 The trench was three feet wide, and in it I sunk a 
 
 * The Australasian Steam Navigation Company, always known 
 throughout the Colonies as the A.8.N.
 
 DAMMING A CREEK. 238 
 
 double row of piles a foot thick, to support the frame of 
 the dam above. Horizontal logs were laid against these 
 and in between them, and this formed the centre wall 
 of the dam. The amount of labour connected with 
 this work was very great. 
 
 We used to keep three shifts going, night and day, 
 at the pumps, to keep the work in the trench clear of 
 water, and the clay for the puddle-wall had to be carted 
 from a considerable distance. Several small freshes 
 came down while the work was going on, and did a good 
 deal of damage ; but we managed to repair it, and at 
 last the dam looked like being finished. I faced the 
 front wall entirely with stone, and gave it a very big 
 batter, to allow for the heavy floods that I knew the 
 creek was subject to. 
 
 Had twenty-four hours more been given me to finish 
 the work, I believe the dam would have been there to- 
 day, and for twenty years to come. The by-wash was 
 almost finished, and there were only a few feet more of 
 the stone facing to be done. Those few feet, however, 
 settled the fate of the dam. There came one of the 
 most brilliant storms I ever saw. Queensland, at all 
 times, can be relied upon to crowd more thunder and 
 lightning into a minute than most countries can into an 
 hour, and no better place for a display of the kind can 
 be imagined than the valley of Mount Britten. It is a 
 perfect funnel for collecting rain, about five miles across 
 the centre, narrowing down to a few hundred yards at 
 the mouth, where the dam across the creek was situated. 
 
 The row that a storm makes there is appalling. When 
 once a clap of thunder is loosed off into the valley it can 
 never get out. It slams round, cannoning up against
 
 234 A QUEENSLAND THUNDER-STORM. 
 
 the cliffs that surround the place, till its echoes are 
 drowned in a fresh discharge, and so it goes on, till 
 anyone who happens to be out in it feels as if the thunder 
 was being manufactured in his own hat. 
 
 In ordinary countries, forked lightning descends from 
 a storm one flash at a time, and its home invariably 
 seems to be the earth. In Queensland lightning is 
 slathered about as if it was of no value at all. Two or 
 three flashes set off at the same time, and, after hunting 
 each other about the firmament for some time, either 
 part company and go off opposite ways, or twist them- 
 selves into a tangled knot, and discharge smaller flashes 
 in every direction. In the background a perfectly in- 
 cessant supply of sheet-lightning is kept up, which 
 is constantly changing colour; sometimes it is white, 
 sometimes a golden yellow, and sometimes a beautiful 
 pale lilac, and the effect is most lovely. 
 
 The rain that accompanies these storms is sometimes 
 terrific. I have seen as much as five inches fall in an 
 hour. When this particular storm broke over the valley 
 I was up at the reefs, a mile and a half above the 
 mill. 
 
 It was about ten o'clock at night, and deadly dark ; 
 but I started off down the track at once to see how the 
 dam would stand. Fortunately I knew every inch of 
 the road, for a more disagreeable place for a stranger 
 to find his way along in the dark it would be difficult to 
 imagine. Besides the natural pit-falls in the way of rocks, 
 logs, and gullies all down the track, the whole place 
 was a perfect warren of old shafts that had been mink in 
 prospecting for gold. The 'mouths of them were quite 
 open, and several of them were sunk right in the middle
 
 THE PATE or THE DAM. 235 
 
 of the old track ; so that anyone who did not know them, 
 and remember them, was certain to come to grief. 
 
 The track crossed the creek twice between the reefs 
 and the mill, and when I started up in the afternoon 
 the creek was not running at all. At the first crossing 
 on my way back it was only ankle-deep. The next 
 crossing was half a mile lower down ; and, though I ran 
 all the way, by the time that I got there there was 
 ten feet of water in the creek, running like a mill-race. 
 
 The lightning made the whole place as light as day 
 now, and, as the crossing seemed to be clear, I soused 
 in and got out all right at the other side. As soon 
 as I got down to the dam, I saw at once that it was 
 doomed. The by- wash was of no use at all to take 
 the overflow. It had never been intended to do more 
 than relieve the pressure, as the dam was an overshot 
 one. But it was the few feet where the stone facing 
 was still incomplete that ruined it. The water got a 
 start there, and gradually ate away the whole concern 
 like cheese ; and in six hours there was nothing left 
 but a few piles sticking up to mark where the puddle- 
 wall had been. 
 
 Holliman was standing watching the destruction of 
 the work, looking the image of despair. The rain was 
 coming down in sheets, but nothing could get him away. 
 He looked so utterly miserable, standing on the edge of 
 a foaming creek, with the water running in streams 
 down his back and out of his boots, lit up every now 
 and then by a purple streak of lightning, that I went 
 into shrieks of laughter at him. 
 
 After a time a melancholy sort of smile stole over 
 his face, and he allowed himself to be taken away. The
 
 236 A MODEL TEAM OF BULLOCKS. 
 
 water came down while some of the men were at work, 
 and so suddenly that two of them, who attempted to 
 save their tools, uncommonly nearly got drowned. They 
 managed to hold on to some trees that had been left 
 growing in the face of the dam, and stayed there till 
 Holliman helped them out with a rope. 
 
 This settled the Mount Britten dam. It cost over 
 ,350, and would never have been any use, as from some 
 subsequent working we found that there was an old 
 underground course of the creek in one of the banks, 
 through which all the water would have escaped. At 
 the end of about eight months' patient toil, and after 
 innumerable breakdowns and delays, the mill looked 
 like being completed ; so I called for tenders for carting 
 the quartz down from the reefs ready for a start. Plenty 
 of carriers were willing to contract for the " Wanderer " 
 stone, as there was no difficulty about the road, except 
 in wet weather, when it was very greasy. But the 
 " Erratic Star " was a different matter altogether. 
 
 The quartz-paddock was on the side of a mountain, 
 and the last three hundred feet up to it was a " pinch " 
 so steep that no one who did not know what a team of 
 bullocks can do, would ever imagine it was possible to 
 get to it with a waggon. At last a man called George 
 Tucker, well known as one of the best drivers in the 
 district, offered to try. His team of fourteen bullocks 
 were a perfect picture. He was always very quiet with 
 them, and very seldom used his whip, but his bullocks 
 were marvellously obedient to the least word, and would 
 follow him about like children. I believe they would 
 have gone up two pair of stairs and down again without 
 getting mixed up.
 
 METHOD OF DBIVING. 237 
 
 There is something wonderfully impressive about a 
 good team of bullocks. In all their movements there is 
 a solemn deliberation that it is most entertaining to 
 watch. Nothing can hurry them. If you were going 
 for the doctor you could not get three miles an hour 
 out of a bullock team. 
 
 When the waggon gets stuck, they never plunge 
 about, and snort, and struggle, as a team of horses do 
 when they are called upon to do some extra pulling. 
 They just lay themselves quietly down to their work, 
 looking back occasionally at their driver out of their 
 great, wise, patient eyes, as much as to say, " We 're 
 hitting out all we can, and if you swear till you burst, 
 you can't make us pull any harder." 
 
 Each bullock has a name, which it knows perfectly. 
 The driver gives his directions to each one separately, 
 keeping up a running commentary of blasphemy the 
 whole time ; and according to the amount of bad lan- 
 guage that accompanies the use of its name, each animal 
 knows the exact amount of exertion that is required of 
 it. It is a beautiful sight to see a good driver straighten 
 out a team of eighteen bullocks to fetch a waggon and 
 five ton of a load out of a bad place. Apparently 
 without the slightest effort, his animals just lean gently 
 forward on the yoke ; but when once they get the pres- 
 sure on, it is perfectly irresistible, and something is 
 certain to happen. Either the waggon will shift, or the 
 chains must break. 
 
 The bullock-whip with which the driver is armed is 
 a terrible weapon in the hands of a man who knows how 
 to use it. The lash is made of plaited greenhide about 
 nine feet long, and is hung square on the end of a six-
 
 238 THE USE OP THE WHIP. 
 
 foot stick by way of a handle. A good- driver very 
 seldom touches his bullocks with the whip at all, the 
 crack of it, which is as loud as a pistol-shot, being quite 
 sufficient to induce a well-broken team to pull their 
 hardest. 
 
 Occasionally, however, the best driver finds it neces- 
 sary to let a bullock feel the whip, and then he will do 
 it in a way that the animal will never forget. A well- 
 laid-on cut of the whip from the hand of a workman 
 will lay six inches of a bullock's ribs open as clean as 
 if it had been done with a knife. I have seen a bullock 
 lie down and begin to bellow with terror when, it got 
 to the exact spot in a road where, months before, it had 
 been flogged for not pulling. 
 
 Many drivers are brutally cruel to their bullocks, and 
 are continually laying the whip into them merely to 
 vent their own savage temper. But a good driver will 
 always be known by the hides of his team. The marks 
 of the whip will be scarce, but what there are will be 
 deep and laid on in the right place. From constantly 
 associating with his team, a bullock-driver imbibes a 
 great deal of the lethargic nature of the animals them- 
 selves. 
 
 After crawling along the road for years beside his 
 bullocks at the rate of a mile and a half an hour, any- 
 thing approaching to hurry becomes eliminated from his 
 nature. 
 
 There is an incurable dilatory dawdle about every 
 movement of a man who has been a few years on the road, 
 that will always proclaim his profession, and will stick 
 to him ever after, whatever other line he may take up. 
 
 If you speak to a bullock-driver he will take as long
 
 GEORGE TUCKER. 239 
 
 to turn his head round to look at you, as a horse-driver 
 would to answer you, and nothing will ever induce him 
 to get his bullocks yoked up before about ten o'clock 
 in the day. When on the road, if he knocks eight or 
 nine miles a day out of his team, he reckons that is 
 very fair travelling. 
 
 George Tucker was a model specimen of his class. 
 He was wonderfully patient with his bullocks, but he 
 could get more work out of them than almost anyone 
 I ever saw, and, I believe, was as fond of them as if they 
 had been his own children. The first day that he 
 started up to the reefs to bring the quartz down, I went 
 with him, to see how he got on. 
 
 He got up to the " Star " paddock all right, having 
 hitched his team on to the back of the waggon, and 
 drawn it up backwards, as there was no room to turn at 
 the top. Having loaded up, he prepared to start down 
 the steep pinch again, and, in order to save the necks of 
 his " polers," he tried to get the waggon as near the 
 edge of the paddock as possible before locking the 
 wheels. Belying upon the handiness and obedience of 
 his team, he made a strange mistake for so old a hand, 
 and had not even the brake on. In drawing on to the 
 edge he just went a yard too far, and away went the 
 waggon down the hill, with four ton and a half of quartz 
 on it. 
 
 Tucker rushed after it, trying in vain to get the brake 
 on, while the " off-sider," who was helping him, made 
 futile attempts to keep the team straight out in front of 
 the waggon. It was no use. For a few yards it went 
 slowly enough, and it looked as if it might get safely to 
 the bottom. But gradually the pace increased, the
 
 240 DOWN HILL WITHOUT THE BRAKE. 
 
 leading bullocks stumbled and fell, bringing the others 
 down on top of them, and the waggon went with irre- 
 sistible force right over the struggling mass of bullocks, 
 forging its way down the hill, till their carcases blocked 
 it from going any farther. 
 
 When we got down there, the team was a most heart- 
 rending sight. Horns, hair, and blood were strewed 
 about in all directions, and at first it looked as if every 
 bullock was dead. They were all jammed up in a dense 
 mass, with chains wound round them in such confusion 
 it was difficult to know where to begin taking them out 
 of winding. 
 
 By degrees we got them all clear, and found that 
 three were killed outright, another had its back broken, 
 and the two others were terribly knocked about. Nearly 
 every one had lost a horn, and some of them both. The 
 waggon, strange to say, had never even upset, and, of 
 course, was quite uninjured. Fortunately, Tucker had 
 only taken six of his bullocks up the hill, and left the 
 rest down below. 
 
 He took it quite quietly. The occasion was far too 
 solemn for any swearing ; so he helped us to light a 
 funeral pyre over the carcases of his dead favourites, and, 
 climbing on to his horse, he turned the rest of his team 
 out into the Bush, and went off to Grosvenor Downs, 
 some sixty miles away, to hunt up some fresh bullocks. 
 In a week he had his team in working order again, and 
 finished the job of drawing down the quartz without any 
 further misfortune. 
 
 Anyone would have thought that such an event as the 
 sudden death of four of his best bullocks would have 
 called forth a paroxysm of fury from such a habitual
 
 PROFESSIONAL SWEABING. 241 
 
 blasphemer as a bullock-driver, and made him exhaust 
 every possible combination of oaths in his vocabulary. 
 But in reality a great deal of the bad language which he 
 is in the habit of using is what may be called profes- 
 sional swearing, and does not in the least imply loss of 
 temper. A bullock-driver knows that his bullocks are 
 so accustomed to hearing disgraceful language that 
 certain words and a certain tone of voice are absolutely 
 necessary to make them pull, and when they get in a 
 fix he has to work himself up to a pitch of simulated 
 fury, and use most awful expressions to induce them to 
 exert themselves. 
 
 But while the rocks around are still resounding with 
 oaths that make one shiver to hear, he will turn round 
 with a cheery smile on his face to greet anyone who 
 happens to be passing, and wipe the foam from his 
 mouth to answer a question with the utmost good- 
 humour. It is astonishing how a man who is appa- 
 rently in the habit of getting into a violent passion upon 
 the slightest provocation will sometimes command his 
 temper when one would think it was impossible. 
 
 I remember perfectly well the disappointment of a 
 large audience at finding that like causes do not always 
 produce like results in matters pertaining to temper. A 
 carrier was drawing sand up a very long steep hill, at 
 the top of which there were a lot of men at work. He 
 was a most notorious blasphemer, and his power of lan- 
 guage was so extraordinary that everyone used to put 
 down their tools and listen when he had a bad attack. 
 Upon one occasion, as he was coming up the hill, the 
 tail-board of his dray fell out without his knowing it, 
 and, of course, all the sand ran out. 
 
 16
 
 242 A DISAPPOINTED AUDIENCE. 
 
 One of the men who was working near the top saw 
 what had happened, and instantly attracted the atten- 
 tion of his mates to the impending scene. As the dray 
 drew near the top all the men knocked off work and 
 gradually collected around, in sure and certain hope of a 
 more than usually lively display of profanity from the 
 carrier. 
 
 When he got to the top he stopped and looked 
 round. ' A breathless silence prevailed whilst it gra- 
 dually soaked into him what had happened. He looked 
 at the empty dray, and at the weary long pull up the 
 hill which he had just accomplished. Then he looked 
 sadly and half apologetically at the expectant crowd 
 around him, and in a tone of deep feeling observed, 
 " Boys, I ain't equal to the occasion," and went straight 
 off for another load. 
 
 While I was putting up the mill I had a bullock-team 
 of my own to draw in the logs for sawing and do the 
 work about the place. Whenever there was a slack 
 time I used to send it down to Port Mackay for a load, 
 but it was a horrid fraud. The bullocks were good 
 enough, but it was impossible to get a decent man to 
 drive them. 
 
 A man who drives his own bullocks is lazy enough, 
 but a man who drives someone else's is simply the in- 
 carnation of idleness. I had several drivers one after 
 the other, but it was always the same old game. When 
 they were at home they used to swear they had lost the 
 bullocks, having, of course, " planted " them up some 
 obscure creek, and if they were sent on the road they 
 always got on the spree. 
 
 I was very glad when Dick Absolon offered to take
 
 THE FOUNDATIONS OP THE MILL. 243 
 
 the team off my hands, and to contract for the work 
 about the place. I had a lot of trouble in getting sound 
 trees for the bed-logs of my machinery. There was any 
 amount of timber about the place, but it takes a good 
 tree to square twenty-four inches for a length of twenty 
 feet, because most Queensland trees, when they get to 
 a certain size, get a pipe in the middle, and I would not 
 stand anything that was not perfectly solid. In putting 
 up a battery for crushing quartz it is impossible to be 
 too careful about getting the foundations solid. Upon 
 this everything depends. You may have the best mill, 
 and all the most recent appliances and improvements 
 for saving gold, but if your foundations shake you will 
 lose a lot of gold. 
 
 Many a promising gold-field has been ruined by 
 having bad machinery put up on it. Reefs that would 
 have paid handsomely with good machinery are aban- 
 doned as unpayable, and the field is deserted. 
 
 In laying the foundations of my stamper-boxes, I 
 went right down to the bed rock, with a trench twenty 
 feet long and four feet six inches wide. In the bottom 
 of this I laid three feet of concrete cement for the 
 foundation of the bed-logs. The bed-logs themselves 
 were two splendid sticks of curly red-gum, nineteen feet 
 long, sawn square twenty-four inches by twenty-one, and 
 bolted together with two -inch iron bolts. These were 
 laid horizontally in the trench. Three upright piles, 
 five feet high and twenty-four inches square, standing on 
 the bed-logs, formed the foundation of each stamper- 
 box. These piles were very strongly bolted together, 
 fitted with the utmost nicety, and levelled with the 
 accuracy of a billiard table. 
 
 16 *
 
 244 THE STAMPER-BOXES. 
 
 Each stamper-box was a solid casting, weighing 
 nearly a ton, about four feet long, four feet high, and 
 fifteen inches in width. 
 
 In each box five stampers work. The stampers are 
 raised about ten inches, and then allowed to fall, by 
 means of a shaft which revolves overhead, which is 
 fitted with "cams" or " wipers," which give two drops 
 of the stamper for every revolution of the shaft. The 
 weight of each stamper with the shank, head, shoe, 
 and disc complete, is about eight hundredweight. They 
 work close together in the box, and underneath each 
 is placed a die of hematite iron, and between the 
 bottom of this and the floor of the box itself a layer 
 of quartz is always placed, to prevent the shock of the 
 stamper's fall from breaking the box. 
 
 Round the boxes is placed a frame of heavy cross- 
 logs to support the columns upon which the cam-shaft 
 works. These logs are kept quite clear of any contact 
 with the foundation of the boxes, so that the inevitable 
 jar of the constant fall of the stampers may not injure 
 the rest of the machinery. The shaft is worked by 
 belting connected with a stationary engine, which can be 
 instantly disconnected on to a loose pulley- wheel. 
 
 At the back of the boxes are the quartz -shoots into 
 which the quartz is tipped out of the drays from the 
 reefs, and broken up into pieces about the size of a 
 man's fist. The feeder stands here with a long-handled 
 shovel, and slings the quartz into an opening at the 
 back of the box. 
 
 There is a good deal of art in feeding the stampers 
 properly, and a good man will run a ton a shift more 
 through the boxes than a duffer, with the same number
 
 FEEDING THE BOXES. THE TABLES. 245 
 
 of revolutions to the minute. If he feeds too slow, of 
 course there is waste of power, and he is liable to break 
 the dies by letting the stampers fall on to them too 
 clean. On the other hand, if he feeds too fast he chokes 
 them, and wastes any amount of time that way. A 
 feeder takes a twelve hours' shift right on end, and a 
 very monotonous occupation it is. 
 
 In the front of the box is an opening about two 
 feet long and a foot high, fitted with gratings. The 
 fineness of the gratings used varies according to the 
 coarseness of the gold in the stone crushed, but from 
 a hundred and eighty to two hundred and forty holes to 
 the square inch are the ordinary ones. A constant 
 stream of water is kept flowing through the boxes 
 while the stampers are at work, and the stone is 
 pounded up inside till it can only escape in the form 
 of fine mud through the gratings. 
 
 From time to time a little quicksilver is thrown into 
 the boxes, and all the coarse gold collects in the form 
 of amalgam. 
 
 Below the boxes are the tables upon which the fine 
 gold that escapes from the boxes is collected. These 
 tables are sheets of copper on wooden frames, and have 
 a slope of about half an inch to the foot. There are 
 three sets of them, and at the end of each is what is 
 called a quicksilver ripple, which is a solid piece of wood 
 with three troughs cut along it, about two inches deep, 
 each a little lower than the other, and filled nearly full 
 of quicksilver. The copper tables themselves are faced 
 with quicksilver, which is kept constantly bright by the 
 use of nitric acid or cyanide of potass. 
 
 Keeping the tables and quicksilver in good order is
 
 246 AMALGAMATING. 
 
 a science of itself, for, unless the quicksilver is lively, 
 quantities of gold are lost. 
 
 The water flows from the boxes along the whole 
 length of the tables, carrying with it the tailings from 
 the boxes, and the fine gold. This last is caught by 
 the quicksilver, and hardens on to the plates in amal- 
 gam. From time to time this is scraped off as the 
 crushing goes on, and the tables faced again with fresh 
 quicksilver. 
 
 The man who attends to the tables, and to the re- 
 torting and smelting of the gold, is called the " amal- 
 gamator." Good men at this trade are scarce, and will 
 easily earn from four to six pounds a week, on a 
 Queensland diggings. Even with the greatest care, and 
 first-rate tables, a good deal of gold always contrives to 
 get away. The tailings, as they are called, that have 
 passed over the tables and run away into the waste dram, 
 are analysed from time to time to test the waste of gold 
 that is going on. 
 
 This process, above described, is the simplest form of 
 crushing quartz, and is only fit for stone which contains 
 gold in a pure form, unmixed with pyrites, galena, and 
 other abominations that drive an amalgamator out of 
 his mind. Where these exist, the tailings have to be 
 separately treated, with more elaborate contrivances. 
 
 The tables lie close under the stamper-boxes, but 
 great care is taken to keep them from actually coming 
 into contact, for fear the jar of the stampers should 
 interfere with them. 
 
 Holliman certainly did his work to admiration, and 
 the mill is now reckoned to be about the best set up of 
 any in Queensland.
 
 THE CHBISTENING. 247 
 
 Having got everything ready for a start, we fixed on 
 a day for christening the mill, and my brother's wife 
 came up from the station, forty miles away, to perform 
 the ceremony. After some consideration I determined 
 to call the mill the " Sabbath Calm." Anyone who has 
 ever lived near a quartz mill, will see at once that the 
 name was not altogether inappropriate. The row made 
 by the stampers is perfectly deafening. They go on, 
 when quartz is available, from six o'clock on Monday 
 morning till six o'clock on Saturday night, and no one 
 who has not been maddened by the incessant din for 
 a whole week can thoroughly appreciate the repose that 
 Sunday's quiet brings with it. 
 
 The christening morning broke fair over the valley 
 of Mount Britten, and, if the sun thought anything 
 about it at all, he must have been startled at the change 
 which a few months had made in the wilderness. The 
 mill itself was a most imposing sight, with its vast 
 expanse of galvanised iron roof, and tall brick stack ; and 
 anyone who scattered a glance over the tremendously 
 heavy machinery, fitted with all the most recent im- 
 provements, and faultlessly erected, would have found 
 it difficult to realise that he was in the heart of the 
 lonely mountains of Queensland, where, eighteen months 
 before, the kangaroos and wallabies had had it all to 
 themselves. 
 
 All the men who were working for me had a holiday 
 in honour of the occasion, and all who were not gave 
 themselves one, so that the whole population of the 
 diggings assembled to see the start. They had all 
 treated themselves to a wash in the creek, and everyone 
 who could had fossicked out a clean shirt and a flash-
 
 248 STARTING THE " SABBATH CALM." 
 
 coloured silk handkerchief as a tribute of respect to the 
 important day. 
 
 The old doctor was in splendid form. He had been 
 saving himself up for the occasion for ever so long, and, 
 I believe, had drunk nothing for a week on purpose to 
 enjoy himself all the more. In his excitement he had 
 forgotten the wash in the creek, but he had climbed into 
 an old pith helmet and a faded blue coat, which made 
 him look far more disreputable than he did in his work- 
 ing clothes. He drank enough for four without ever 
 turning a hair, and never stopped talking and laughing 
 from sunrise to sundown. 
 
 Holliman surveyed his own completed work with per- 
 fect satisfaction, and without a particle of anxiety as to 
 the working of the machinery in the approaching trial. 
 He had the confidence of a real artist in his own per- 
 formance, and, knowing that it had all been done in the 
 best possible way, he had not a doubt about the result. 
 The amalgamating table was turned into a bar, and one 
 of the men told off as barman, with orders to give every- 
 one anything they wanted as long as the liquor held out. 
 He had a couple of buckets full of rum, with a pannikin 
 to ladle it out, and an enormous army of bottles of beer, 
 porter, brandy, and whisky. 
 
 A bottle of brandy decorated with streamers of red, 
 white, and blue ribbon was hung from the roof, opposite 
 the fly-wheel. Punctually, at 12 o'clock, my brother's 
 wife advanced, amid a solemn silence, and grasped the 
 bottle. Holliman looked at me as much as to say, 
 " I 've done my part of the business, now you can start 
 yours." 
 
 The steam was on, so I jammed down the lever.
 
 THE DOCTOB'S BATH. 249 
 
 Slowly and smoothly the vast fly-wheel began to revolve ; 
 the bottle, discharged with unerring precision, was dashed 
 to pieces against it ; and the " Sabbath Calm " was fairly 
 started, amid wild cheers from the assembled crowd. 
 The old doctor nearly went mad with delight. He 
 flung his old helmet into the air, and, waving his third 
 pannikin of rum round his head, was about to give vent 
 to the discordant bellow by which a German endeavours 
 to imitate a British cheer, when he overbalanced him- 
 self and fell backwards into an enormous tailing-tub full 
 of water. Far from discouraging him, this catastrophe 
 seemed to delight him immensely. He was extricated, 
 perfectly good-humoured and cheerful, and, having 
 called for another pannikin of rum, he insisted on 
 making a speech, to which no one listened, all hands 
 being busily engaged in drinking success to the new 
 mill.
 
 250 
 
 CHAPTEE XVI. 
 
 GOLD -DIGGING. 
 
 We had 98 tons of quartz to go through from the Erratic 
 Star, and 185 tons from the Wanderer ; and there was 
 great excitement all over the field to know the result 
 of the first crushing ; for upon the success of a first 
 crushing depends, in a great measure, the fate of a 
 gold-field. 
 
 Until you get used to the appearance of the stone you 
 are working, it is very difficult to form an estimate 
 beforehand of the yield. There was the greatest diver- 
 gence of opinion as to the Wanderer stone, in which 
 coarse gold showed freely, and wagers were laid that it 
 would go anything up to twenty ounces to the ton. 
 
 Gibbard and I knew better, and we decided that we 
 should be very pleased if it went four ounces. After the 
 stampers had been at work a few hours the amalgam 
 began to show on the distributing plate, as the table 
 next below the boxes is called. This was a good sign, 
 as we had not expected to find very much fine gold in 
 the stone. 
 
 There was no particular hurry, so we put the stone 
 through slowly, in order to give it every chance. If the 
 stone is pretty clean, ten head of stamps will crush about 
 a ton an hour ; but we only put through about sixteen
 
 THE FIRST CRUSHING. 261 
 
 hundredweight. I used to take the night shift of twelve 
 hours, driving the engine and firing-up. This last is 
 pretty hard work, when round logs with the bark on are 
 used for fire-wood. Iron-bark wood burns perfectly well 
 when quite green, and a log a foot through and five 
 feet long requires a little handling to plant it scientifi- 
 cally in a furnace without wasting any heat. The 
 share-holders in a claim always take turns to watch 
 the boxes and tables when a good crushing is going 
 through, and never leave their post for an instant. 
 Nothing is easier than for anyone working about the 
 tables to remove some of the amalgam, and retort it at 
 his leisure ; and in order to prevent this there is always 
 a shareholder on guard. Charlie Gibbard used to watch 
 all night, armed with a revolver, and in the intervals 
 of firing-up I used to sit and yarn and smoke with 
 him, and speculate on the result of the crushing. 
 
 We went on crushing for eighteen days and nights, 
 with Sundays interval, and at the end of that time the 
 whole of the stone was through. We had collected 
 about one hundred ounces of amalgam off the plates, 
 which would yield about thirty-five ounces of gold ; but 
 the important part of the plunder was, of course, inside 
 the boxes. 
 
 When we opened them a very healthy sight was 
 there. In the corners of the boxes the amalgam was 
 piled like snow collects in the corners of a window-pane, 
 and we saw at once that the crushing was fully as good 
 as we had expected. The whole contents of the boxes 
 were raked carefully out, and run through a sluice -box, 
 to separate the amalgam from the quartz. 
 
 The amalgam thus collected was mixed with that
 
 252 RETORTING. 
 
 already taken from the tables, and with the quicksilver 
 from the ripples, and the whole of it strained through 
 a piece of strong brown -holland. The free quicksilver 
 passes through this, leaving the amalgam behind, which 
 is then retorted. The process of retorting is very 
 simple. The amalgam is placed in an iron pot, fitted 
 with a lid which is wedged on very tight, the joint being 
 made up with a compound of ashes and clay. On the 
 top of the lid is a long curved iron pipe. The retort is 
 placed over a fire, and as it gets hot the quicksilver 
 ascends in fumes into the iron pipe, over the lower por- 
 tion of which a stream of cold water is kept constantly 
 flowing. The quicksilver is condensed again, and flows 
 down the pipe into a bucket placed at the end to 
 receive it. 
 
 Quicksilver can be used over and over again in this 
 way, and not above seven or eight per cent, is lost in 
 the retorting. Just after it has been retorted it is in 
 the best possible order for amalgamating purposes. We 
 got 1,650 ounces of amalgam from the 185 tons of 
 stone. 
 
 As a rule, amalgam does not retort more than a 
 third of its own weight in gold, but the Wanderer gold 
 was so coarse that we hoped for a much higher per- 
 centage. The event proved we were right, for the 
 amalgam gave us 870 ounces of retorted gold. We had 
 used two retorts, in order that the gold might be more 
 conveniently packed for travelling, and it was turned 
 out in two cakes about the size and shape of a beef- 
 steak pudding. Retorted gold is curious-looking stuff, 
 all porous and honeycombed where the quicksilver has 
 left it.
 
 THE GOLD ESCORT. 253 
 
 This gave an average yield of 4 oz. 14 dwt. to the 
 ton, which was very satisfactory, as it paid all the 
 back expenses of the reef, and, after paying the mill 
 30s. a ton for crushing, left a very good dividend. 
 
 My brother, who was half shares with me in the mill 
 and the reef too, came up just before the end of the 
 crushing to help me bring the gold down to the bank in 
 Mackay. Towards the last we had been running the 
 stone from the Erratic Star through one of the bat- 
 teries, and we cleaned up shortly after the Wanderer. 
 The Erratic Star turned out a fraud. We had only 
 run the pick of the stone through, and 98 tons only 
 gave us 102 ounces of gold. 
 
 It was midday when we finished retorting, and my 
 brother and I lost no time in getting ready for a 
 start. We wrapped the gold up carefully in canvas, 
 and then put it into two boxes, one of which we 
 stowed away on each side of a pack-horse in leathern 
 pack-bags. 
 
 Gibbard came with us, and the three of us formed 
 the first gold escort that ever left Mount Britten. We 
 had a revolver apiece, in case of being stuck up on the 
 road. Our own horses were good enough, but we had 
 rather misgivings about the pack-horse, which was an 
 old crow-bait my brother had chartered from the station 
 for the purpose of bringing down the gold. 
 
 The station was forty miles away, and we intended 
 to get a feed and a change of horses there, and go on 
 to Mackay the same night. For the first eighteen miles 
 out of the diggings it was lovely travelling, over the 
 downs country, without a stone or a ridge to stop one. 
 But we made the pace rather too rough for the old
 
 254 A KNOCKED-UP HOE8E. 
 
 pack-horse, and when we got to Nebo Creek, twenty- 
 two miles from Mount Spencer, he knocked up. My 
 brother was a little way on ahead, and I sung out to 
 him to stop. 
 
 "Hi, Sammy! this dying old hair- trunk is about 
 bust. We 11 have to go steady or he '11 camp alto- 
 gether." 
 
 "Camp!" said my brother; " no fear. He's only 
 blown ; he was all right when we started, and he simply 
 can't have bust on seventeen miles. Here, let me get 
 behind him with a stick, and see if we can't scare a 
 trot out of him." 
 
 So far from raising a trot, neither threats nor per- 
 suasion could induce him to walk, and it was evident 
 we should have to leave him. 
 
 "Deuce take the old brute for going back on us like 
 this," 1 said ; " what are we going to do ? " 
 
 " Why, walk, of course," said my brother. " We 
 can't sling the plunder, and we certainly ain't going to 
 camp here." 
 
 Walk ! The day was sweltering hot, we were twenty- 
 two miles from home, and the way lay over a succession 
 of fiendish dry stony bare ridges. No one who has not 
 been in the country can form any conception of the 
 violent aversion which an Australian has to walking a 
 yard, if he can help it. It is an old saying that an 
 Australian will walk a mile to catch a horse to ride 
 half a mile, and there is a great deal of truth in it. In 
 this instance there was nothing else for it. We were 
 particularly anxious to get to Mackay the following 
 morning early, and, of course, could not dream of 
 parting with the gold for an instant.
 
 A FORCED MARCH. 255 
 
 Charlie offered to lend us his horse to pack the gold 
 on, and walk home, but we would not hear of it, so we 
 decided to pack the gold on one of our horses and 
 take turns to run alongside. My brother took the first 
 spell on foot, and accomplished three miles and a half 
 over the ridges in excellent time. We managed to do 
 the twenty-two miles in three hours and a half, which 
 was very fair travelling considering the road and the 
 weather. 
 
 When we got to the station it was dark, but the moon 
 got up soon after, and we sent the black boy out to 
 run up some fresh horses. Having had a feed and a 
 smoke, we lay down and had a sleep, and about 1 
 o'clock in the morning started again on our journey 
 down to Mackay, forty-five miles away. This time we 
 took care to select a reliable pack-horse, and we got 
 safely to Mackay about 8 in the morning. As soon as 
 the bank opened, we took the gold round there. Great 
 was the astonishment of everyone in Mackay when they 
 saw the quantity of gold that we had brought down. 
 The townspeople had never taken any interest in Mount 
 Britten beyond trying to put me to all the inconvenience 
 that they could in connection with my work there, and 
 the first crushing had been such a long while coming 
 they had all come to the conclusion that Mount Britten 
 was a "duffer," and that there was no gold there 
 at all. 
 
 The manager of the bank especially had always had 
 a great edge on the diggings, and been very active 
 in circulating reports that it was a failure. His jaw 
 dropped like a motherless calf's when he saw nearly 
 one thousand ounces of gold produced at the first start,
 
 256 FUETHEE CEUSHINGS. 
 
 and he barely retained sufficient presence of mind to 
 offer me his congratulations, which I accepted for what 
 they were worth, as I had not forgotten his flying visit 
 to Mount Britten, and his subsequent report of the 
 field. My brother and I finished what we had to do 
 as quickly as possible, and got back to the station the 
 same night. 
 
 I was back again at Mount Britten the next day at 
 midday, and started to get down another crushing from 
 the reefs as quickly as possible. 
 
 From the " Wanderer" the next crushing turned out 
 over six ounces to the ton, and the one after that be- 
 tween seven and eight ounces ; and still the reef looked 
 splendid. But another hundred tons from the Star 
 only gave a hundred ounces, and the reef got so poor 
 after that, that it was no longer payable. 
 
 As a speculation the mill itself did not pay, as there 
 was not nearly enough stone to keep it going. 
 
 There were some other very nice reefs opened up, 
 but there was no capital available to work them, and 
 they remained idle. I soon saw that to look after the 
 mines properly I should have to give up my whole time 
 to it, and make a profession of mining. This I was 
 unwilling to do, so my brother and I agreed to try and 
 float the whole property, comprising the Wanderer and 
 Star Reefs and Sabbath Calm Mill into a company 
 down in Melbourne. 
 
 Having obtained offers of the other shareholders' 
 shares for a certain time, I left Holliman in charge of 
 the whole swim, and, armed with specimens from the 
 different reefs, and authentic reports of the crushings, 
 I set off down to Melbourne.
 
 MY HOME ON THE DIGGINGS. 257 
 
 I was very sorry to leave Mount Britten. Certainly 
 the two happiest years of my life were spent there, 
 and I knew very well that if I ever revisited it, it would 
 not be to live there. In the intervals of working, and 
 on Sundays, I had contrived to finish a very comfort- 
 able little house for myself on the opposite side of the 
 creek from the mill, and there I had been living for 
 some months. It was all built of Bush stuff; but I 
 dressed it all myself, and put it up very carefully. The 
 slabs were adzed as smooth as glass inside, laid hori- 
 zontal, and bevilled and fitted with the utmost nicety. 
 I bestowed infinite pains upon the roof, which was 
 shingles ; and the whole, when finished, was as weather- 
 tight as a bottle. 
 
 It was twenty-four feet long and twelve feet wide, 
 the whole of one end being blocked up by an enor- 
 mous fire-place seven feet square inside. I always 
 believe in a big fire-place. On a cold winter's night 
 you can get right in and sit at the side of the fire, and 
 it is a first-rate place to hang clothes up to dry, and 
 also to smoke beef in. 
 
 There was plenty of waste timber of all sorts from 
 the mill, so I had no lack of material for doors, windows 
 tables, shelves, and other fixings. The floor was tongue 
 and groove pine, which is a great luxury in the Bush, 
 as it is always dry, and easily kept clean. In one corner 
 was a bed ; but I always kept it for visitors, as I in- 
 finitely prefer the floor to sleep on. Anyone who has 
 once acquired the habit of sleeping on the floor or on 
 hard ground will always wake up much fresher, and 
 feeling more rested, than if he takes to sleeping in a 
 bed again. 
 
 17
 
 258 INSIDE THE HUT. 
 
 A well-lined book-shelf and an enormous clock 
 adorned the walls on one side ; on the other were rows 
 of shelves filled with pickles, jam, soap, matches, and 
 other stores. The corner opposite the bed was turned 
 into an office, fitted up with innumerable pigeon-holes, 
 shelves of account-books, and a table with a copying- 
 press, and writing material of every description. 
 
 One or two butter-tubs to sit on, a huge arm-chair 
 near the fire-place, a meat-safe, and a cupboard full of 
 tobacco, completed the furniture of the establishment. 
 
 All the time that I was in the Bush I made it my 
 boast that although I might occasionally be found very 
 indifferently clad, and sometimes very short of rations, 
 I never was without a supply of excellent tobacco. 
 
 I had gone over the creek for a site for my hut, in 
 the first place, to be away from the clatter of the mill, 
 and, in the second place, because it was the most per- 
 fect situation for a house that could be imagined. Just 
 at the junction of two running creeks, there was a 
 never-failing supply of excellent water ; and the soil, 
 being the old bed of the creek, was all made ground, 
 and admirably suited for a garden, which I intended 
 to have had, if I had remained there any time. The 
 bed of the creek was full of timber, she-oaks, fig-trees, 
 and Leichardt; and just opposite to my hut was a 
 gigantic old flooded gum, with huge, spreading branches 
 and a trunk at least forty feet round. 
 
 She-oaks are scraggy- looking poles of trees, rather 
 like fir-trees ; but both fig-trees and Leichardt are very 
 handsome, and give a splendid shade. The latter is a 
 very symmetrical tree, that grows to a height of about 
 sixty feet, and has leaves rather like a big laurel.
 
 THE HORSE PADDOCK. 259 
 
 Behind my hut towered the three mountains known 
 as the Marling- Spikes ; and a gap which I cut in the 
 timber on the banks of the creek, gave me a beautiful 
 view right up to the head of the valley of Mount 
 Britten. 
 
 At the back of my hut I put up a bark building, 
 which served for a carpenter's shop, and a kitchen, and 
 beyond that was a small paddock with a sapling fence, 
 into which I could turn my horses for the night. This 
 was a great convenience. There was no paddock within 
 four miles of Mount Britten, and, for some reason or 
 other, no horse, even in hobbles, would ever stay a 
 moment near the place. It is said that the grass in 
 localities where minerals are found is always sour. 
 Anyway, no cattle or horses would ever stay near the 
 diggings, though the grass looked good enough. 
 
 I often used to get home in the middle of the night, 
 and was always losing my horses, until I put up a pad- 
 dock. When I first got to the diggings I brought four 
 horses with me, and a black boy to look after them. 
 They all cleared out the first night. I sent the black 
 boy after them, but he was frightened of the other 
 blacks, and went and planted instead of looking for 
 them. I was lame myself, at the time, and could not 
 go out after them, but I got two of them back at the 
 end of a fortnight. The other two broke their hobbles, 
 and I never saw them again for nearly a year, when 
 they turned up on a station about a hundred miles off, 
 as fat as pigs. 
 
 On Sundays I used generally to have a good many 
 visitors after my hut was finished. It is said that there 
 is no Sunday in the Bush, and certainly it does not 
 
 17 *
 
 260 SUNDAY IN THE BUSH. COOKING. 
 
 mean much of a day of rest to a man who lives quite by 
 himself, and works hard all the week. Sunday is 
 always the day for a general overhaul and repairs. 
 Clothes are washed and mended, the hut cleared and 
 swept out, and a supply of firewood laid in for the 
 coming week ; and a man who is away at work every day 
 of the week, from sunrise to sundown, will always find 
 that a dozen little jobs will accumulate in the week, 
 which can only be done on Sunday. I had very little 
 time for cooking in the week, and it was always an 
 occupation I disliked, so I used to do most of the week's 
 cooking on Sunday. 
 
 After the diggings had been open some time, the 
 butcher used to kill a bullock nearly every day, and 
 there was always fresh meat to be had. But the butcher's 
 shop was nearly a mile away from my house, and, besides, 
 I never would touch fresh meat as long as I could get 
 salt. So on Sunday I used to boil twelve or fourteen 
 pounds of salt beef, and bake a damper about the size 
 of a small cart-wheel ; and this used to last me, unless 
 the beef went bad, until about Thursday. After which 
 I used to get some fresh meat, or boil some more salt 
 if I had time, until the next Sunday. Salt beef wants 
 a lot of attention when it is boiling, for if the water boils 
 too fast it turns as hard as a stone, and if it stops boiling 
 it gets sodden. 
 
 My hut, being three quarters of a mile away from the 
 township, possessed the great advantage of being per- 
 fectly quiet, and free from any disturbance of nocturnal 
 revellers. From sundown to sunrise I never used to see 
 a soul, or hear a sound except when the mill was at 
 work. It was rather a lonely place, too, at night, when
 
 STATISTICS OF THE BEEFS. 261 
 
 the wind was howling among the mountains, and the 
 rain coming down in sheets, and the creek foaming and 
 roaring bank-high before the door. Often I have gone 
 up to the township after dark to get a supply of food, 
 and had to swim the creek on the way home, with my 
 supper in the form of a beef-steak in my mouth ; and 
 when I got home found the fire out, and nothing but 
 a poisonous black spider sitting on the table to welcome 
 me. But anyone who knocks about the Bush for a 
 time, ceases to care a farthing whether he is wet or 
 dry as long as the weather is warm ; and as for being 
 lonely, he soon comes to regard his own company, with 
 a fire and a pipe, as quite sufficient. 
 
 As a speculation my mining had not been a success. 
 
 During the time that I was working the Mount Britten 
 reefs, the receipts and expenditure were as follows : 
 
 " Little Wanderer." 
 
 Gross expenses . . 4,967 18 5 
 Gold sold . . . 8,689 1 2 
 
 This left a balance of 3,721 2s. 9d. in favour of the 
 
 claim. 
 
 " Erratic Star." 
 
 Gross expenses . . 2,275 5 10 
 Gold sold 688 19 1 
 
 Leaving a deficit of . . 1,586 6 9 
 
 The " Sabbath Calm " machine cost about 9,000, 
 against which it received 1,050 from the reefs for 
 crushing stone. 
 
 The first cost of opening up a reef is always very 
 great, and it is doubly so, of course, upon a new field.
 
 262 PROFITS OF A QUARTZ MILL. 
 
 Wages at Mount Britten were very high, ordinary 
 miners getting 2 a week ; carpenters, sawyers and 
 bricklayers from 4 10s. to 6. 
 
 The cost of carriage to Mackay was 15 per ton at 
 first, but it afterwards fell to 8, at which figure it 
 remained. My bill for carriage alone was over ,600. 
 
 Had either the " Star " or the " Wanderer " con- 
 tinued for a year longer as good as they proved at first, 
 we should have made a small fortune out of either of 
 them, and the mill would have paid well as a separate 
 speculation. On a new field where crushing is charged 
 for at the rate of 30s. or 2 a ton, the profits from a 
 mill that can get sufficient stone to keep it constantly 
 going are enormous. 
 
 Ten head of stampers will put through 120 tons a 
 week with ease. At 30s. per ton this gives a return of 
 180 a week. The whole cost of driving a mill, includ- 
 ing wages, fire- wood, quicksilver and repairs, and allowing 
 7 per cent, per annum for depreciation in value of the 
 plant, should not exceed 55 a week, even on a new 
 field where wages and carriage are high. This leaves 
 a clear profit of 125 a week, or ^6,500 a year. 
 
 When we decided to try and float a company to work 
 the reef the Wanderer was in full swing, and turning out 
 seven ounces to the ton. But I know very well that all 
 Queensland reefs are what is called "patchy." The 
 gold runs in "levels" and "shoots," and is seldom 
 evenly distributed throughout the whole line of reef, as 
 is the case in Victoria. Consequently, anyone working a 
 Queensland reef is liable at any moment to come upon 
 a perfectly blank patch of stone ; and the expenses of 
 working through this, and looking for another level of
 
 UNCERTAINTY OF GOLD. BLACK SLATE. 263 
 
 gold are far too heavy to be borne by a single indi- 
 vidual. 
 
 The " Wanderer " was what is called a first-rate 
 show ; that is to say, the surrounding country, the 
 formation of the reef, the work done and the yields 
 already obtained, gave every indication of its being per- 
 manent reef carrying heavy gold. More than this no 
 one can ever say. The extraordinary vagaries of gold, 
 especially in Queensland reefs, make mining the purest 
 gambling, and any practical miner who has been long 
 at his trade comes to disbelieve entirely in the " nos- 
 trums " of theoretical geologists and scientific miners 
 for discovering gold, and subscribes to the Cornishman's 
 maxim of " Where it be, there it be." 
 
 When a man has been working a particular reef for 
 a length of time, he may come to know from certain 
 indications in the stone that he is in the neighbourhood 
 of a heavy patch of gold ; but on a new field, where the 
 character of the country remains still untried, no man 
 can see further than the point of his own pick. Indi- 
 cations that on one field point with almost an absolute 
 certainty to the vicinity of gold, may mean nothing at 
 all on a field fifty miles away. 
 
 For instance, on G-ympie the presence of black slate 
 is invariably accompanied by rich deposits of gold in the 
 adjacent reef. When a claim strikes black slate, the 
 shareholders go about the streets brandishing samples 
 of it, and the shares go up just as if they had struck 
 gold. 
 
 There is certainly some mysterious affinity between 
 gold and black slate on Gympie. I have seen a reef 
 there, in black- slate country, carrying heavy gold all
 
 264 A HEAVY " PATCH " ON GYMPIE. 
 
 along, until a thin vein of grey rock came between the 
 reef and the slate. At the exact spot where this hap- 
 pened the reef became perfectly blank, and not a colour 
 of gold was seen until the grey rock was cut out, and 
 the reef touched the slate again, when it carried as 
 heavy gold as ever. 
 
 On Mount Britten the presence of black slate meant 
 apparently nothing at all. There was no slate in the 
 vicinity of the " Wanderer " at all, and the " Star " lost 
 her gold at a depth of ninety feet, just when she got 
 into the most magnificent black-slate country I ever saw. 
 
 Again, on Charters Towers, when mundic is struck 
 in a claim, the fortune of everyone connected with it 
 is considered to be made ; but on Ravenswood, sixty 
 miles away, if they strike mundic they shut up the claim 
 at once, for the Ravenswood mundic has hitherto proved 
 too much for any appliances available in Australia for 
 extracting the gold from it. 
 
 The Gympie reefs are very patchy, and some of them 
 are marvellously rich. I never saw a more wonderful 
 sight than a " patch " in No. 2 North Lady Mary claim. 
 The reef, which was about eight inches thick, was of 
 milk-white quartz, in slate country as black as coal ; and 
 as I stood back and held a candle over my head, the 
 whole face of the reef, eight feet high, was literally 
 blazing with gold. Tt was sticking out in bright, glit- 
 tering masses, and even the slate walls of the reef were 
 thickly spotted over with the precious metal. 
 
 Gold, when it is first broken down in a reef, bears no 
 sort of resemblance to the dull-coloured compound that 
 is worked up into jewellery and the coin of the realm. 
 It is about the colour of brass, or rock sulphur, and
 
 THE GYMPIE BEEPS. 265 
 
 breaks into crystal cubes which glitter and shine with 
 dazzling brilliancy. 
 
 This patch in the Lady Mary yielded 1,470 ounces from 
 twenty tons of quartz. About the best paying claim on 
 Gympie, when I was there, was the No. 1 North Phoenix. 
 A party of men had bought it about ten months before, 
 for 100, and were considered to be perfect fools for 
 their pains. However, they set to work and sunk a 
 shaft 320 feet, and struck the reef carrying heavy 
 gold. 
 
 While I was there they crushed 700 tons for an 
 average yield of over eleven ounces to the ton. In 
 eighteen months the claim had paid over ,100,000 in 
 dividends, and the share-holders refused an offer of 
 150,000 for the claim from a Sydney syndicate. The 
 shares, of which there were 24,000 in the original com- 
 pany, were selling at 7 10s. and 8. 
 
 In Victoria some of the big reefs there can pay a 
 dividend with a yield of four pennyweights to the ton ; 
 but in Queensland the reefs are smaller as a rule, and 
 it is seldom that anything less than one ounce to the 
 ton pays well. Were more capital available, this would 
 not be the case ; and there is no doubt that in the future 
 great numbers of Queensland reefs that have been aban- 
 doned will be taken up and worked again profitably. 
 
 Gold-mining in Queensland is still in its infancy. 
 The best geologists declared that no gold would ever be 
 found on Gympie below the second bed of slate, but a 
 few enthusiasts persisted in going down to see for them- 
 selves, and experience proved that the surface-gold that 
 had been obtained was insignificant compared with the 
 yield below the second and third beds of slate.
 
 266 QUEENSLAND GOLD-FIELDS. 
 
 So far, the rule seems to be that the deeper you go 
 the more gold you get ; but the deepest working in 
 Queensland is only 600 feet, which is mere scratching 
 compared to some of the southern workings, which are 
 down nearly 3,000 feet. The ordinary history of a 
 Queensland gold-field is this, and it is repeated with 
 monotonous regularity : First of all, alluvial gold is 
 discovered, which brings a rush to the place. Reefs are 
 discovered, the surface of some of them proves tremen- 
 dously rich ; a second reefing rush sets in, and the 
 surface levels of gold are worked out, with a very small 
 outlay of capital. The place is then declared to be a 
 " duffer," and abandoned, except by a few fanatics, who 
 stick there for months and years, and by incredible 
 patience and perseverance manage to strike a fresh level 
 of gold at a greater depth. This brings capital to the 
 field, the reefs are opened up and worked systematically, 
 and the place becomes a permanent gold-field. 
 
 Up to the present time Gympie, Charters Towers, 
 the Etheridge, and the Hodgkinson are the only dig- 
 gings that have passed through the transition changes, 
 and assumed a permanent aspect. Of these Charters 
 Towers is far the best, and Gympie the next, but the 
 other two are developing quickly. But all through 
 Queensland, inside the coast range, runs a vast belt of 
 gold-bearing quartz, and innumerable diggings have 
 been discovered, from which heavy surface yields were 
 obtained, but which have been partly deserted for want 
 of capital to develop them. 
 
 Mount Wheeler, Clermont, the Cape Eiver, the Nor- 
 manby, the Mulgrave, Ravenswood, Cloncurry, and the 
 Palmer have all as good prospects as ever Gympie or
 
 CHARTERS TOWERS. 267 
 
 Charters Towers had, but they are at present in a state 
 of suspended animation, waiting for capital to work their 
 lower levels. Of these Ravenswood and the Palmer are 
 the most promising. On the Palmer the richness of the 
 reefs is beyond dispute, and it is simply the heavy ex- 
 pense of keeping down the water in the claims that 
 prevents their being worked. On Ravenswood the pro- 
 spects are still better. The only difficulty to contend 
 with there is the complicated nature of the mundic in 
 which the gold is found. The richness of the stone is 
 surprising, and the samples of mundic which have been 
 sent home to Swansea to be treated yield as high as 
 twenty ounces to the ton. 
 
 Undoubtedly in the future the gold-mining of Queens- 
 land will develop into vast dimensions, and already it 
 has contributed largely to the prosperity of the colony. 
 Gympie broke out at a time when the Queensland ex- 
 chequer was nearly empty, and the revival that took 
 place was undoubtedly due entirely to the discovery of 
 gold. 
 
 The annual yield of Gympie is now nearly 100,000 
 ounces, and that of Charters Towers is considerably 
 over. In 1879 the estimated value of gold produced 
 throughout the colony was 1,010,000, but since then 
 a large increase has taken place. The Day Dawn 
 claim on Charters Towers is about the best claim in 
 Queensland at the present time. Four or five separate 
 companies were ruined in trying to make her pay, but 
 in 1881 a party of four or five Germans struck gold 
 there. In eighteen months they had taken 135,000 
 out of the claim, and apparently were only just begin- 
 ning to find out what it was worth, for when last I heard
 
 268 THE FUTURE OP MINING IN QUEENSLAND. 
 
 of them, in July 1883, they had a reef nineteen feet 
 thick crushing regularly three ounces to the ton. 
 
 By far the greater portion of gold raised in Queens- 
 land up to the present time has been got by parties of 
 working men, who have just gone down as deep as they 
 could without winding machinery, and then slung the 
 claim, having perhaps been flooded out, or come upon a 
 blank patch of stone. Scores of reefs are now lying 
 idle in Queensland from which tremendous yields were 
 obtained near the surface, but which have been aban- 
 doned for want of capital. It is only very lately that it 
 has been considered worth while to erect winding gear, 
 and work the reefs at a depth, but the results have been 
 so eminently satisfactory that a vast increase in the 
 annual yield of gold may be looked for during the next 
 few years. 
 
 Besides this, fresh fields are constantly being dis- 
 covered. The Government offers a reward of .1,000 
 to anyone who discovers a gold-field upon which, six 
 months after it is opened, there shall be upwards of two 
 hundred men at work; and though experience shows 
 that they avail themselves of every possible technical or 
 legal quibble to cheat the prospector out of his reward, 
 the pursuit of gold is quite sufficient to keep up a con- 
 stant supply of prospectors, without any other induce- 
 ment. Money may be the root of all evil, but, if so, it 
 is like the root of a potato, the best part of it, and the 
 Government need not trouble themselves to offer rewards 
 for the discovery of gold. 
 
 They would do very much more to advance the good 
 of the colony if they were to prospect the lower levels 
 of the fields already discovered, by means of a diamond
 
 THE ARMY OF MARTYRS. 269 
 
 drill, at the public expense. Gold is of all mistresses 
 the most exacting, and as long as it maintains its market 
 value there will always be plenty of people to look for it. 
 Experience proves that gold-mining, as a rule, does not 
 pay, but the pursuit of gold is indeed the triumph of 
 hope over experience. When once a man takes to it he 
 is unfit for anything else, and, whether it make or mar 
 him, he will pursue it to the end of the chapter. The 
 noble army of mining martyrs stick steadily to their 
 post, and the gaps that time and ruin make in their 
 ranks are quickly filled up by an ever-increasing supply 
 
 of recruits. 
 
 Servitus crescit nova, nee priores 
 Impi tectum dominse relinquunt 
 Saepe minati.
 
 270 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 QUEENSLAND AND HER RESOURCES AND PROSPECTS. 
 
 QUEENSLAND dates her existence from the year 1859, 
 when she was separated from New South Wales, and 
 she is, therefore, the youngest of the Australian group 
 of colonies. But her vast area, almost the whole of 
 which is available, her varied climate, and the lavish 
 manner in which Nature has bestowed upon her all the 
 resources that go to make a country great, foretell, with 
 certainty, that she will before long assume the leading 
 position among her sisters, and eventually develop into 
 one of the finest countries in the world. 
 
 The area of Queensland is 668,224 square miles, 
 rather more than five and a half times the area of the 
 United Kingdom, and the whole population in 1882 was 
 only 248,255. 
 
 All along the coast runs a broad belt of mountain- 
 ous country, entirely covered with forest. The timber 
 becomes thicker and thicker towards the tops of the 
 mountains, the higher ones being overgrown with dense 
 impenetrable " scrub," while the slopes and valleys 
 between are open timber, with long grass growing 
 everywhere amongst the trees. 
 
 Between the foot of the coast range and the sea is a
 
 FORESTS OF THE COAST RANGE. 271 
 
 tract of level country, varying from sixty to a few miles 
 in width, in which are situated large areas of the finest 
 alluvial soil, suitable, in the southern parts of the colony, 
 for the growth of all the fruits and cereals of a tem- 
 perate climate, and, in the central and northern districts, 
 for the cultivation of cotton, coffee, tobacco, sugar, and 
 all the products of the tropics. 
 
 The whole of the coast country is well watered, and is 
 not subject to the severe droughts which occasionally 
 visit the interior. The mountains, of course, attract 
 rain, and the valleys between form natural reservoirs, 
 in the shape of chains of water-holes and big lagoons 
 and, especially on the eastern slopes, innumerable creeks 
 rise in the ranges, and find their way down to the sea. 
 
 One of the most extraordinary features of the coast 
 country is the vast quantity of timber that grows every- 
 where. It is positively bewildering to think of the 
 thousands of square miles that are covered with endless 
 trees. The most common varieties are the blue, red, 
 and spotted gum, iron-bark, stringy-bark, and blood- 
 wood, all of which are admirably adapted for fencing 
 and building purposes, as they are easily split and sawn, 
 possess a very high breaking strain, and, when protected 
 from the weather and the attacks of white ants, are 
 perfectly imperishable. Even when standing in the 
 ground, and exposed to the weather, they are good for 
 fifteen or twenty years. 
 
 Of course, away in the Bush, the ravages of bush- 
 fires and white ants make havoc among the fences ; but 
 I have seen a stringy-bark sap -paling that had been 
 twelve years in the ground, and when I took it up it 
 was so sound that I made it into axe -handles.
 
 272 VARIETIES OF TIMBER. 
 
 Besides these varieties, on the eastern face of the 
 coast range are pine, red cedar, and beech, and, on the 
 western slopes, rose-wood, myall, dead-finish, plum-tree, 
 iron-wood, and sandal-wood, all woods with a fine grain 
 suitable for cabinet-making and fancy work. With the 
 exception of cedar and pine, large quantities of which 
 are exported every year, these woods are of little value 
 at present, and on the Queensland lines of railway 
 sandal-wood is used as fuel, the quantity of heat which 
 it gives out being greater than that of any other wood in 
 the colony. It is an inferior kind of sandal- wood, but 
 still it contains a great quantity of oil. 
 
 The scrubs of Northern Queensland are full of dif- 
 ferent sorts of hard-wood, with most beautiful variegated 
 grains, admirable for veneering ; but at present their in- 
 accessible position prevents their attracting the attention 
 that they undoubtedly will when the country is more 
 opened up. A visit to the Queensland gallery in the 
 South Kensington Museum will give some idea of the 
 beautiful quality of her different woods, but nothing but 
 a visit to the colony can give any idea of the quantity. 
 
 The extent and richness of the mineral districts of 
 Queensland are almost fabulous ; and although the ac- 
 counts of experts and others of what they have seen 
 may, at first, appear incredible, experience proves every 
 day that they fall short of the reality, and that the 
 extraordinary wealth of the colony in metals is com- 
 paratively unexplored. 
 
 The recent crushings on Gympie gold-field read more 
 like a fairy-tale than anything else, and when the 
 report of them appeared in the papers everyone in the 
 colony thought it was a misprint. One line of reef there
 
 EXTRAORDINARY YIELD OF GOLD. 273 
 
 lately took 500 tons of quartz out of a shaft that they 
 were sinking, which averaged 20 ozs. of gold to the ton, 
 and, on another line, a crushing of 53 tons gave the 
 astounding yield of 2,534 ozs. In nine months, over 
 .82,000 in dividends was paid by the latter claim. 
 
 Startling, however, as these returns undoubtedly are, 
 they are entirely thrown into the shade by the recent 
 discovery of gold at Mount Morgan, in the neigbour- 
 hood of Eockhampton. 
 
 The following is an account of the mine, taken from- 
 the Charters Towers Mining Journal for September 
 1884. 
 
 " Situated about twenty-five miles south-east of Rock- 
 hampton, on one of the branches of the Dee river, it 
 seems to be a portion of a large basin in the hills. It 
 rises out of granite, and is from 400 to 500 feet 
 high from the site of the crushing mill, half a mile 
 distant on the creek, where an abundance of water may 
 be conserved. The property consists of 640 acres of 
 freehold. 
 
 " The gold-bearing stone is composed of ferrugineous 
 quartz and ironstone, some of it having the appearance 
 of ' clinkers ' from a blacksmith's forge. The lodes, 
 which seem to be parallel, run north and south. They 
 are from 40 to 100 feet wide, and are very puzzling 
 to most visitors. In some places they are quartz, in 
 others porous ironstone, and in others there, are ca- 
 vities containing stalactites of black oxidised iron. 
 Some portions are very much richer than others. 
 Gold of a very fine grain is easily seen in the quartz, 
 where it is not much oxidised, and, when prospected, 
 it is apparently free. 
 
 18
 
 274 MOUNT MORGAN. 
 
 " One lode now working is 40 feet wide, and an- 
 other 100 feet wide in the face, and about 70 or 
 80 feet from the crown of the hill, and about 100 feet 
 below this there is another face of similar stone, on 
 the same quarry-like lodes. 
 
 " In these faces gold is always obtained from the 
 drillings. By the present appliances, which are totally 
 inadequate, the yield of gold is from 10 dwts. to 3 ozs. 
 to the ton. Owing to the heavy nature of the ironstone 
 quartz there is great loss in the ' tailings,' all of which 
 and the sludge are being saved. Five assays from the 
 ' tailings ' give over 4 ozs. to the ton, and the ' blan- 
 ketings,' after being put through the wheeler's pan, 
 and the Berdan, and concentrated in the shoot, assay as 
 high as 90 ozs. of gold to the ton. Taking it for 
 granted that this statement is correct about the tailings, 
 if the gold can be got out of the stone it will yield 
 5 ozs. of gold to the ton, and the top lode alone is 
 estimated to contain 450,000 tons. 
 
 " According to Dr. Liebius, M.A., F.C.S., the gold 
 from this mine is worth 4 4s. 8d. per ounce, assaying 
 as high as 99' 7 per cent, of gold, and is free from silver. 
 The cost of production is remarkably low. It is said 
 that 3 dwts. of gold to the ton pays for breaking, 
 carting, and crushing. The formation cannot be called 
 a reef. The whole hill-top seems to be of richly 
 auriferous stone. It is merely cut away to suit the 
 convenience of the miners, so that a broad quarry, or 
 terrace, has been formed. The cutting is 20 feet deep 
 and about 100 feet long ; the stone is of the same cha- 
 racter the whole distance, and extends to the summit of 
 the mountain, several chains higher.
 
 THE RICHEST MINE IN THE WORLD. 275 
 
 " With reference to the statement that only one half 
 of the gold is extracted in the ordinary quartz-crushing 
 and amalgamating machinery, Dr. Liebius says : 
 
 " ' Having the small quartz-crushing machinery in the 
 Sydney mint under my charge, I had an opportunity 
 of testing this fact. In November last we received 
 458 Ibs. of this ferrugineous quartz, part of it consisting 
 of picked stone. It was carefully crushed, and amalga- 
 mated in the Chilian mill with 240 Ibs. of mercury. 
 Thus 7'41 ozs. of gold were extracted. Another lot, 
 weighing 174 Ibs., was similarly treated, and from this 
 12'12 ozs. of gold were extracted. Thus Lot 1 gave 
 at the rate of over 39 ozs. of gold to the ton of quartz, 
 while Lot 2 gave gold at the rate of over 169 ozs. of 
 gold to the ton of quartz. In Lot 1 gold at the rate of 
 46 ozs. 2 dwts. 12 grs. was left in the tailings, while in 
 Lot 2 the tailings averaged 46 ozs. 5 dwts. 18 grs. of 
 gold to the ton.' 
 
 " This discovery of gold is the largest, and richest in 
 quality, ever yet made in any part of the world. A 
 ninth share in the property lately sold for .31, 000 (the 
 purchaser being one of the remaining shareholders), a 
 price very much below its value. Provided the owners of 
 the mine can extract the gold from the stone, and there 
 is no reasonable doubt of their being able to do so, the 
 top lode alone should yield over 9,000,000 of profit. 
 
 " It may be that this mine is unique of its kind, but 
 there is always a very great likelihood that where there 
 is one there are others. Its development will give a 
 great stimulus to prospecting, not only in the neigh- 
 bourhood of Rockhampton, but throughout the whole 
 of Queensland. It discloses what prizes this colony, 
 
 18 *
 
 276 COPPER MINES. 
 
 almost unknown as yet, offers. It is barely two years 
 since the property was purchased from the Morgans ; 
 and had they held on to their interests, they would soon 
 have become millionaires. As it is, they have in a very 
 short space of time retired with large fortunes. It is 
 left for their successors to draw in the future wealth 
 from the mine beyond the wildest dreams of avarice." 
 
 Besides gold, the country is wonderfully rich in other 
 metals ; the chief of which are copper, iron, tin, silver, 
 cinnabar, lead, and antimony. The deposits of copper 
 are especially remarkable. The mines are but little 
 worked at present, since the price of copper fell to ,60 
 per ton, and the total amount exported in 1882 was 
 only 650. 
 
 But formerly, when copper was worth 90 per ton, 
 the profits from the mines were very great. Peak Downs 
 copper-mine, the principal one in the colony, has paid 
 over 1,000,000 in dividends, and, so far from its being 
 worked out, it is the opinion of experts, and those who 
 worked in the mines, that there is as much copper there 
 as ever came out. The mines are not working at 
 present a circumstance due principally to the greedi- 
 ness of the share-holders, who thought of nothing but 
 their dividends, and omitted to open up the mines ahead 
 of the work. 
 
 As an instance of how the work has been mis- 
 managed, an engine shaft twelve feet square was sunk 
 to a depth of 150 feet, which cut the lode they were 
 looking for, eighteen feet from the surface, without 
 the manager ever detecting it. 
 
 The reports of experts who have visited the copper- 
 lodes of the north, show that the resources of the colony
 
 THE MAOKINLAY RANGES. 277 
 
 in this respect are unlimited. The following account, 
 by Mr. Sheafle, of the Mackinlay ranges, and the Clon- 
 curry copper-mines, in the Queenslander of August 9th 
 1880, is well worthy of notice. He writes : 
 
 " The Mackinlay ranges, teeming with an extraordi- 
 nary wealth of minerals, are flanked for nearly 200 miles 
 by high undulating downs of exceeding fertility ; so 
 that on the one hand you have almost boundless pasture, 
 and upon the other almost inexhaustible mines. That 
 I am justified in speaking of these mines as almost in- 
 exhaustible, I shall proceed to show. The first known 
 copper-mines approached by this route are the Moun- 
 tain Home, the Eio Grande, and the West Briton, of 
 which Mr. W. Wellington, who was sent to England by 
 Messrs. Bolitho and Sons, reported as follows : 
 
 " * The principal lode is at Mount Norma, a well- 
 defined lode, varying from three to six feet wide, run- 
 ning north and south, and dipping to the east. It stands 
 in the face of an almost perpendicular mountain, showing 
 from 400 to 500 yards. The ore is principally grey, of 
 the following per-centage, namely, thirty-four. The 
 Eio Grand lodes consist of two, running parallel, with 
 a distance of 250 yards between them. The out-crops 
 show very distinctly on both these lodes for about 300 
 or 400 yards in length, consisting of red oxide and grey 
 ores, of the following per-centage, namely, forty-four. 
 The West Briton, also running north and south, is about 
 a mile north-east of the Mountain Home, showing a 
 large lode from six feet to eight feet wide, chiefly red 
 oxide and grey ore, of the following per-centage, namely, 
 thirty-eight. These lodes appear to be well defined and 
 regular, all running north and south, and dipping to the
 
 278 OLONOURBY. 
 
 east. The cost of working these lodes would be very little 
 for some time to come, in consequence of the ore being 
 so near the surface.' 
 
 " The line, after leaving these mines, should then pass 
 near the gold reefs of Bishop's and Fisher's creeks. 
 Near this are situated the Homeward Bound and Flying 
 Dutchman copper-mines, from the former of which 250 
 tons of ore have been sent to Sydney, all of which have 
 yielded over 40 per cent, of pure copper. 
 
 " Twelve miles further on the Cloncurry copper-mines 
 are reached, the richness and magnitude of which it is 
 difficult to conceive without having seen them ; and 
 though I have known many skilled miners who have 
 worked at, and several mining engineers of note (Mr. 
 H. A. Thompson, the Chairman of the Mining Board 
 being one) who have inspected these mines, I have never 
 known one who was not at first sight astonished at the 
 almost incredible amount of rich ore lying on the surface 
 of the ground. Half a mile to the south-west extremely 
 rich and extensive lodes occur, while thirty miles to 
 the north-west unnumbered lodes and copper-bearing 
 veins appear. I myself know of nearly 100, only eight 
 or ten of which are secured, and none worked. Eight 
 miles to the north-west, on the Leichardt river, are two 
 lodes, containing ores of red oxide, grey, and malachite. 
 These lodes are from twenty to thirty feet wide, immense 
 deposits of copper. Big boulders of grey are lying 
 loose on the surface, of tons' weight." 
 
 Some very fine copper-lodes are situated at Mount 
 Flora and Mount Orange, ninety miles from Mackay. 
 The horse-shoe formed by the two mountains and the 
 ridge that connects them is one mass of copper-lodes,
 
 MOUNT FLORA AND MOUNT OEANGE. 279 
 
 some of them extremely rich, and consisting principally 
 of red oxide and malachite. An attempt was made to 
 work them, by some local men, and some Sydney 
 capitalists, who put up smelting works on the field, and 
 obtained very fair results. But the company collapsed, 
 from no fault of the mines, but from the grossest mis- 
 management on the part of the share -holders, backed up 
 by swindling on the part of the mining manager. 
 
 Men who used to work in the mines have since told 
 me that they have known the manager to put a shot or 
 two into the wall, and entirely conceal the face of the 
 lode. He then reported to the share-holders that the 
 lode had " dufifered out," and that it was useless to con- 
 tinue working ; and one of the latter, who was "in the 
 swim " with the manager, obtained the whole claim from 
 the rest, for a trifling sum, and the lode was opened up 
 again. 
 
 The peculiar natural advantages of the Mount Flora 
 and Mount Orange mines should make them pay well, 
 if properly managed, even when the price of copper is 
 as low as it is now. Not only are they within a short 
 distance of the coast, with a good road all the way to 
 port, but they are in the centre of a district which is 
 full of large deposits of coal. It is the opinion of 
 geologists that the western plains will be found to overlie 
 large beds of this mineral, which has already been found 
 in nearly every part of the colony where it has been 
 searched for. 
 
 In wandering about the runs in the neighbourhood of 
 Mount Flora copper-mines, and Mount Britten gold- 
 mines, I have come across many splendid seams of coal, 
 cropping out in the gullies, and banks of the creeks,
 
 280 COAL BEDS TIN MINES. 
 
 some of the seams being eight feet wide, and all of them 
 a very good sample of coal. In the neighbourhood of 
 Bo wen, one hundred miles farther north, there is a 
 seam of coal fifty feet thick, but it is not of quite such 
 good quality as that farther south. 
 
 The principal coal districts that have as yet been 
 tried are near Brisbane, in West Moreton, on Darling 
 Downs, at Maryborough, at Bowen, and at Cooktown 
 in the far north. But I believe, myself, that the coal 
 beds in the neighbourhood of Grosvenor Downs, and 
 Lake Elphinstone, runs lying between Clermont and 
 Bowen, will prove equal to any yet discovered in the 
 colony, both for quantity and for quality. 
 
 The tin-mines of Queensland are remarkably rich, 
 and the value of the amount of that metal exported in 
 1882 was 269,904. The chief mines are those at 
 Stanthorpe on the southern boundary of the colony, 
 from which tin to the value of nearly a million sterling 
 has been taken. Hitherto, all through the colony the 
 metal found has been chiefly in the f(5rm of stream-tin ; 
 but recently what was thought to be a valuable discovery 
 of lode-tin was made at Herberton, in the far north. 
 
 A tremendous rush set in,* and boat-loads of specu- 
 lators started up from Melbourne and Sydney to secure 
 the ground. Not a man came down from the north in 
 the steamers but had a sample of Herberton lode-tin 
 in his pocket, and glowing descriptions of the enormous 
 quantity of it that was sticking out of the ground excited 
 the southern capitalists to the verge of madness. 
 
 Certainly the samples sent down were of extraordinary 
 richness, but at present it seems doubtful whether the 
 lodes will prove permanent, and I think the people who
 
 THE HERBERTON RUSH. 281 
 
 did best out of the Herberton tin-rush were the working 
 men who originally took up the ground, some of whom 
 sold their claims to maniacs from the south for as much 
 as ,20,000, without having done twenty pounds worth 
 of work in them. 
 
 Extraordinary as is the mineral wealth of Queensland, 
 however, it is not in this that her real greatness lies. 
 Gold is all-powerful in most things, and its acquisition 
 will, for a time, outweigh all other considerations, but 
 its presence can never make a barren land fertile, or 
 turn a bad climate into a good one ; and although 
 immense deposits of this, and other metals, will always 
 attract a targe floating population, they will never 
 support a permanent one, unless backed up by other 
 conditions. The real greatness of Queensland lies in 
 the fact, that while she has been exceptionally endowed 
 with what may be called ready-made wealth in the form 
 of minerals, she possesses at the same time one of the 
 healthiest climates in the world, and an enormous area 
 fit for cultivation and stock-rearing, capable of support- 
 ing a vast population, under conditions of life the most 
 favourable. She is, in fact, a self-contained country, 
 having within herself all the elements of a powerful 
 nation, the germs almost of that chimerical greatness 
 that has been described by Prince Bismarck as " une 
 puissance finie." 
 
 The term was applied to England ; and whether it was 
 intended to mean that she is strong enough to maintain 
 her position unassisted either by an alliance with foreign 
 Powers, or by her Colonies, or whether the double mean- 
 ing of the last word was meant to imply that the 
 greatness of England has departed, in either case most
 
 282 IMPORTANCE OF QUEENSLAND. 
 
 Englishmen will be inclined to question the fitness of 
 its application. The phrase is a trebly unfortunate 
 one. 
 
 In the first place, the greatness of England has not 
 yet departed ; in the second place, no Power that has 
 ever existed has proved itself strong enough to entirely 
 disregard an alliance with others ; and in the third place, 
 the only thing in the history of the world that has ever 
 pointed to the possibility of such a Power arising, is the 
 present question of a permanent union of all British 
 territories throughout the world. The British Empire, 
 so united, would be by far the most powerful one that 
 the world has ever seen, and would, indeed, be indepen- 
 dent of any possible combination against it. But as 
 regards England herself, now that Imperial Federation 
 is attracting the universal attention that it deserves, 
 it is apparent that she depends quite as much upon her 
 Colonies for retaining her present position in the world, 
 as her Colonies depend upon her for retaining theirs ; 
 and Queensland, -with a territory of over half a million 
 square miles, and a population of less than one for every 
 two square miles, must be an important factor in the 
 future history of a country so over-populated as Great 
 Britain. 
 
 To the west of the coast-range lie the prairies of 
 Queensland, an almost boundless extent of rolling downs 
 and plains, covered with grass and herbage that for rear- 
 ing sheep and cattle is unsurpassed in any country of the 
 world. Every mile of available country is now taken 
 up, and held by the squatters, who are, of course, the 
 chief producers of the colony, and to get new country a 
 man must go into the northern territory of South
 
 NUMBER OF SHEEP AND CATTLE. 283 
 
 Australia and into Western Australia. The number 
 of sheep in Queensland in 1882 was over twelve mil- 
 lions, and the number of cattle about four millions ; the 
 value of the wool exported in the same year being 
 1,329,019. In the future, sheep will increase very 
 much faster than cattle, for no one who can afford the 
 expense of forming a sheep-station will continue to rear 
 cattle upon country that is fit to carry sheep. For 
 many years to come, from climatic reasons if for no 
 others, it is certain that the interior of Queensland will 
 continue to be what it is now, essentially a wool-pro- 
 ducing country ; and its capabilities in this respect 
 are incalculable. 
 
 The rainfall is unreliable, and the absence of natural 
 water renders even the squatter's industry at all times 
 rather a precarious one, and obliges him to spend large 
 sums of money in making permanent water upon his runs. 
 The danger of drought is lessened by the largeness of the 
 areas held by the squatter, and is further reduced by the 
 precaution of storing water, but in a drought such as has 
 recently visited the southern portion of Queensland, and 
 New South Wales, nothing can save him from serious 
 loss, and it is in reality only the enormous profits which 
 he makes in good seasons that enable him to face an 
 occasional bad one with cheerfulness. 
 
 In the chapter devoted to a comparison of the relative 
 advantages of a sheep- station and a cattle-station, will 
 be found statistics which show what the profits of the 
 former amount to in fair seasons ; but anyone who is 
 acquainted with the Western country would see at once 
 the absurdity of supposing that it could be profitably 
 held except in large areas, for pastoral purposes, until
 
 284 AGRICULTURAL RESOURCES. 
 
 a great change has taken place in the civilisation of the 
 colony. 
 
 It is impossible, of course, to imagine that such a 
 country can remain permanently jn the hands of a few 
 hundred graziers, whose object is to keep away any 
 population from their runs beyond the few hands neces- 
 sary to work their flocks and herds. The Western 
 Downs are supposed by geologists to overlie large under- 
 ground reservoirs of water, and certainly wherever wells 
 have been sunk to any depth success has attended 
 the experiments, so that in time it is probable that 
 some system of irrigation will be developed, which 
 will turn the country into something more profitable to 
 the community than sheep-runs ; and the opening up 
 of the country by railways will transform the interior of 
 Queensland from a purely pastoral into an agricultural 
 country. That cheap carriage to the coast is the one 
 thing needful to make wheat-growing pay, has been 
 conclusively proved by the large quantities grown in the 
 Allora and Roma districts, since the opening of the rail- 
 way from Brisbane to the latter town. Five quarters 
 to the acre is not an uncommon crop, and in 1880 
 250,000 bushels were raised in the colony. The 
 quality of the wheat is excellent, the weight being as 
 high as sixty-seven pounds to the bushel, and the flour 
 fully equal to Adelaide. Land is being rapidly laid 
 down under wheat in the Darling Downs and Maranoa 
 districts, and it is expected that before long Queens- 
 land will produce sufficient to make her independent of 
 any foreign supply. 
 
 With such resources as these at her command, it is 
 evident that the colony requires nothing but an extended
 
 THE LEGISLATION OF PLUNDER. 285 
 
 system of railway communication from the interior to 
 the coast, to bring population and prosperity in its wake. 
 The transformation that has been wrought in those dis- 
 tricts where railways have already been constructed, 
 shows what progress might be expected if the colony 
 were to put forth her whole strength in this direction. 
 With a good Government the thing would be done at 
 once ; for no sane man disputes the advisability of doing 
 it, but, unfortunately, Queensland, like her neighbours 
 New South Wales and Victoria, suffers in this respect 
 from a succession of selfish, sordid adventurers, whose 
 proceedings it is impossible to watch, without forgetting 
 the impurity of their principles in the imbecility of their 
 policy. It is as absurd to distinguish the members of 
 either party as Conservatives or Radicals, as it is to call 
 any of them politicians ; since the transparent motive of 
 all of them is to plunder their colony. The Ins and 
 Outs of Legislation would be a more appropriate term. 
 The party who are in go straight for whatever they 
 want ; and the only security of the country lies in the 
 certainty that the party who are out will do their 
 best to prevent them from getting it, not from any 
 consideration for the public weal, but because they 
 want it themselves. 
 
 The great natural want of Queensland is navigable 
 rivers and deep-water harbours. In all her sea-board 
 of 2,000 miles there are hardly any good harbours 
 for vessels of large draught, and not a single decent 
 navigable river. By a sort of practical joke of nature 
 every one is adorned with a sand-bar at the mouth, 
 and a mud-flat a little way up. These efforts of nature 
 are a thorn in the side of every coasting skipper, and
 
 286 GOVERNMENT JOBS. 
 
 a perfect god- send to the rascally employes and pro- 
 teges of the Department of Public Works, who derive a 
 regular annuity from misdirected attempts to deepen 
 the rivers. More or less illegitimate plunder is made 
 out of every public work in Australia by all concerned 
 in it, from the Ministry downwards ; the most notable 
 instances being the adoption of Wood's brake by the 
 Victorian railways, the Steel Bails Inquiry in Queens- 
 land, and the Transcontinental Railway scheme in the 
 same colony, which will be more fully described here- 
 after. These are official swindles, and require the 
 active co-operation of those at the head of affairs, and 
 a great deal of tact on the part of all concerned, to 
 carry them through. Even then they do not always 
 succeed. The Transcontinental Railway scheme was 
 the downfall of the Ministry whose Premier was its 
 chief instigator and promoter. 
 
 But in a small way nothing is so profitable and 
 so popular with Government engineers as deepening 
 a river, because it is work that can be indefinitely 
 prolonged. At any other work they are bound to show 
 some sort of progress, be it ever so miraculously slow, 
 or else show some reasonable cause for delay. But in 
 deepening a river, the engineer has it all his own way. 
 No one can tell what he is about under water, and, 
 by combining a studious neglect of the most elemen- 
 tary principles of engineering with a slight knowledge 
 of the bottom of the river, he can extend his work 
 over any period of time. The amount of public money 
 that goes in this way is enormous. 
 
 The Fitzroy river, on which lies the town of Rock- 
 hampton, affords a striking example of Queensland
 
 THE FITZROY RIVER. 287 
 
 Government engineering. Seven miles below the town 
 are situated the Flats, on which there was naturally 
 about three feet of water at low tide. It was decided 
 to remove these flats, so as to allow vessels drawing 
 nine feet of water to get up at any tide. The esti- 
 mated cost of the undertaking was 25,000. Time 
 not specified, being, as the advertisements say, " not 
 so much an object as a comfortable home " for the 
 engineer to whom the work was entrusted. 
 
 After fooling around dredging for some time, this 
 worthy hit upon a notable scheme. Starting a little 
 above the flats, he built a training wall slantwise down 
 the river, so as to leave a narrow passage near the 
 opposite bank. He calculated that the rush of the 
 tide through this narrow channel would very soon 
 deepen it. 
 
 He was perfectly right. It very soon did, and, by 
 the simple process known as robbing Peter to pay 
 Paul, the sand so washed away formed a fresh flat a 
 little lower down, with only eighteen inches of water 
 on it, instead of three feet ! 
 
 Finally, after expending 110,000 during a period 
 extending over ten years, they have at last succeeded 
 in getting a depth of about five feet at low tide. 
 Less than half the money wasted in tinkering the 
 bottom of the Fitzroy would have given Rockhamp- 
 ton a deep-water port in Keppel Bay, at which ships 
 drawing thirty feet of water could lie at any tide, and 
 a railway from thence to the town. 
 
 There is not a single town on the coast of Queens- 
 land that has the natural advantage of deep-water 
 communication with the sea, either by means of a
 
 288 GREAT WANT OP SEA-PORTS. 
 
 harbour or a navigable river, except Bowen and Glad- 
 stone. These two townships are situated on the coast 
 itself, and have good deep-water harbours ; but there 
 is no back country to either of them, so it will be long 
 before they are of much importance. All the other 
 ports are only accessible to boats of very light draught, 
 and generally these have to wait for the tide. 
 
 Townsville lies right on the coast, but the neigh- 
 bouring bay is so shallow that no vessel of any size can 
 get within a mile and a half of the town. 
 
 Mackay lies two miles up a river, with flats upon 
 which there is not more than a foot of water at low tide. 
 At the mouth of the river is a sand-bar, and outside 
 nothing but an open roadstead. 
 
 Rockhampton is forty-five miles from the coast, up 
 the Fitzroy river, the flats in which have just been 
 described. 
 
 Bundaberg and Maryborough are each of them some 
 distance up a narrow, muddy, shallow river. 
 
 The coasting-trade of Queensland is increasing so 
 enormously, there is no doubt that in time these diffi- 
 culties will be overcome, and some, at least, of the 
 coast towns will be provided with good artificial 
 harbours. 
 
 In 1841 the whole trade of the colony of Queensland 
 was carried on by a small cutter trading between Bris- 
 bane and Sydney. In 1879 the entrances inwards to 
 Brisbane were 1,261 vessels, with a tonnage of 637,695 
 tons, and the clearance about the same. Since then 
 the increase in the coast trade has been even more 
 surprising. 
 
 In 1883 Townsville alone, the most northern town
 
 INCREASE OF TRADE. 289 
 
 of any importance in Queensland, was importing about 
 4,000 tons of goods a week. 
 
 The production of sugar alone in the colony has 
 risen from 12,300 cwt. in 1868, to over 400,000 cwt. 
 in 1883. Very soon good sea-ports will be an absolute 
 necessity ; but, in the meantime, with the exception of 
 the work done in the Brisbane river, all the money 
 spent has been so much thrown away. 
 
 Mackay, the great sugar-growing district of Queens- 
 land, is about the worst off for a port of any town on 
 the coast. It has, as I have said, a river with shallow 
 flats and a bar at the mouth, and nothing but an open 
 roadstead outside. 
 
 There are, however, two small islands, known as 
 "Flat-top " and "Kound-top," just off the mouth of the 
 river ; and it was thought that something might be done 
 in the way of a breakwater. The genius of the Fitzroy 
 flats was accordingly consulted on the subject. 
 
 He assured the delighted inhabitants of Mackay that 
 it would be the simplest thing in the world to make an 
 excellent harbour. Nothing to do but connect one of 
 the islands with the mainland, throw out a breakwater 
 on the far side, and run a railway right away from the 
 end of the breakwater into the town. 
 
 After an interval of four years, during which time 
 they had been driven nearly out of their minds by the 
 patriotic agitation on the subject by the member for 
 Mackay, the Government proceeded to vote some 
 money for the furtherance of this scheme. The break- 
 water was to be about a mile long, and tenders were 
 called for in sections. The first section was the only 
 'one ever completed, and the only one ever likely 
 
 19
 
 290 THE MACKAY BBEAKWATER. 
 
 to be, until some very much more able men take it in 
 hand. The contractor's only notion of a breakwater 
 seemed to be to blast rock out of an adjacent cliff, break 
 it up small so as to be convenient for handling, and 
 barrow it into the sea, leaving it to form its own batter. 
 He never got further than high -water mark. His work, 
 about forty yards long, remains, another monument of 
 Government stupidity, and the Mackay breakwater ends 
 where most breakwaters begin. 
 
 But the most notable attempt of modern times to 
 rob the public exchequer was the Trans-continental Kail- 
 way scheme. The responsible position of those whose 
 names were connected with it, the magnitude of the 
 undertaking, and the great care with which the real 
 conditions under which it was to be carried out were 
 concealed, for a long time saved this gigantic fraud 
 from detection. At length, however, it was exposed, 
 the public realised the amount of which it was intended 
 the colony should be robbed, and the result was that the 
 Ministry who brought in the Bill were defeated, and 
 obliged to resign. 
 
 The proposed scheme is really worth some considera- 
 tion, in order to show the enormous vitality of a colony 
 that can still make rapid progress, even under the 
 incubus of a Government that endeavours to plunder 
 instead of fostering its resources. 
 
 The Trans-continental Railway was to run from the 
 inland head of the Brisbane-Roma line (a Government 
 line) to Point Parker, in the Gulf of Carpentaria, a 
 distance, roughly, of 1,000 miles. 
 
 There is no doubt that such a line would be of ines- 
 timable benefit to Australia at large, and especially to
 
 THE QUEENSLAND DEBT. 291 
 
 Queensland ; but it is certain that the latter colony 
 individually would benefit much more from an extension 
 of her existing lines of railway further into the interior. 
 The whole colony being fully alive to the importance 
 of extending her railway system in some shape or way, 
 the Government made it their business to try and per- 
 suade the inhabitants of Queensland that her credit was 
 already strained to the utmost, and that it would be 
 inadvisable, even if it were possible, to borrow sufficient 
 to perform the proposed work. 
 
 We were told by the Premier that because we owed 
 ,58 per head of our population, which would be in- 
 creased to 70 when the loans authorised were issued, 
 we were on the verge of ruin, and could not possibly 
 borrow any more. 
 
 Now it may be very sound to estimate the gravity 
 of a public debt in this manner, when the money has 
 been borrowed for unproductive purposes, such as war, 
 or construction of national defences. But in a colony 
 like Queensland, almost the whole of the money so 
 borrowed has, with a due allowance, of course, for 
 official plunder, been expended on developing the national 
 estate, so that the debt is represented to a great extent 
 by valuable assets which bring in a revenue far in excess 
 of the interest on the capital borrowed. Thus, in New 
 South Wales, a colony that owes 18,000,000, the rail- 
 ways alone are valued at 25,000,000, and pay 5 per 
 cent, on the cost of construction. 
 
 The estimate of Sir Thomas Mcllwraith, the Premier 
 of Queensland, for the construction of the Trans- 
 continental Eailway, was 3,260 per mile. 
 
 In his reply of 22nd February 1882, to General 
 
 19 *
 
 292 THE TBANS-CONTINENTAL 
 
 Fielding, the agent for the Syndicate that was formed 
 in Europe for taking up this scheme, Sir Thomas 
 Mcllwraith declared most positively that the cost of a 
 railway from Charleville to the Gulf, including every 
 item, surveying, supervision, rolling stock, construction, 
 stations, and all other outlay, should not exceed the 
 above sum. Sir Thomas is himself an expert, and had 
 besides the benefit of Mr. Watson's survey and estimate 
 to help him. The whole cost for the 1,000 miles, there- 
 fore, should not exceed 3,260,000. 
 
 The Syndicate were to be allowed seven years and a 
 half to complete their line. This gives 434,666 as 
 the sum required to be spent every year to complete the 
 line within contract time. Queensland can borrow at the 
 rate of 4 per cent, interest ; we therefore find that had 
 Queensland herself undertaken the work 
 
 Amount required to be spent annually on con- 
 struction, 434,666. 
 
 1st year's interest at 4 per cent. - 17,387 
 2nd 34,774 
 
 3rd 52,161 
 
 4th 69,548 
 
 5th 86,935 
 
 6th 104,322 
 
 7th - 121,709 
 
 half 8th - 65,202 
 
 So that in seven years and a half Queensland would 
 have completed the 1,000 miles of railway, at a cost of 
 3,260,000 of loan funds, on which she would have paid 
 interest during that time 552,038. The total cost to the
 
 RAILWAY SCHEME. 293 
 
 colony therefore would be ,3,812,038, and at the end of 
 the time she would herself be the owner of the line. 
 
 Later on we shall see what it was proposed the colony 
 should pay the Syndicate for the railway, before it 
 eventually passed into her hands. Having partly suc- 
 ceeded in persuading the colony that it would be 
 impossible for her to borrow sufficient to accomplish 
 the work, the Premier drew our attention to a body of 
 philanthropists in the shape of a European Syndicate, 
 who were ready to do it for us. 
 
 The fact of a joint-stock company being able to do 
 what a colony like Queensland cannot do, is sufficiently 
 startling. But no matter ; we were told that although 
 our credit was run dry, Providence had provided us with 
 the means of accomplishing our object in the shape of 
 land-grants. Nothing could be more simple than to 
 use the enormous area of comparatively unremunerative 
 land to pay for the railway. 
 
 It is a most fortunate thing that the colony came to 
 its senses, and realised the merits of the case before 
 it was too late. At one time there was a danger that 
 the Government might snatch a victory, and rush their 
 nefarious project through Parliament, before the colony 
 understood what was taking place. Had this happened, 
 there is no doubt it would have had a lasting and most 
 injurious effect on the prospects of Queensland. 
 
 There is not space here to transcribe the full terms 
 of the agreement between the Queensland Government 
 and the Trans-continental Syndicate, but what it 
 amounted to was this : the Syndicate in the first place 
 were to receive eleven million acres of land, freehold. 
 This land was stated by the Premier to be worth at
 
 294 ORGANISED BOBBERY. 
 
 least 10s. an acre, and Government have been repeatedly 
 solicited to offer it at auction at that upset price. 
 
 Not allowing therefore for the prospective rise in the 
 value of the land upon the completion of the railway, 
 this gives the value of the land-grant to be given to the 
 Syndicate at 5,500,000. But in exchange for the 
 inferior portion of land adjacent to the railway on 
 the Gulf watershed, the Syndicate were allowed to select 
 1,200,000 acres on the Batavia river. This is grand 
 agricultural land, which cannot be valued at less than 
 1 per acre. This brings the total thus : 
 
 1,200,000 acres on the Batavia at 1 1,200,000 
 10,000,000 acres along the line at 10s. 5,000,000 
 
 6,200,000 
 
 In making this valuation, no account has been taken 
 of the extra value of the land in the various town- 
 ships along the line, and of the port on the Gulf, half 
 of all which was to belong to the Syndicate. 
 
 Having induced the Syndicate to make the railway 
 for us by the above enormous bribe, the agreement 
 further provided for the purchase of the railway from 
 the Syndicate when it was completed, by the following 
 remarkable clause. 
 
 " 13. In the event of the Governor-in-Council exercis- 
 ing the right of purchase of the said railway and rolling 
 stock and appurtenances, given by the 26th clause of 
 the said Act, the basis of valuation upon which the fair 
 and reasonable value thereof shall be ascertained as 
 therein mentioned shall be twenty-five years' purchase 
 of the average net earnings of the railway during the 
 three previous years with 15 per cent, added thereto
 
 ITS EXPOSUBE. 295 
 
 for forced sale, but not being less in total than 100 
 for every ,100 of capital paid by and expended on the 
 said railway, rolling-stock, and appurtenances." 
 
 In order to give an idea of the probable amount that 
 the colony would be required to pay under this clause, 
 I cannot do better than quote from a pamphlet which 
 appeared at the time the Bill was before the country. 
 It was called The latest Political Device for partitioning 
 Queensland amongst Speculative Rings, and its Exposure. 
 It was written, I believe, by Mr. E. Newton, and was of 
 immense service in showing up the gigantic fraud that 
 the colony was very nearly swallowing. He says : 
 
 " From the above clause it may be inferred that the 
 Government cannot exercise the right to purchase the 
 line till the expiration of three years from its comple- 
 tion. By those most competent to form a correct esti- 
 mate, it is computed that this colony will possess not 
 less than 30,000,000 sheep in its central districts by 
 the expiration of the time to be allowed to the Syndi- 
 cate for the completion of their line to the Gulf. For 
 it must be remembered that the country through which 
 this Syndicate line is proposed to be taken, is not a 
 useless unoccupied territory, only to be made of any 
 value by this railway. With the exception of a barren 
 strip at the Point Parker end, the country is occupied 
 as grazing-runs along the whole length of the proposed 
 line, and for hundreds of miles to the west of it. Some 
 of the country through which the line would pass is 
 highly improved, and the whole is now being developed 
 in an extraordinarily rapid manner. Few people under- 
 stand or realise the vast traffic this increase in sheep 
 will bring to our railways.
 
 296 THE AMOUNT OF PLUNDER ANTICIPATED. 
 
 " We will take, as a basis for calculation, that only the 
 produce and requirement for working one half of these 
 30,000,000 sheep can be influenced on to the Syndicate 
 lines ; and considering the enormous power they will 
 possess, with the facilities they would be able to give 
 at their port, Point Parker, by lines of steamers of their 
 own, carrying at low freights, to allow the Syndicate 
 line only one half the traffic is a moderate calculation. 
 
 " This, then, would give the Syndicate the traffic for 
 15,000,000 sheep. The wool from these, at 4 Ibs. all 
 round for clean and greasy wool, gives 26,786 tons. 
 We will put the average freight on this at 8 per ton, 
 a rate much below what is at present charged on our 
 lines, the freight on clean wool from Eoma to Brisbane, 
 a distance of only 317 miles, being now 8 per ton. 
 
 "Allowing only double the weight of up-carriage to 
 wool down, which is considerably under what is found 
 in practice (as vide the traffic returns of the Central 
 Railway, aline supplying almost solely pastoral country), 
 and calculating the average charge on up -freight at the 
 same rate as wool down viz. .8 per ton and allowing 
 for passenger fares, together with the large traffic which 
 may be expected from live stock, meat, &c. (without 
 taking into account the mineral traffic from the Clon- 
 curry, which may be immense), we give the same amount 
 as wool freights bring in, we have the following result : 
 
 26,786 tons wool down at 8 per ton average 
 
 freight 214,288 
 
 53,572 tons up loading at 8 . . . 428,576 
 
 Passenger fares, live stock, meat, &c. . . 214,288 
 
 Total gross earnings ^857,152
 
 DOWNFALL OF THE MINISTRY. 297 
 
 " Taking the working expenses at 50 per cent, on 
 gross earnings, which is an ample allowance over such 
 an extremely easy and level country, we have ,428,576 
 per annum nett earnings, which, at twenty-five years' 
 purchase, with 15 per. cent added, comes to the 
 enormous total of ^12,321,560. This amount, if not 
 considerably more, is the sum we should have to borrow 
 in a few years, to purchase a railway, for the construc- 
 tion of which the country will have already given 
 away 566,200,000 of its lands, besides vast unknown 
 values in sites of towns, &c., and which line the country 
 could have constructed itself, including interest on loans, 
 and every possible charge, for a sum not exceeding 
 3, 8 12,038. It is simply utter nonsense to spread 
 abroad the idea that this great colony, with its vast 
 undeveloped resources, with the great future which is 
 undoubtedly its inheritance, is unable to borrow for 
 the making of its main trunk lines of railway (which 
 would represent so grand an asset) a sum scarcely 
 exceeding ^3,000,000, extended over a period of eight 
 years." 
 
 Such was the great Trans -continental Railway 
 scheme, which occasioned the downfall of Sir Thomas 
 Mcllwraith's Ministry. It is deeply to be regretted that 
 they ever took such a proposal in hand. They were the 
 best Government Queensland has ever had, and, had they 
 chosen to do so, they were in a position to pass measures 
 that would have been of inestimable service to the 
 colony, such as the Coolie Bill to introduce coloured 
 labour from India to the sugar plantations. Instead of 
 which, they took advantage of the security of their 
 position to tamper with the interests of the colony.
 
 298 THE NEW SPEAKER. 
 
 Allusion has been made above to the Steel Rail Inquiry. 
 This was an attack made by Mr. Griffiths, the leader 
 of the Opposition, upon Sir Thomas Mcllwraith's con- 
 duct in the purchase of some 60,000 of steel rails for 
 the Queensland railways. 
 
 Mr. Griffiths directly impugned the honesty of the 
 Premier's conduct in the transaction, and, although he 
 was unable to establish his charge, the extremely un- 
 satisfactory circumstances that appeared in the inquiry 
 greatly weakened the confidence of the country in the 
 Ministry. When this further scheme for wholesale 
 plunder was exposed, of course the country could stand 
 it-no longer, and turned them out. 
 
 Headed by Mr. Griffiths, their successors advanced, 
 and, having elected a congenial spirit in the shape of a 
 thrice -convicted felon to the Speaker's chair, they laid 
 themselves down to try by every means in their power 
 to retard the progress of the colony, and feather their 
 own nests. 
 
 The conduct of the Queensland Parliament in select- 
 ing such a man to fill the position of Speaker was 
 severely censured by the neighbouring colonies, and 
 deeply resented throughout Queensland herself. The 
 tone of our Parliament has never been very high, but 
 compared with the Houses in New South Wales and 
 Victoria we always felt ourselves to be eminently respec- 
 table. All claim to such distinction is now gone. What- 
 ever elements a House may be composed of, it cannot fail 
 to lose caste by assigning the position of Speaker to such 
 a man as now holds it. 
 
 But although the Queensland Assembly may be defi- 
 cient in a sense of dignity, it certainly does not lack wit.
 
 DEPKAVITY OP PAELIAMENT. 299 
 
 Some years ago the present Speaker (Mr. Groom) was 
 very desirous of obtaining a Government appointment. 
 In the course of debate, one of his friends declared 
 that Mr. Groom's long services under Government most 
 distinctly entitled him to hold some office. Whereupon 
 someone on the other side got up and observed, with 
 more truth than feeling, that " considering what the 
 nature of Mr. Groom's services to the country had been, 
 the only appointment he was qualified to hold was that 
 of Groom of the Stole." 
 
 It is deeply to be regretted that a more healthy tone 
 does not pervade the legislature of the colonies. But 
 as long as all respectable people hold aloof, and, excuse 
 themselves from attempting to take part in the Govern- 
 ment of their country, on the plea that they do not care 
 to be mixed up in such disreputable society, there is not 
 much hope of improvement. Such idle seclusion and 
 selfish apathy deserves to be afflicted, as it is, by the 
 worst of government. 
 
 Throughout the whole of Australia a feeling obtains 
 that Parliament is a profession which it is just as well 
 for all decent people to keep clear of. In a book of 
 advice to those visiting the colony of Victoria, I read 
 the following interesting warning : 
 
 "If you enter into conversation with a respectable - 
 looking individual to whom you are a stranger, on no 
 account ask him if he is a member of the Legislative 
 Assembly. You cannot offer him a greater insult." 
 
 As a class the squatters are marvellously indifferent 
 to the legislation of the colony they live in, and they 
 have greatly their own selfishness to thank for the losses 
 that they suffer in consequence. The squatters are, of
 
 300 INDIFFERENCE OF THE SQUATTERS. 
 
 course, the backbone of a pastoral country like Australia, 
 and represent the greater portion of its wealth. But 
 anything like co-operation amongst them for the purpose 
 of protecting their interests in Parliament is unknown. 
 Each one thinks he can do best for himself by attend- 
 ing to nothing but the management of his station, and 
 letting legislation take care of itself. They are by far 
 the most poorly represented class in Parliament through- 
 out Australia, and the consequence is that their seclusion 
 in the Bush is subject to periodical interruptions of a 
 most disagreeable kind. 
 
 While busily employed in making money in the back 
 country, they awake too late, to find that literally the 
 ground has been cut from under their feet at head- 
 quarters, and perhaps half their run taken away by some 
 empirical piece of legislation on the part of the town- 
 loafers to whom they have abandoned the reins of 
 government without a struggle. 
 
 Of course, in a new country, the most difficult question 
 that any Government has to deal with is a satisfactory 
 adjustment of the question as to how the land shall be 
 occupied. So far the problem has not been treated in 
 the manner most likely to conduce to the welfare of the 
 community, for at first, in the older colonies, immense 
 freeholds were allowed to accumulate, the evil effects of 
 which have found vent in measures of retaliation against 
 the class that owned them. 
 
 The difficulty in a colony like Queensland lies in the 
 fact that while the great want is felt to be an increase 
 of population, it is almost impossible to find a class of 
 people who can occupy the country profitably in small 
 areas. The squatter knows, of course, that he only
 
 THE LAND QUESTION. SELECTORS. 301 
 
 occupies his run upon sufferance, and that, unless he 
 chooses to spend large sums in securing it as a free- 
 hold, he must- expect to surrender his country when it 
 is required for other purposes. When the time comes 
 he succumbs to the inevitable, and moves farther away 
 in search of fresh country ; but his sorrow at being 
 forced to give up the whole or half of his run is by 
 no means diminished by the discovery that it is not of 
 the slightest use to those who have taken it from him. 
 
 Of course, if a squatter holds land that is fit for culti- 
 vation either of sugar or of wheat, it is only right that 
 he should hand it over to those who are able and willing 
 to turn it to a use which is obviously more remunera- 
 tive to the colony at large than the growing of stock. 
 But when he holds country that is out of the scope of 
 agriculture for the present, it is annoying to have to 
 surrender it prematurely to people to whom it is no sort 
 of good. Even in Queensland, land without capital is 
 more of a curse than a blessing to those who are forced 
 to hold it, and there is no more wretched class in the 
 colony than the holders of pastoral selections. 
 
 It is perfectly impossible that a man can make any- 
 thing more than a bare living out of one, and generally 
 it is impossible for him to do even that honestly. 
 When he has complied with the conditions of occupa- 
 tion, by completing the necessary improvements in the 
 shape of fencing-in his selection, there is no more work 
 for him to do, and he simmers down into growing 
 pumpkins and sweet potatoes for his own consumption, 
 and generally ekes out a living by stealing his neigh- 
 bour's cattle. A more utterly useless class of men to 
 the colony cannot be imagined. The fact is that, for a
 
 302 THE CLASS OF POPULATION REQUIRED. 
 
 long time to come, the most profitable way in which 
 the greater portion of Australia, and certainly of Queens- 
 land, could possibly be held, would be in the form of 
 large pastoral leaseholds, paying a fair rent to the 
 crown, but having a security of tenure that would 
 encourage their holders to invest their capital largely 
 in improvements. To throw open the runs of the 
 squatters to selection wholesale is merely to try and 
 drive civilisation at high pressure, which always means 
 waste of power, and to foster a mushroom growth of 
 population that will weaken rather than develop the 
 natural resources of the country. 
 
 The population required for a country like Queens- 
 land consists mainly of two classes, large capitalists and 
 skilled workmen of all trades. The former will find an 
 ample field for profitable investments upon any scale 
 that they may desire, and the latter will readily find 
 employment at a high rate of wages. 
 
 But to the man of small capital, who is master of 
 no trade, the colony is indeed a delusion and a snare. 
 The days are over when large fortunes were rapidly 
 made out of nothing at all, and anyone who makes 
 money there has to work for it, and to work hard too. 
 The possessor of a few hundreds, or even a few thou- 
 sands of pounds, who goes to Queensland with the idea 
 that he is likely to make his fortune, will find himself 
 wofully mistaken ; for the odds are a hundred to one 
 on his losing every penny of his money. 
 
 If he goes out there to friends whom he can 
 thoroughly trust, and who will take care of his money 
 for him, of course he will get a higher rate of interest 
 than he could get in England, and as he gains expe-
 
 CAPITAL V. EXPEEIENCE. WAGES. 303 
 
 rience of the country he will see opportunities of in- 
 creasing his capital safely. But unless he has good 
 introductions to thoroughly sound men of business, he 
 had far better stay at home. 
 
 The standard of honesty is no higher in the colony 
 than it is elsewhere, and there are always crowds of 
 sharpers on the look-out for men with money to invest. 
 A form of partnership is often entered into, in which the 
 new arrival in the colony provides the money, and the 
 old hand the experience. These partnerships seldom 
 last long, and at the end of them the respective com- 
 modities have generally changed hands : the unfortunate 
 " new chum" has got the experience, and his rascally 
 partner has got the money. 
 
 But Queensland is certainly the Utopia of the work- 
 ing-man who is not afraid of work, and numerous are 
 the ways of making a living that are open to him. 
 
 On the gold-fields, ordinary miners' wages run from 
 2 10s. on the old-established field to ^4 on new 
 diggings in the back country. Amongst the trades, 
 carpenters, joiners, masons, and workers in iron are 
 the most in demand, and at any of them a good trades- 
 man will, in the towns, earn at least fifteen shillings a 
 day. In the Bush, the wages for ordinary station- 
 hands employed for shepherding or stock-riding are from 
 1 to 1 15s. a week, with rations, running up to 
 .2 5s. for shearers in shearing time. Nearly all the 
 fencing and putting up of station-buildings, yards, &c., 
 in the Bush, is done by contract, and contractors always 
 reckon to make at least ,2 10s. a week. 
 
 After he has been six months in the colony, the work- 
 ing man is endowed with the inestimable boon of the
 
 304 BCJSH LIVING. 
 
 franchise, an advantage for which he has at all times, 
 and in all parts of the world, shown himself willing to 
 barter every other consideration. 
 
 A great deal has been said about the climate of 
 Queensland, and it is often described as being a 
 " trying " one. The only possible way in which it can 
 be justly so described, is in the sense of its being a 
 climate in which people are constantly trying to kill 
 themselves without succeeding. Probably there is no 
 other country in the world in which men habitually 
 take such frightful liberties with their constitutions 
 with impunity. 
 
 The ordinary mode of living pursued by the inha- 
 bitants both of the town and the Bush is such that, 
 if the climate were not an extraordinarily healthy one, 
 they would die like rotten sheep. We will take the 
 average Bushman's life, say a stockman, or a hard- 
 working squatter, who helps to work his own cattle. 
 His food consists of beef and damper, and jam if he is 
 luxurious. Vegetables he often does not see for weeks 
 and weeks together, except in the form of pickles, and 
 he is very lucky if he can always get them. 
 
 An occasional piece of pumpkin, or a sweet potato, 
 forms a red-letter day in the calendar of his diet, and 
 every meal is washed down with floods of strong scald- 
 ing hot tea without any milk. Breakfast is the only 
 regular meal that he gets in the day, and he has that 
 soon after he gets up, but not before he has had a 
 smoke. If he happens to be at home in the middle of 
 the day he has dinner ; if not, he has nothing from 
 breakfast to supper, which is a movable feast, some- 
 where about sundown.
 
 CAUSE AND EFFECT. 305 
 
 All day he is riding about under a broiling sun, and 
 smokes an ounce of the strongest tobacco in the world 
 every twenty-four hours. For days and nights together, 
 sometimes, he is wet through, when camped out away 
 from home ; sleeping at night under a tree, with no 
 covering but a blanket in winter, and in summer not 
 even that, and awakening in the morning, perhaps to 
 find himself lying in a puddle of rain-water that has 
 fallen in the night, perhaps to find his hair stuck to his 
 hat with hoar frost. 
 
 The only diversion in his regime is an occasional visit 
 to a neighbouring town, where he probably gets half 
 poisoned by the extraordinary quantity and the infamous 
 quality of the liquor that he drinks. If after ten years 
 of this he should find his digestion not as good as it 
 was, or feel symptoms of the approach of rheumatism, 
 he is certain to put it down to the climate instead of to 
 his own imprudence. 
 
 With the townsmen, the case is still worse. Their 
 climate is certainly not as healthy as that of the Bush, 
 and in summer it is rather depressing ; but they take 
 little or no exercise, which is the only way to counteract 
 its effects, and drink quantities of spirits from morning 
 till night, every day of their lives, and even then it 
 seems to take years and years to do them much harm. 
 
 All below the coast range of Queensland cannot be 
 described as a pleasant climate, though it certainly is 
 not an unhealthy one. But in summer it is rather a 
 sticky, damp sort of heat, and both men and animals 
 perspire far more than they do over the range on the 
 table -lands. 
 
 In the Bush, though the thermometer is very high 
 
 20
 
 306 SUNSTROKE UNKNOWN IN THE BUSH. 
 
 all through the summer from October to April, there is 
 nothing whatever depressing or enervating about the 
 heat ; and the harder a man works, even though he be 
 out in the sun all day, the better he will feel. 
 
 It is only the habitual loafers and the constitutionally 
 weak who feel any bad effects from the heat of Queens- 
 land. The thermometer runs to about 90 in the shade 
 in the middle of the day in the summer months, though 
 on some few days it is much higher. I have seen it up 
 to 120 in the shade of a back verandah, and 176 in 
 the sun ; but I never felt the slightest ill effects from 
 going out and working all day in the sun, with no more 
 covering for my head than an old felt hat. 
 
 Sunstroke in the Bush is unknown, though I have 
 seen men working all day in a brick-kiln, when there 
 was not a breath of air, with a vertical sun over their 
 heads, and no protection but a workman's linen cap. 
 Even in summer, in the Bush, when the sun goes down, 
 the air always gets nice and cool. Hot nights are un- 
 known, and there are very few all through the summer 
 in which a man is not glad of a blanket just before 
 dawn. 
 
 If the climate of Queensland were a perpetual summer, 
 it might, indeed, be rather trying to such people as are 
 constitutionally unfitted to stand heat ; but, for seven 
 months in the year, it is impossible to imagine a more 
 delightful climate, even for those who object to hot 
 weather. From the middle of March to the middle of 
 October is an unbroken series of bright, warm, sunny 
 days, with a blue sky over which soft, fat white clouds 
 sail on the wings of a fresh, cool breeze, the mornings 
 and evenings being quite chilly, and the thermometer
 
 FEVEE AND AGUE. 307 
 
 at night, during the months of June and July, falling 
 sometimes to ten degrees below freezing, even in lati- 
 tudes well within the tropics. 
 
 As is always the case with new countries, ague pre- 
 vails in Queensland, but chiefly in the districts that 
 have been recently taken up, and it disappears almost 
 entirely in places that have been settled for some time. 
 
 In the interior a form of blood-poisoning, known as 
 slow-fever, is not uncommon, and is entirely due to the 
 effects of drinking impure water. 
 
 The only really unhealthy district of Queensland is on 
 the shores of the Gulf of Carpentaria, where several 
 obscure sorts of fever prevail, one of which very closely 
 resembles the terrible Yellow-Jack, if indeed it is not 
 the real article itself. 
 
 The rest of the colony may be considered as extra- 
 ordinarily free from all the maladies incidental to hot 
 climates, and it must be greatly a man's own fault if he 
 does not enjoy as good health in Queensland as he could 
 in any other country in the world. I have tried the 
 climates of New South Wales and Victoria, and certainly 
 prefer that of Queensland to either of them ; for during 
 the seven years that I was knocking about the latter 
 colony, at all sorts of work, exposed to all kinds of 
 weather, I not only never had a day's illness that I 
 could by any ingenuity attribute to the effects of the 
 climate, but I feel that I laid in a stock of good health, 
 of which the beneficial effects will last during the 
 remainder of my lifetime. 
 
 20 *
 
 308 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 BRISBANE. 
 
 BEISBANE, the capital of Queensland, lies about twenty- 
 five miles from the coast, on the river of the same name. 
 The town is rather prettily situated on some high ridges 
 sloping down to the river. Except in point of size, all 
 coast-towns of Queensland are pretty much alike, and 
 are certainly not pleasant places to live at. They have all 
 the disagreeables of town as compared with country life, 
 and none of the advantages which are to be found in the 
 older-established towns of Sydney and Melbourne. I 
 never knew anyone who was obliged to live in a Queens- 
 land coast-town who did not complain of his lot, and 
 wish himself elsewhere ; and no Bushman will ever stay 
 a day longer in one of them than he can help. This is 
 not to be wondered at, for the heat and dust in summer 
 are intolerable, and flies and mosquitoes abound. There 
 are hardly any places of amusement of any kind, and 
 the consequence is that in order to kill time, and to 
 counteract the depressing eifects of the climate, most of 
 the inhabitants .drink a great deal more than is good 
 for them.
 
 TOWN LIFE AND BUSH LIFE. 309 
 
 The greatest misconception prevails in the old country 
 as to the mode of living generally in Australia ; but 
 especially as to the relative advantages of life in the 
 towns and in the Bush. Even amongst the inhabitants 
 of Australia themselves there is no subject upon which 
 I have heard more nonsense talked. The dwellers in 
 the Bush are constantly represented as dirty and 
 degraded ruffians who, from their very manner of living, 
 cannot possibly continue to be decent members of the 
 community, while the inhabitants of the towns are up- 
 held as orderly, industrious, and useful citizens. Com- 
 parisons are always odious, and I should never have 
 dreamed of making one so especially obnoxious as this. 
 But it is so constantly done that I believe from mere 
 reiteration it passes for truth. 
 
 Were any such idea to gain credence, it would un- 
 doubtedly deter numbers of people from going into the 
 Bush, or allowing any of their belongings to do so. 
 
 Now, to a country like Australia, at present the 
 development of her back-country is of infinitely greater 
 importance than the growth of her towns, and it should 
 be the object of everyone who is interested in her future 
 to import as much capital and population into the Bush 
 as possible. 
 
 In order to give a fair idea of the relative advantages 
 of town and Bush life in Queensland, it may be as well 
 to make a few remarks on the subject. The manners 
 and morals of those who habitually reside in the Bush 
 are undoubtedly not all that can be desired ; but to 
 represent them as a class with whom it is impossible to 
 associate without being defiled is unjust. 
 
 It is true that a great many people are unable to do
 
 310 FALLACIES WITH REGARD TO THE BUSH. 
 
 so, for there are some in whom the struggle after clean- 
 liness and morality is so feebly maintained that a 
 feather suffices to turn the scale, and these, of course, 
 avail themselves only too readily of the seclusion of the 
 Bush to give full swing to their degrading propensities. 
 By all means let such people keep out of the Bush, if 
 they feel themselves unequal to retaining their self- 
 respect without such assistance as the external influences 
 of a town life afford them. 
 
 The importance of such external influences it is im- 
 possible to exaggerate, but it is very doubtful whether 
 they are not of infinitely greater value to a man's 
 neighbours than to himself, if he be such a man as is 
 above described. " A fig for virtue ! "Tis in ourselves 
 that we are thus or thus," and the man who only washes 
 under compulsion is not likely to derive much moral 
 benefit from his enforced ablutions, though it is of para- 
 mount importance to all his associates that he should 
 not be allowed entirely to abstain from the use of soap 
 and water. 
 
 But writers on the subject would have us believe 
 that he who journeys into the Bush must leave his 
 religion and his tooth-brush behind, and were there a 
 turnpike to mark the entrance to this awful abode, they 
 would no doubt place over it the inscription with which 
 Dante has adorned the gate of inner Hell. We are 
 further given to understand that a short residence 
 in this remarkable region destroys both youth and 
 abilities. 
 
 Now youth is such a perishable commodity, and its 
 decay such a fixed law of nature, that no means have as 
 yet been discovered of arresting its departure. It seems
 
 BUSH DRUNKARDS AND TOWN DRUNKARDS. 311 
 
 rather unfair, therefore, to tax the Bush in particular with 
 promoting it ; and as for a man's abilities, it must be his 
 own fault if he finds them impaired by an open-air life 
 of hard work in what we conceive to be the healthiest 
 country in the world. 
 
 Nothing is more common than to hear a charge of 
 drunkenness brought against Bushmen, as if they as a 
 class possessed a monopoly of this vice. That there are 
 drunkards in the Bush is beyond all question, but that 
 they are as numerous in proportion to the population 
 as they are in the towns is very doubtful. Neither is 
 their method of drinking, though equally deplorable, 
 by any means as destructive to health as that pursued 
 by the inhabitants of the towns. 
 
 In the first place, a man working hard in the open 
 air can consume with perfect impunity an amount of 
 alcohol that would soon finish off a man leading a less 
 healthy life. 
 
 In the second place, the Bush drunkard works hard 
 for his cheque, adjourns to the nearest public-house, 
 and, having drunk it out, returns to work again, to 
 recruit his health and refill his pocket. " Though this 
 be madness, there is method in it." 
 
 Now the town drunkard, and many who would be 
 inexpressibly shocked to hear themselves described as 
 such, indulge in a series of " nips," the frequency of 
 which increases to such an alarming extent, that at last 
 the fleeting remnant of their brain is barely equal to the 
 effort of elaborating an excuse for swallowing another 
 nobbier. 
 
 It is the undivided opinion of medical men that this 
 habit of soaking is far more injurious to the system than
 
 312 A COLONIST'S ACCOUNT 
 
 getting occasionally drunk. Either is bad enough, of 
 course. Like Cassio, " we could well wish that courtesy 
 would devise some other custom of entertainment." It 
 is only the fallacy of upholding the sobriety of the towns 
 in Australia against that of the Bush, that I wish to 
 draw attention to. 
 
 In the columns of the Queenslander I read not long 
 ago a most deplorable description of life in the Bush 
 by an old colonist who signed himself "Musca." 
 Anyone who read it would come to the conclusion 
 that Bushmen are the only men alive who -really know 
 how to drink and to swear. 
 
 After drawing a most romantic picture of the benign 
 influence of a " fair and virtuous woman " upon the 
 destiny of man, and deploring her absence in the Bush, 
 " Musca " next proceeded to lay down the extra- 
 ordinary doctrine that the hardships and privations 
 which the pursuit of duty in the Bush entails, must 
 end in " moral degradation." 
 
 This prepares us for his no less startling theory 
 that the " comforts, luxuries, and enjoyments of a 
 town life " are more conducive to health than working 
 in the Bush. The first of these fallacies is so ridiculous 
 as to need no answer. If the second required one, it 
 would assuredly be found in a glance at the relative 
 physiques of the inhabitants of the Bush and of the 
 towns. Health is as conspicuous by its presence in the 
 one, as it is by its absence in the other. 
 
 How many men have I seen who, having exchanged 
 a life of roughing it in the Bush for the " com- 
 forts, luxuries, and enjoyments of a town," have 
 exchanged with it the exterior of an athlete for that of
 
 OF LIFE IN THE BUSH. 313 
 
 an anatomical specimen creeping about to save the 
 expense of a funeral. Beally I should be ashamed to 
 quote such rubbish, but for the fact that '* Musca " is 
 unfortunately only a type of a large class who endeavour 
 to represent the Bush as a place entirely unfit to 
 live in. 
 
 The fact is that many men go into the Bush and 
 fulfil their destiny by making fools of themselves there 
 as they would anywhere else. They then return to 
 loaf away the remainder of their existence in a town, 
 and amuse themselves by giving the world a history of 
 their experiences, distorted by the recollection of dis- 
 appointed hopes, for which they have only their own 
 folly to thank. 
 
 The custom of using profane language cannot be too 
 severely censured. But to maintain, as " Musca " and 
 his class do, that the residents in the Bush monopolise, 
 or even excel in this bad habit, argues a very limited 
 experience. Deplorable as is the language of an excited 
 bullock-driver to a refractory steer, it pales before my 
 recollections of the daily conversation of a number of 
 young gentlemen at Woolwich, qualifying to serve in 
 the highest branches of Her Majesty's Service. While 
 before me rises a vision of more than one " fine old 
 English gentleman " full of strange oaths, which not 
 even the presence of ladies prevents him from using. 
 
 In extolling the influence of a " fair and virtuous 
 woman," we must all sympathise with " Musca," and 
 with him regret that her presence in the Bush is not 
 more frequent than it is. But we must also remember 
 that all women are not fair, neither are all women 
 virtuous.
 
 314 WOMAN'S INFLUENCE. 
 
 Woman's influence, equally potent for either, is 
 more frequently exerted for evil than for good. Were 
 we to compare the instances where a man's downward 
 career has been arrested, with those where his progress 
 to the dogs has been assisted by the fair sex, numerous 
 as are the former, we fear the latter would greatly pre- 
 ponderate. We must conclude, therefore, that the 
 extreme scarcity of muslin in the Bush is not a matter 
 for unconditional regret. 
 
 It is as ridiculous to say that everyone living in the 
 Bush is degraded, as it would be to say that everyone 
 with red hair is a ruffian. The inhabitants of the Bush 
 are no doubt worse in some ways than their neighbours, 
 but certainly a great deal superior to them in others ; 
 and I am heartily sorry for anyone who has lived amongst 
 them and has been unable to detect anything of good 
 beneath the rough exterior and somewhat battered 
 appearance that are, to a certain extent, the necessary 
 effects of roughing it. I have seen as kind and gene- 
 rous dispositions and as excellent qualities in a rugged 
 and toil-worn Bushman as I ever expect to see again. 
 
 It is the tendency of nearly everyone to hold their 
 circumstances, their surroundings, and their neighbours 
 responsible for failures and mishaps for which they have 
 only themselves to thank. There are temptations in 
 every line of life which no one can avoid. To try and 
 escape from them altogether is as foolish as it is 
 cowardly. But to select a line of life as free from them 
 as possible is open to most people, and, after dispas- 
 sionate consideration, the Bush would seen to offer as 
 few temptations to go wrong as any line of life that 
 could be chosen. Certainly it offers far fewer than
 
 TOWN HABITS. 315 
 
 the towns I am talking, of course, of ordinary mortals. 
 It is impossible to legislate for persons so peculiarly 
 constituted as to feel " morally degraded " by sleeping 
 under a tree and breakfasting off beef and damper. 
 It is not of such choice spirits that I am talking, for 
 whom it would be necessary to construct a Utopia upon 
 a plan hitherto undreamed of, but of the ordinary young 
 man of sound constitution and fair abilities, whom I 
 maintain to have as fair a chance of keeping straight in 
 the Bush as anywhere else, and an infinitely better 
 chance of preserving his health. But both his constitu- 
 tion and his resolution must be of no ordinary strength, 
 if he can sojourn for any length of time in a Queensland 
 town without being the worse for it. 
 
 The climate of the coast towns especially is, to say 
 the least of it, a thirsty one. He will be assailed from 
 morning till night with invitations to " step round and 
 have a liquor," which we all know it is considered the 
 height of churlishness to refuse. Even supposing society 
 in the Bush to be worse than that in the towns, still its 
 existence is necessary to the welfare of the country ; and 
 the desire of *' Musca " and his friends to keep all 
 respectable and well-educated people out of it, is the 
 strangest scheme for the improvement of a community 
 that ever was heard of. It would surely be better if as 
 many respectable members of society as possible were 
 to go there and exert what influence they have for 
 good. 
 
 The amount of hard steady drinking that goes on in 
 all the towns of Queensland is astonishing. Brisbane 
 is no exception to the rule. Bankers and business men, 
 legislators and lawyers, doctors and tradesmen, they all
 
 316 THE ETIQUETTE OF DRINKING. 
 
 make a practice of every now and then deserting their 
 business and sallying forth to the nearest bar for a 
 drink. Brandy and whisky are the favourite drinks, 
 and the amount a man consumes in the twenty-four 
 hours by this habit of " nipping," without ever getting 
 quite drunk, is surprising. 
 
 No habitue of a Queensland town who wishes to find 
 a business man ever goes to look for him first in his 
 office. If he knows the run of the town, he will start 
 the reverse way round the various public-houses, and if 
 he fails to run the man he is looking for to ground, 
 he will then go to his office, in hopes of catching him 
 before he starts round for another series of drinks. 
 
 At whatever hour of the day a man meets another 
 whom he has not seen for say twelve hours, etiquette 
 requires that he shall incontinently invite him to come 
 and drink. This is a custom that pervades every class 
 in the colony, and cannot be departed from without 
 something more than a breach of good manners. 
 
 Now, there is no harm whatever in inviting a man 
 to have a drink. The invitation would seem to be 
 prompted by nothing but a feeling of generous hospi- 
 tality, and as such there is nothing to be said against 
 it. But it assumes a different aspect when a refusal 
 on the part of the man invited is regarded as little 
 short of an insult. And yet such is the case. No 
 matter whether a man is thirsty or not, no matter if 
 he has just swallowed a drink, a refusal to swallow 
 another cannot be tolerated for a moment. A more 
 insane custom cannot be conceived ; and there is no 
 doubt that numbers of men who have naturally no taste 
 for drinking acquire the habit, and entirely ruin their
 
 " SHOUTING." 317 
 
 health, from reluctance to give offence by refusing to 
 drink when invited. 
 
 All through Australia, in every class, it is not con- 
 sidered good form for a man to drink by himself. Very 
 few even of the most hopeless drunkards ever do so. 
 The consequence is, that when a man feels inclined' for 
 a drink he immediately looks out for someone to drink 
 with him. This accounts in a great measure for the 
 annoyance that is aroused by a refusal. 
 
 In America an "Anti-shouting Society" has been 
 formed, the members of which bind themselves never to 
 drink at anyone else's expense. This is a move in the 
 right direction. Without going the length of forming 
 any society, which always argues a conscious weakness 
 on the part of its members, it would be an excellent 
 thing for Queensland, and for Australia generally, it the 
 etiquette of drinking were so far relaxed as to enable 
 a man to refuse to drink when he does not want to, 
 without risk of giving offence. 
 
 The great want of Brisbane is a really good hotel. 
 There is a population of over thirty thousand residents, 
 besides a considerable floating population of travellers 
 on their way up and down the coast, and squatters down 
 from the country for a few days at a time on business. 
 This is just the sort of population to make hotel-keeping 
 pay. And yet in all the numerous hotels in Brisbane 
 there is not one that can fairly be ranked as third 
 rate. 
 
 The attendance and the food are both very bad, and 
 the bed-rooms wretchedly small and stuffy. The sum- 
 mer nights in Brisbane are often very hot, and sleep is 
 out of the question in a wooden box no bigger than
 
 318 GREAT WANT OF A GOOD HOTEL. 
 
 the cabin of a steamer, so constructed as to allow the 
 snoring of anyone within twenty-five yards to be per- 
 fectly audible, but with the worst possible provision for 
 ventilation from the outer air. 
 
 There is no doubt that anyone who put up a really 
 first-rate hotel in Brisbane, and ran it upon sound 
 principles, would soon make an enormous fortune. In 
 the meantime, however, the want of hotels in Brisbane 
 is greatly made up for by the hospitality of the people 
 who live there. For several miles up and down the 
 river, the northern bank is dotted with the country 
 houses of those who have business in the town. 
 
 Many of these houses are delightfully situated, with 
 lovely gardens sloping down to the river. The cool 
 shade of these gardens is a heavenly change from the 
 blinding glare and dust in the town. Bamboos, orange 
 trees, lime trees, bananas, and other fruit trees abound, 
 and their dark green foliage is illuminated by the masses 
 of gorgeous colouring from the Boganvillea and other 
 creepers which grow here in perfection. 
 
 Brisbane possesses a fair club, and supports a theatre ; 
 which is visited by a succession of travelling companies. 
 The chief recreations of the inhabitants are standing on 
 the wharf to see the steamers arrive and depart, or 
 going for a walk with the musquitoes in the Botanical 
 Gardens. 
 
 The most entertaining thing I ever saw in Brisbane 
 was a small detachment of the Salvation Army. They 
 were parading the streets in search of truth, and I had 
 the curiosity to go up and examine them closely. Their 
 soul-saving apparatus consisted only of four blasphemous 
 hymn-books, a cracked concertina, and a very faded
 
 THE SALVATION ARMY. 319 
 
 banner that I think had once seen better days in the 
 form of a kite. 
 
 But although their technical appliances were rather 
 defective, fate had been kind in lavishing on them a 
 profusion of those higher gifts that are indispensable to 
 their calling. They all possessed in perfection the 
 whining voice, the vicious droop of the eyelid, and the 
 peculiar expression of petrified rascality about the 
 corners of the mouth, that neither vice nor sickness, 
 drink nor toil are capable of implanting there, without 
 the assistance of a course of open-air piety. I sincerely 
 hope that I did not misjudge them. Appearances are 
 very deceitful, and from a short distance I defy anyone 
 to tell whether the prima donna was shouting " Glory," 
 or had just sat down on a tin-tack. 
 
 In a few years there will be a railway right through 
 from Brisbane to Sydney. At present (1884) it only 
 extends from Brisbane to Stanthorpe, on the borders of 
 Queensland, leaving a distance of one hundred and sixty 
 miles to be done by coach to Armadale, in New South 
 Wales. From there the railway runs to Newcastle, a 
 town on the coast sixty miles north of Sydney. 
 Between Armadale and Stanthorpe, and between New- 
 castle and Sydney, the line is in course of construction. 
 The latter section crosses some very rough country. 
 
 In the meantime anyone who wishes to see a marvel- 
 lous performance in the way of four-in-hand driving 
 cannot do better than travel by one of Cobb and Co.'s 
 coaches from Stanthorpe to Armadale. This firm run a 
 perfect network of coaches all over Queensland, New 
 South Wales, and Victoria; and their drivers, for a 
 rough country, are probably the finest in the world.
 
 320 COBB'S MAIL-COACHES. 
 
 It is perfectly extraordinary how these men will remem- 
 ber every bad place, and hole, and stump over a 
 stretch of perhaps fifty miles, so as to be able to avoid 
 them on a dark night, while going ten or a dozen miles 
 an hour. It is not as if the road always kept the same. 
 Violent storms and floods are constantly washing out 
 fresh holes, and blowing down fresh trees, so that the 
 driver has to remember the road from day to day and 
 from night to night. It is possible that something 
 fresh may have happened in the few hours that have 
 elapsed since he last went down the road, but he runs 
 the chance of this with perfect complacency. 
 
 On a pitch-dark night there is something awesome 
 in the way these mail-drivers slam through the forest, 
 along what is by courtesy called a road, but which in 
 places is more like a rocky water-course than anything 
 else. An occasional log, or a fallen tree across the 
 track, prevent the road from being at all monotonous. 
 If a passenger has time to do anything but hold on he 
 will be greatly interested. At every turn of the road 
 the glare of a lamp on each side of him will reveal some 
 obstacle or pitfall, which his pilot contrives to avoid 
 with marvellous dexterity. Sometimes he comes to grief, 
 but not half so often as would seem inevitable to anyone 
 who did not know the capabilities of an Australian mail- 
 driver. An axe and a coil of green hide make him 
 independent of any catastrophe short of smashing a 
 wheel, and when this occurs there is nothing to do but 
 to sit down and wait patiently for the arrival of the 
 coach coming the opposite way. They change horses 
 about every ten miles, and, barring accidents, they keep 
 excellent time.
 
 COASTING STEAMERS. 321 
 
 The voyage down the coast from Brisbane to Sydney 
 is a very unpleasant one. There is a break here in the 
 lines of ocean-going steamers which call at all other 
 ports of any importance on the coast of Australia. From 
 Cape York to Brisbane the British India Company 
 run the Queensland mails with a service of very fine 
 boats, averaging nearly 3,000 tons, which call off all 
 the Queensland ports. 
 
 From Sydney to Melbourne and Adelaide the vessels 
 of the P. & 0., Orient, and Messageries are constantly 
 running. But the run from Brisbane to Sydney has to 
 be negotiated in the little coasting steamers of the 
 Australasian Steam Navigation Company, better known 
 as the A. S. N. This Company are the possessors of a 
 flotilla of the most villainous boats in the world. For 
 a long time they waxed fat upon a monopoly of the 
 whole coasting trade of Australia ; and had they chosen 
 to keep pace with the advancing times by improving the 
 class of their vessels, they would now be in possession 
 of as fine a trade as the world ever saw. But want of 
 competition produced its usual effect ; and instead they 
 preferred to go on running a class of vessels which never 
 go to sea on a coast like that of Australia without 
 endangering the lives of all on board, and occasionally 
 go to the bottom incontinently. 
 
 Up to the present time they have still an enormous 
 trade, as there are many ports in Queensland into which 
 their vessels are the only ones small enough to go. 
 But, if they continue their present extortionate tariff, 
 their trade will be taken away by some more enter- 
 prising company better able to understand the spirit of 
 the age. In all their arrangements the A. S. N. display 
 
 21
 
 322 THE "CITY OF BRISBANE." 
 
 the most profound indifference to the comfort and con- 
 venience of passengers. 
 
 For example, at Port Mackay or Keppel Bay, where 
 their steamers do not go up the rivers, it is a constant 
 occurrence to be kept waiting out at sea in the tender 
 for sixteen or twenty hours, simply because the Company 
 will not expend a shilling in telegraphing the steamer's 
 departure from the last port of call. 
 
 The distance from Brisbane to Sydney is about five 
 hundred miles, and ought to be a fourty-four hours' run. 
 I have lively recollections of the indefinite way in which 
 it can be prolonged by a bad boat in bad weather. 
 
 One Tuesday morning I got on board an old egg- 
 shell fitted with paddle-boxes, described by the adver- 
 tisements of the A. S. N. as " the magnificent full- 
 powered steam-ship City of Brisbane, 450 tons, to sail 
 for Sydney at 10 A.M." My heart sank as I observed 
 the stormy appearance of the sky, and noticed the 
 steam escaping in every direction but the right one from 
 the boilers, the authorised pressure on which had been 
 reduced from 60 Ibs. to 15 Ibs. to the square inch. 
 
 Quivering like a leaf, the old tub set off down the 
 river at the rate of a well-conducted funeral, and in the 
 course of a few hours, assisted by the tide, we got out- 
 side. The only other passengers besides myself were 
 a Roman Catholic priest, nearly dead with consumption, 
 and a man who went into violent delirium tremens a 
 few hours after we left Brisbane. Anything so utterly 
 depressing as that voyage I never wish to see again. 
 The weather, for the first day, was not bad, and with 
 the help of the great Australian current we got on 
 capitally, and found ourselves nearing Smokey Cape,
 
 A CHEERFUL VOYAGE. 323 
 
 Then it came on to blow, and got worse and worse till 
 the sea and wind were something startling. 
 
 At a very early stage of the gale a big sea 
 smashed the saloon skylight, and left us with about 
 a foot of water on the main deck. The priest was sick 
 with monotonous regularity about twice every three 
 minutes, and with a violence that made itself heard 
 above the howling of the storm. The man with D. T. 
 wandered about yelling and howling horribly, and 
 tumbling up against all the fixtures until he had cut his 
 face out of all resemblance to anything human. With 
 his eyes fixed with horror, and the blood streaming 
 down his face and neck, he presented the most dreary 
 spectacle I ever saw. We could do nothing for him, 
 for it was impossible to hold him, and we were at last 
 obliged to put him in irons. 
 
 Meanwhile the old boat had managed, in the course 
 of three days and a half, to get down opposite Sydney, 
 but there was such an awful sea on that the captain 
 dared not alter her course to enter the harbour, for fear 
 of foundering. It now came on to blow worse than ever, 
 and it is a positive fact that by next morning we had 
 been blown fifty miles back, and found we were nearly 
 opposite Newcastle. Here we lay for thirty hours, with- 
 out going either backward or forward. Had the wind 
 been a few points more on shore nothing could have 
 saved us, as we were never more that a few miles dis- 
 tant from land. Fortunately there came a lull of a few 
 hours, and we managed to sneak down and run into 
 Sydney, just as it came on to blow as badly as ever. 
 We had been five days and a half out from Brisbane, 
 and were running rapidly short of coal. 
 
 21 *
 
 324 D. T. 
 
 The man with D. T. expired just as we got into 
 harbour. 
 
 Two years afterwards I found the old City of Brisbane 
 still running the same track, the only change in her 
 being a further reduction of 5 Ibs. pressure on the 
 boilers. This time it did not blow so hard, and we 
 reached Sydney in three days and three quarters.
 
 325 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 SYDNEY. 
 
 WHEEE Sydney harbour got its reputation for beauty 
 I am quite at a loss to imagine. I never saw anything 
 more forlornly ugly in the way of scenery. Undoubtedly 
 it is one of the finest harbours from a naval point of 
 view in the world, but there is nothing whatever pic- 
 turesque about it. It is surrounded by low rocky ridges 
 about two hundred feet high, covered all over with 
 stunted trees. 
 
 At the far end lies the town itself, which has not a 
 single feature to recommend it. All over the ridges to 
 the south, and on a part of those to the north, are 
 scattered staring white villa residences. Many of these 
 have lovely gardens and grounds, and when you get 
 near them are very pretty spots. But the general 
 panorama of Sydney Harbour, whether viewed from the 
 sea or from the land, is positively ugly. 
 
 There is no distance to be seen anywhere, and 
 nothing pretty in the way of a foreground. The sea 
 is never a healthy blue, and the colouring of the land
 
 326 SYDNEY HARBOUR AND TOWN. 
 
 is a dull, dirty, monotonous green, that looks as if it 
 had been dredged over with sand. There is invariably 
 a sickly glare in the atmosphere, except just at sunrise 
 and sunset, that would effectually destroy far greater 
 pretensions to beauty than any that Sydney can boast 
 of. I have lived in Sydney for months. I have sailed 
 all over the harbour in a boat, and have walked round 
 about it on land. I have seen it in every weather, under 
 every sort of sky, but I never for a moment saw it look 
 pretty. 
 
 The town of Sydney is by no means a pleasant one. 
 The streets are winding and cramped, the pavement in 
 many places being only five or six feet wide, and George 
 Street, the main street, follows exactly the winding of 
 an old track that went through a Blacks' camp that 
 originally occupied the present site of the town. There 
 are many very fine buildings in the town, but they do 
 not show to advantage, and their position prevents any 
 possibility of widening or improving the streets. The 
 first thing that strikes anyone who goes to Sydney is 
 the extraordinary number of people that there seem to 
 be there who have nothing to do. 
 
 Crowds of loafers block up the main streets, standing 
 in mobs at the corners, or sauntering along the trottoir, 
 with their hands in their pockets, a pipe in their mouth, 
 and their hat tipped well over the eyes. They never 
 get out of anyone's way, and are a source of infinite 
 inconvenience to anyone who is in a hurry. 
 
 The town and suburbs are built on a series of steep 
 hills and valleys round the harbour, and it is impossible 
 to go a hundred yards anywhere without going up or 
 down hill. The best thing about the place is the
 
 THE SUBURBS. SOCIETY. 327 
 
 Botanical Gardens, and grounds of the late Exhibition, 
 which are really quite beautifully kept. 
 
 The Exhibition itself was unfortunately burnt to the 
 ground in 1883. It would have been an eye-sore any- 
 where else, but was quite an ornament to Sydney, and 
 its loss was deeply felt by the inhabitants, who entertain 
 feelings of superstitious reverence for the supposed 
 beauty of the place. Land in the town and suburbs has 
 risen to such a fabulous value, that, although it is never 
 likely to be worth less than it is at present, it cannot 
 rise much higher for some time. 
 
 The wealth of Sydney is enormous. For miles to the 
 north-east of the town, away towards the south head, 
 the suburbs are a mass of villa residences overlooking 
 the harbour. Many of them are extremely pretty, and 
 an immense deal of money has been laid out on them. 
 But the inhabitants of Sydney never know what to do 
 with their money, and seem incapable of having a really 
 good time. 
 
 In the first place, society is split up into cliques, the 
 members of which regard anyone who is not in their 
 own set with the most unreasoning hatred and con- 
 tempt. Besides this, the climate is a most depressing 
 one, which accounts in a great measure for the pre- 
 vailing listlessness of everyone in the place. 
 
 In spite of the climate, I have most pleasant recollec- 
 tions of many very happy days spent at a house on the 
 shores of the harbour, beyond Rose Bay. A son of the 
 owner, whom I had known five years before, found me 
 staying at a hotel in the town. I was in bad health at 
 the time, and he took me away to stay at his home. 
 He was the only member of the family with whom I
 
 328 CLIMATE OF SYDNEY. 
 
 was acquainted, but had I been their oldest friend I 
 could not have been made more heartily welcome. 
 
 Since then I have stayed there very often, and a 
 friendship of many years has given me ample oppor- 
 tunity of appreciating the real kindness that has made 
 the hospitality of Carrara a household word, even in 
 Australia, where kindness to strangers is the universal 
 rule. I am bound to say that the pleasure with which 
 I look back upon the time that I spent there has no 
 reference to the proximity of Sydney. The attractions 
 of the place itself, beautifully situated on the shore of 
 the harbour, were sufficient to prevent any great wish 
 to wander far away, and the powers of entertainment 
 possessed by its inmates made their visitors quite inde- 
 pendent of any other society, and rendered a moment's 
 dullness impossible. 
 
 The climate of Sydney, always a detestable one, is 
 never the same for more than a few hours. I have 
 often seen a day there open with a hot scorching wind, 
 which lasts perhaps until 1 o'clock ; suddenly a fierce, 
 cold wind, a " southerly buster" as it is called, sweeps 
 up from the ice-fields of the southern sea, and blows, 
 perhaps, for two days, perhaps only for a few hours, to 
 be succeeded either by a dead calm or a " black north- 
 easter," accompanied by torrents of rain. But whether 
 it is hot or cold, whether it blows from the north, south, 
 east, or west, or not at all, there is always a sickly, 
 enervating feeling about the air, which the inhabitants 
 themselves complain very much of, and which a stranger 
 at first feels unbearable. Most of the inhabitants, who 
 can afford it, always go away for a few weeks in the 
 summer, either to Tasmania, or to the Blue Mountains,
 
 THE HOTELS. 329 
 
 which is the sanatorium of Sydney, and where there are 
 townships at an elevation of from 2,000 to 3,000 feet. 
 
 Sydney is, if possible, worse off than Brisbane for 
 hotels. I have tried half-a-dozen of the best of them, 
 and everywhere the dirt, discomfort, and bad attend- 
 ance are the same. The Sydney waiter is an entirely 
 distinct species, of which fact he is himself quite un- 
 conscious, and treats all visitors who will allow him to 
 do so as his equals. 
 
 At the fashionable table d'hotes, where hundreds of 
 business-men and visitors in the town assemble every 
 day for luncheon, the flippant behaviour of the waiters 
 is perfectly bewildering to a stranger. His call for 
 "waiter" will probably be answered, after an interval, 
 by an inquiry of " Did I hear your lovely voice ? " from 
 a patronising individual, who leans on the table and 
 begins to talk on the merits of the Harbour. I have 
 seen the astonished look on a visitor's face, who was 
 explaining to a waiter that he had brought the wrong 
 wine, when that functionary suddenly offered to bet him 
 five pounds that he had done nothing of the kind. His 
 neighbour, a stranger to Sydney too, was so interested 
 in the discussion, that he paused in his occupation of 
 helping himself to the greens, and remained motionless, 
 with the spoon in his hand, and an expression of blank 
 amazement on his countenance. From this trance he 
 was rudely awakened by another waiter laying his hand 
 on his shoulder and remarking " After you with the 
 cabbage." 
 
 The first time I went to Sydney I camped at what 
 was supposed to be the best hotel in the town. The 
 walls between the bed-rooms were not particularly thick,
 
 330 TSE TRAM-CAR NUISANCE. 
 
 and the morning after I arrived, as I was lying in bed, 
 I overheard the following dialogue in the next bed-room 
 to mine. 
 
 " I say, old man, lend me a shirt." 
 
 " Can't, old man. I 've only got one." 
 
 " Never mind, lend it me. I want to go out for an 
 hour now, but I '11 bring it back before you want to 
 get up." 
 
 The town of Sydney suffers from an odious nuisance 
 in the shape of steam tram-cars, which run along several 
 of the main streets. The shares of the company that 
 works them are about the best paying thing, next to 
 the telephone, that has been started for a long while 
 in the colony. But the cars themselves are a perfect 
 infliction. They rush down the most crowded thorough- 
 fares, terrifying the horses, and killing, on an average, 
 about two foot-passengers a week, besides maiming 
 numerous other ones. There are omnibuses and han- 
 soms all over the place, and, of course, any number of 
 private carriages to be seen. But although many of the 
 latter are well-appointed, and the quality of some of 
 the horses undeniable, it is remarkable that one never 
 by any chance sees a coachman decently got-up. There 
 is something quite pitiable in seeing the effect of a really 
 good turn-out entirely marred by an apparition on the 
 box with check trousers, an acre of green tie, and a 
 moustache. 
 
 Altogether Sydney strikes one as a steady-going, 
 sleepy old town, thickly covered with blue mould, with- 
 out any of the rowdyism of the north, and with little of 
 the vigorous life of Melbourne. 
 
 Nowhere in Australia are there to be found plea-
 
 NEWSPAPERS. 331 
 
 santer people than in Sydney, in their own homes. 
 But they do not care to go much out of them, and 
 take life very quietly. Money comes to them more 
 by accumulation than by speculation, and they spend 
 it lavishly in beautifying their residences by the shores 
 of their beloved harbour. The lower orders in Sydney 
 drink heavily, but the middle and upper classes drink 
 less than any community in Australia, and the ascend- 
 ing scale of sobriety attains its zenith in the present 
 head of society, who, when he gives a ball, regales 
 his guests with nothing more potent than raspberry 
 vinegar and lemon syrup. 
 
 Sydney keeps several newspapers going, the chief of 
 which is the Sydney Morning Herald. Except to the 
 readers of advertisements, it is impossible to imagine a 
 more dreary publication. It contains the " latest intel- 
 ligence " only in the sense of its being a week later than 
 anywhere else, and most of the space allotted to news 
 is occupied with hypothetical accounts of what would 
 have happened if something else had taken place that 
 never occurred. 
 
 For instance, its readers are informed that H.M.S. 
 Wolverene has left Fiji for Sydney. After following the 
 Editor in an intricate calculation as to the different dates 
 on which she may be expected, supposing the wind to 
 be favourable or not, and supposing her to steam seven 
 knots or eight, they are next informed that it is quite 
 uncertain whether the destination of H.M.S. Wolverene 
 be Sydney or not. This involves more calculations, as 
 to how long she will take to arrive, if she goes round 
 by New Zealand, Hobart, or Melbourne. Finally those 
 who have had patience to read to the end find a telegram
 
 332 THE " SYDNEY BULLETIN." 
 
 to say that H.M.S. Wolverene entered Sydney harbour 
 from Fiji that morning. 
 
 But the Sydney Bulletin, a weekly publication, is 
 probably the wittiest and most amusing social paper in 
 the world. It sticks at nothing, and never troubles its 
 readers with asterisks instead of names. The Editor 
 is constantly in hot water, and has more than once been 
 heavily fined for libel ; but he is far too valuable an 
 institution to be parted with, and his supporters subscribe 
 freely to see him through a bad time, and the fire of 
 sarcasm, raillery, and scandal, never ceases. Of its 
 kind, the Sydney Bulletin is perfect, and all the wretched 
 wit of The World, Truth, and all the London social 
 papers put together, might be clipped from it without 
 being missed. 
 
 The harbour always presents a most animated appear- 
 ance. Vessels of every description, from a yawl to a 
 4,000-ton steamer, are constantly passing in and out, 
 and endless little steamers ply between the different 
 bays all round. Yachting is a very favourite pastime 
 with the inhabitants, and sometimes the whole harbour 
 is alive with a flotilla of small craft. The largest 
 vessels can come right up and lay alongside the quays 
 right against the town. 
 
 The line of railway is completed now from Sydney to 
 Melbourne, but, of course, the jealousy of the two colonies 
 has impelled them to adopt different gauges, so that 
 through traffic is at present impossible. The population 
 of Sydney is 237,000, and that of the whole colony of 
 New South Wales, 840,000. 
 
 The first discovery of gold made in Australia was at 
 Summer Hill, in 1851. Since then gold has been found
 
 PRODUCTS OF NEW SOUTH WALES. 333 
 
 occasionally in very large quantities in various parts of 
 New South Wales, and several of the alluvial diggings 
 have proved both rich and permanent. But so far, 
 strange to say, there has never been a true reef dis- 
 covered in this colony. Some immensely rich veins of 
 quartz have been found, but they have all run out, or 
 proved barren at a depth. 
 
 The chief produce of the country is stock of all kinds, 
 and a considerable quantity of wheat and Indian corn is 
 also grown. The number of sheep in the colony in 
 1883 was 31,796,308, and in the previous year no less 
 than 153,351,354 Ibs. of wool were exported. New 
 South Wales, however, has suffered most terribly during 
 the recent drought, which has been the most severe 
 ever known in the colony. 
 
 The whole of the northern and western portions were 
 described by one who had recently visited them as one 
 vast corpse-dotted desert, and the description is hardly 
 exaggerated. No returns have as yet been made of 
 the total losses, and, indeed, in Kiverina and Southern 
 Queensland the drought still continues (October '84), 
 but I hear of one station alone that has lost 160,000 
 sheep, and another where every single hoof of cattle 
 on the run, in number over twenty thousand, have 
 perished. 
 
 New South Wales and Southern Queensland have 
 suffered by far the most severely during the recent 
 drought. Victoria and Northern Queensland having 
 had, if anything, more than usually favourable seasons. 
 But the depression caused by the enormous losses in 
 stock, has made itself felt in every branch of industry, 
 in every part of Australia ; and although the price of
 
 334 RAILWAY TO MELBOURNE. 
 
 stations has not gone down, very few are changing 
 hands. 
 
 In New South Wales the feud against the squatters 
 among the lower classes, which obtains all through 
 Australia, is very violent. Following the example of 
 Victoria, the Government have dealt with the land 
 question in a manner that has brought the transfer of 
 leasehold land throughout the colony to a dead-lock, 
 and a Bill is now before Parliament by which all 
 squatters holding leases will be deprived of half their 
 runs ; but the squatting element in New South Wales is 
 still very powerful, and it is probable that they will 
 obtain compensation for improvements. 
 
 There is a railway from Sydney to Melbourne, and 
 the journey across takes about twenty-three hours. It 
 is very comfortable travelling, the berths in the sleeping- 
 cars being certainly above the average in point of size 
 and cleanliness. There is nothing that could by courtesy 
 be called an express train, and on the Victorian line 
 all the trains stop at every station, and at about 
 every third one there is an extra pause for refresh- 
 ment. 
 
 On the New South Wales line the sale of liquor is 
 everywhere prohibited, and the consequence is that both 
 the guards and the drivers lay in a store of liquor to 
 take with them, and consequently drink a great deal 
 more than they would if there were a bar at every other 
 station, which is shown by their being much more 
 frequently drunk than the employes on the Victorian lines, 
 who can get liquor whenever they want it. 
 
 The mail-train leaves Sydney every night at 8.30. 
 Passengers for Melbourne change carriages at Wodonga,
 
 SLOW TRAVELLING. 335 
 
 a station on the border of Victoria. On the Sydney 
 line the trains travel a fair pace ; but from Wodonga 
 to Melbourne, a distance of about 190 miles, they 
 absolutely crawl, and take nearly eight hours over the 
 journey.
 
 336 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 MELBOURNE. 
 
 MELBOURNE is one of the cleanest, best laid-out, and 
 most pleasantly situated towns in the world. It lies on 
 a succession of gently undulating rises, about three 
 miles from the sea, and, with the suburbs, some of 
 which extend down to the sea itself, has a population of 
 290,000. The town itself is all laid out in rectangular 
 blocks, and the streets are very broad and well-paved. 
 
 Everywhere there is a look of permanent solidity and 
 accumulated wealth most extraordinary in so young a 
 town. It would be difficult to pick out a street in 
 London where, in the same space, there are as many 
 fine buildings as there are in Collins Street, one of the 
 main streets in Melbourne. The banks especially are 
 most of them very handsome buildings, both inside and 
 out, and an enormous amount of money has been spent 
 on their construction. 
 
 The interior of the Bank of Victoria is modelled from 
 that of the hall of one of the palaces at Venice, and is 
 most elaborately laid out with marble floors and pillars, 
 and cedar fittings. Evidently the banks have more
 
 THE STREETS OF MELBOURNE. 337 
 
 money than they know what to do with, for the amount 
 of dead capital that they have sunk in building is aston- 
 ishing. There are two very good hotels, Menzies and 
 the Oriental, one at each end of the town, which is more 
 than can be said of any other town in Australia, ex- 
 cept, perhaps, Townsville, the northernmost port of 
 any importance in Queensland, which, strange to say, 
 possesses the next best hotel to Melbourne of any town 
 in the island. 
 
 The most conspicuous building in Melbourne is the 
 Scotch Presbyterian church, which stands in the highest 
 part of the town, and has a handsome tower and spire 
 about 200 feet high. Besides this there are the English 
 and Roman Catholic cathedrals, and endless smaller 
 churches of every size and denomination. 
 
 In spite of water being laid on everywhere and freely 
 used, the dust in the streets is very often appalling. 
 It is not like ordinary dust either ; for the streets are 
 all macadamised with a basalt rock, which breaks up 
 into a most detestably sharp, three-cornered, irritating 
 sort of dust, extremely trying to the eyes. At present 
 the streets are free from the Sydney abomination of 
 tram-cars ; but endless omnibuses and hansoms per- 
 vade the town and suburbs, the fares being about half 
 as much again as those in London. There are open 
 gutters along all the streets, with little bridges over 
 them at the crossings. 
 
 A good shower of rain floods the lower parts of Mel- 
 bourne in a few minutes, and sets these gutters running 
 like a mill-race, three feet deep, and I once saw a man 
 nearly drowned in one of them. A crowd of passengers 
 were waiting patiently at the crossing, till the river in 
 
 22
 
 338 PUBLIC BUILDINGS. CRICKET. 
 
 the street subsided ; but this particular man seemed in 
 a hurry. He was going to be very smart, and leap over 
 the deep gutter ; but he made a bad shot and soused 
 right into the middle of it. He was swept down like a 
 straw for a little distance, and then jammed under a. low 
 bridge, from which position he was fortunately pulled 
 out by the heels before he was quite drowned. 
 
 The Public Library and Institute of Fine Arts is a 
 very handsome building in the Grecian style, open to 
 the public every day of the week except Sunday. The 
 picture-gallery contains a good deal of rubbish, and 
 one or two good pictures, the best of which are Long's 
 " Esther " and " Question of Propriety." 
 
 In the middle of the town is a splendid tennis-court, 
 reckoned by lovers of the game to be one of the best 
 in existence, and at one of the clubs there is an excel- 
 lent raquet court. 
 
 The extraordinary proficiency of Australians in cricket, 
 which enables the representative eleven of a population 
 of three millions to hold its own against a country with 
 thirty, is less wonderful when one sees how univer- 
 sally popular the game is in the colony. There is 
 not a spare piece of ground fit for a pitch anywhere 
 round Melbourne that is not covered with " larrikins " 
 from six years old upwards, every evening for nine 
 months in the year. Their soul is in the game, and 
 one and all of them display a precocious talent for 
 round-hand bowling, very different to the sneaking 
 underhand affected by the uneducated youth of great 
 Britain. There are two or three excellent cricket- 
 grounds in Melbourne and the suburbs, the principal 
 one in North Melbourne being as good a ground as any-
 
 DISTRICT RAILWAYS. "339 
 
 one could wish to play on, and the pavilions and arrange- 
 ments connected with it first rate. 
 
 Much as I admire the indomitable pluck of the 
 Australian cricketers who have met the English teams 
 both at home and in their own country ; beyond their 
 skill in handling the weapons of their trade, there is 
 little to be said in praise of their conduct. While 
 arrogating to themselves the title of amateurs, they make 
 it perfectly plain that they follow cricket as a lucrative 
 profession, and do not care to play except for sufficient 
 plunder, and they seldom lose an opportunity of taking 
 an unfair advantage of their opponents. 
 
 All round the suburbs of Melbourne, there are local 
 railways worked by the Government. They run a fre- 
 quent service of trains, and occasionally have a smash. 
 The inhabitants of Melbourne must be exceedingly 
 nervous upon wheels, for whenever there is an accident 
 every single soul in the train at the time goes straight 
 for the public exchequer, and collects heavy damages for 
 a " shock to the nervous system." An accident which 
 occurred recently on one of the suburban lines cost the 
 Government, or rather the Colony, .140,000 in damages 
 to the survivors. 
 
 The chances of an accident are .infinitely increased 
 by the Government having insisted upon adopting an 
 utterly worthless description of brake for all the rail- 
 ways. Of course, like every other contract of the kind, 
 it was made a rank political job. While I was in Mel- 
 bourne the papers were full of it, and a furious discussion 
 was raging in Parliament as to the riyal merits of the 
 Westinghouse and Wood's brake, and some of the scenes 
 in the House were most amusing. 
 
 22 *
 
 340 THE DEBATE ON WOOD'S BRAKE. 
 
 A Commission was appointed to inquire into the prac- 
 tical working of the two brakes, and their relative 
 advantages, and an overwhelming weight of evidence 
 was brought to show that the Westinghouse brake was 
 infinitely the superior one of the two. But Mr. Straight, 
 the Commissioner of Railways at the time, whose legiti- 
 mate business was keeping a market garden, inclined to 
 the adoption of Wood's brake, and, entirely unassisted 
 either by evidence or by common-sense, succeeded in 
 carrying his point. 
 
 Seeing that the experiments of the Commission proved 
 conclusively that whereas the Westinghouse brake was 
 one of the most perfect ever invented, Wood's brake 
 was only automatic in the sense of its being frequently 
 impossible either to put it on or to take it off when it 
 was wanted, cynical critics were ill-natured enough to 
 attribute Mr. Straight's support of the latter contrivance 
 to a personal intimacy with the inventor. Indeed, in 
 the heat of a discussion on the subject in the House, 
 one of his opponents went so far as to challenge Mr. 
 Straight to finish the controversy by personal combat, 
 and in delicate allusion to his professional calling, 
 wound up by shouting out, " Come outside ! come out- 
 side ! and I '11 put a head on you like one of your own 
 cauliflowers ! " 
 
 In spite of such heroic attempts to block Mr. 
 Straight's Bill, jobbery finally triumphed over justice, 
 and the inferior and more costly brake was adopted on 
 the local lines. 
 
 The port of Melbourne is Williamstown, six miles 
 away, and here all the big steamers and sailing vessels 
 lie. But the river Yarra runs up through the town,
 
 THE YABRA. THE EXCHANGE. 341 
 
 and vessels of 1,500 tons can get up, and lie alongside 
 of the wharves in the middle of the town. 
 
 The Yarra is a foul sluggish stream, brown in repose, 
 and the colour of ink when stirred up, and smelling 
 horribly all the time. On the opposite side of it from 
 the town, on a slight eminence, is situated Government 
 House, a large building with no pretensions to archi- 
 tectural beauty of any kind ; but the Botanical Gardens 
 adjoining its grounds are very prettily laid out, and 
 nicely kept. St. Kilda and Brighton, the two watering- 
 places of Melbourne, are suburbs situated on the shores 
 of Hobson's Bay, and their piers are a Sunday lounge for 
 the inhabitants. At both places there is excellent sea- 
 bathing, and at St. Kilda an extremely comfortable hotel. 
 
 The busy life in the town of Melbourne is a striking 
 contrast to sleepy Sydney, whose streets are thronged 
 with crowds of loafing idlers. An experienced eye can 
 always pick out a Sydney man in a Melbourne crowd, 
 as easily as it would detect a weevil in a beehive ; and 
 though in point of wealth there is not much to choose 
 between the two places, it is easy to see that in Mel- 
 bourne money is made, while in Sydney it grows. 
 
 The telephone is in use all over Melbourne, and the 
 shares of the Company that work it pay wonderfully well. 
 In Collins Street is situated the Melbourne Exchange 
 and all the business-men, brokers, and mining-men 
 assemble there about noon every day to exchange notes ; 
 and outside, in the racing season, there is always a 
 whole crowd of book-makers, with their hats over their 
 eyes, and pencil and note-books in their hands. 
 
 I soon found out that as far as floating a company on 
 the Mount Britten mines was concerned, I had come to
 
 342 THE MINING MARKET. 
 
 Melbourne at a very bad time. In the first place, money 
 was getting rapidly very tight, and the banks instead of 
 being anxious to cram money down people's throats at 
 6 per cent., suddenly refused to advance any more, and 
 ran the rate of interest on deposit up to 9 per cent. 
 
 Between them the banks of Australia at that time 
 had lent eighty-three millions, and speculation was 
 getting so furious that they determined to put a stop to 
 it. In the second place the Melbourne mining men 
 had just dropped ^80,000 in a fearful swindle in New 
 South Wales, and this, coupled with the tightness of 
 the money market, had for the time pretty well stopped 
 all speculation. The mining market was as flat as a 
 postage-stamp in the dust; and here is where the luck 
 of gold-mining comes in, for the men to whom I subse- 
 quently disposed of the mines, told me themselves that 
 had I offered them for sale six months earlier they 
 would willingly have given me the same money for them 
 that they dropped in the New South Wales venture, 
 for that mine was by far the best show of the two. 
 
 With some trouble I succeeded in getting together a 
 Syndicate to consider my proposals as to the Mount 
 Britten mines, and they sent up an expert from Sand- 
 hurst to inspect the property. I had always heard that 
 the mining men of Melbourne were as great a lot of 
 scoundrels as there are in existence, but I was sur- 
 prised to find that in addition to this they were most 
 of them perfectly ignorant of anything connected with 
 the practical or theoretical working of a mine. Most of 
 them would not know a gold-mine from a blue 
 gum-tree, and the object of everyone of them seemed 
 to be to puff up the shares of the companies whose
 
 NO-LIABILITY COMPANIES. 343 
 
 scrip they held by lying reports, and to sell out at a 
 profit. 
 
 So low had the morality of mining in Victoria sunk, 
 that it was almost impossible to float a company invol- 
 ving the share-holders in any liability, and the industry 
 suffered severely in consequence. To remedy the evil, 
 the Legislature has legalised an anomalous form of 
 swindle called a No-Liability Company, the share- 
 holders in which can at any moment abandon their 
 interest in the concern. 
 
 The very title of a No-Liability Company is a contra- 
 diction in terms, for I cannot conceive how there can 
 be a company formed without liability, nor how any 
 body of men working without liability can obtain credit 
 for so much as a box of lucifer-matches. Yet in the 
 whole colony of Victoria there is not a single gold- 
 mining company that is not registered as a No-Liability 
 one. 
 
 But, as I told the votaries of the scheme, who pointed 
 out triumphantly that this system had revived the 
 mining industry of Victoria, it only shows that mining 
 in Victoria is more mining in people's pockets than in 
 the ground, and my subsequent acquaintance with the 
 Melbourne mining market tended most materially to 
 strengthen my opinion. I at once informed the Syndi- 
 cate that if they did not choose to float a Limited 
 Liability Company on Mount Britten they could leave 
 it alone, as I had no idea of being connected with such 
 a no-nation piece of rascality as a company without any 
 liability. 
 
 A fierce discussion ensued, for nothing terrifies a 
 Melbourne mining man so much as the prospect of
 
 344 THE MOUNT BRITTEN COMPANY. 
 
 having to pay calls. As long as a mine pays dividends he 
 is all there ; but a call of threepence is generally suffi- 
 cient to make him sling up every share he holds. It is 
 impossible to conceive mining enterprise at a lower ebb 
 than is represented by a community whose mutual faith 
 is so severely shaken as to make it impossible to induce 
 them to incur a joint liability for the purpose of pro- 
 specting a mine. 
 
 In Queensland mining is conducted on very different 
 principles, and the dogged persistence with which 
 comparatively poor men will go on paying call after 
 call into a mine that never returns them anything for 
 years, in the hope of striking gold, is as remarkable as 
 is the impulse of Victorians to throw up really valuable 
 property the moment it ceases to pay dividends, and, 
 of course, does infinitely more to develop the gold- 
 bearing resources of the country. 
 
 The Syndicate, however, having received an excellent 
 report of the Mount Britten mines from the expert who 
 went up to inspect them, and from one of their own 
 number who accompanied him, finally agreed to my 
 conditions, and a Limited Liability Company was formed 
 to work the properties. The price paid to my brother 
 and myself was ^11,000, and a fourth share of the com- 
 pany in fully paid-up shares. After paying the remain- 
 ing original share-holders for their shares, and deducting 
 the cost of the mill, this did not leave a farthing of 
 profit, and our only chance of making any lay in the 
 shares we still held in the new company. 
 
 The gold-mines of Victoria, both alluvial and quartz, 
 are of great extent, and some of them of extraordinary 
 richness. The reefs as a rule are larger, and carry
 
 YIELD OF GOLD IN VICTORIA. 345 
 
 their gold more regularly throughout than do the reefs 
 in Queensland. Many of them are worked on a gigantic 
 scale, and will pay a dividend with a yield of 4 dwt. to 
 the ton. The chief alluvial diggings is Ballarat, and 
 Sandhurst is the head mining centre. They are both 
 distant about one hundred miles from Melbourne, and 
 connected with it by rail. But the whole colony is full 
 of both alluvial and reefing districts, and while the old 
 fields continue to develop, fresh ones are still being 
 discovered. The total yield of gold in 1883 was 
 808,521 oz. valued at 3,234,124, showing an increase 
 of 133,036 over the yield of 1878; but there is little 
 doubt that if a healthier tone of speculation pervaded 
 the mining market of Victoria, her gold-fields would be 
 developed very much more quickly. The gold-mines of 
 Victoria, however, are an important factor in the money 
 market of the world ; and since the discovery of gold in 
 1851, to the end of the year 1882, the quantity of gold 
 raised amounted to 205,600,216. 
 
 The population of Victoria in the last five years 
 has increased over 100,000. The following are the 
 
 figures : 
 
 POPULATION. 
 
 December 1878 . . . 827,439 
 1883 . . . 931,800 
 
 ^ Increase . . 104,361 
 
 The revenue has increased even faster than the popu- 
 lation, for whereas the increase of the latter was only 
 12-J per cent, in five years, that of the former was as 
 much as 24-J per cent., in a similar period. This is 
 readily accounted for by two causes, the high protection
 
 346 REVENUE, IMPORTS, ETC. 
 
 tariff of the colony, and the extortionate taxation of 
 land recently introduced by the Government, which, of 
 course, for a time increases the revenue, but cannot 
 fail in the end to injure the prosperity of the colony, 
 by deterring immigration, and bringing the transfer 
 of land to a dead-lock. 
 
 REVENUE. 
 
 1877-8 . . . . 4,504,413 
 1882-3 . . . . 5,611,253 
 
 Increase . . 1,106,840 
 
 The imports in 1883 exceeded those in 1878 by 
 over one and a half millions sterling, and the exports 
 in 1883 exceeded those in 1878 by nearly that amount. 
 
 IMPORTS and EXPORTS. 
 
 Imports. Exports. 
 
 1878 . . 16,161,880 . . 14,925,707 
 1883 . . 17,713,484 . . 16,394,936 
 
 Increase 1,551,604 . ".>'- 1,469,229 
 
 BAIL WAYS. 
 
 Tear. Miles open. Eeceipts. 
 
 1878. . . 1,052. . ,..1,391,701 
 
 1883 . . . 1,562 . . V 1,898,311 
 
 Increase 510 . . . 506,610 
 AGRICULTURE. 
 
 Acres Wheat 
 
 Year. tinder cultivation. Acres under crop. Bushels raised. 
 
 1879 . 1,688,275 . . 707,188 . 9,898,858 
 1888 . 2,208,652 . . 1,099,944 15,499,148 
 
 Increase . 520,877 . . 892,766 6,100,285
 
 WHEAT. WOOL. SHEEP. 347 
 
 It will be seen that the average yield of wheat per 
 cent, is very low, being under 2J quarters to the 
 acre. 
 
 In 1880 3,580,000 bushels of wheat were exported, 
 and in 1884 it is calculated that the amount will rise 
 to 9,000,000 bushels. 
 
 WOOL PEODUCED (excess of exports over imports). 
 
 Quantity. Value. 
 
 Year. Ibs. 
 
 1878 . . 52,639,293 . . 3,447,451 
 1883 . . 64,095,489 . . 5,178,081 
 
 Increase 11,456,196 1,730,630 
 
 LIVE STOCK. 
 
 Year. Horses. Cattle. Sheep. 
 
 1878 . . 208,150 . . 1,169,576 . . 10,117,867 
 
 1888 . . 280,874 . . 1 287,088 . . 10,174,246 
 
 Increase 77,724 117,612 56,879 
 
 The fact that whereas the number of sheep in five 
 years has only increased 56,379, the amount of wool 
 produced during the same period has increased 
 11,456,196 Ibs. at first sight seems rather curious. It 
 is accounted for by three causes. In the first place in 
 the last few years a great many people have given up 
 washing their wool. In the second place, whereas at 
 the end of 1878 the sheep in Victoria were almost 
 entirely merinos, there are now a great number of 
 cross-breds, which, of course, carry greater weight of 
 wool per sheep. In the third place, and this is the 
 most important cause of all three, the wool-growers of 
 Victoria, by improving the breed of their sheep, have
 
 348 LAKGE FREEHOLDS. 
 
 during the last few years, in many instances, increased 
 the wool produced by their flocks considerably over one 
 pound per head. 
 
 The increase indicated above in cattle and sheep in 
 the colony is ridiculously small. But during the next 
 few years it is pretty certain that the returns will show 
 a considerable decrease. A stock tax was passed a year 
 or two ago, of 5s. per head on all cattle, and Is. per 
 head on all sheep in Victoria. The public revenue 
 derives little benefit from it, for it costs as much to 
 collect as it is worth, but it is a ruinous imposition on 
 the growers of stock, and is driving sheep and cattle 
 out of the colony in great numbers. Quite recently 
 over two hundred thousand fat sheep have passed from 
 Victoria into New South Wales, where, of course, they 
 will be slaughtered, and their fleeces go to swell the 
 returns of that colony. 
 
 The existence of immense freeholds in Victoria has 
 aroused the fiercest class-hatreds in that democratic 
 community, and has provoked legislation which can only 
 be described as free plunder. It is not long since The 
 Times drew the attention of England to the astonishing 
 fact that one tenth of the revenue from taxation is paid 
 by a few individuals. 
 
 Now, as the population of a country increases, the 
 continued existence of large tracts of land, whether 
 freehold or leasehold, held for pastoral purposes, is 
 to a certain extent a barrier to the advance of civili- 
 sation. But we must remember that, had these lands 
 never been taken up and improved by their owners 
 and holders, civilisation could never have advanced 
 at all.
 
 THE LAND QUESTION. 349 
 
 Throughout the whole of Australia rages an interne- 
 cine war between the two great rival classes competing 
 for the possession of the land, the squatters and the 
 selectors. The squatter is the pioneer of civilisation. 
 His profits are often great, but they are no greater than 
 his risks deserve, and it is his capital and enterprise 
 alone that open up the country. At his heels follow the 
 selectors, an impecunious tribe of jackals armed with 
 manhood suffrage, who rob him. of his hard-earned 
 gains. 
 
 Now it would be utterly unreasonable that the squatter 
 should expect to remain unmolested in possession of 
 vast tracts of country, requiring a very few hands to 
 work. When the proper time comes, he must give way 
 to the advancing tide of population, and move on 
 further away from civilisation. But when we consider 
 that at great risk to himself he has made life 
 possible in a country where it was impossible before, 
 it is evident that every consideration is due to the 
 squatter, and, at any rate, that he is entitled to some 
 compensation for being forcibly ejected. Had it not 
 been for the squatter's water-tanks some of the rail- 
 ways in Victoria and new South Wales could never 
 have been made, and, as has been already said, it is 
 his capital and enterprise alone that have developed the 
 country. 
 
 But in Victoria the possession of a large estate is 
 considered as a crime, and the holder a fair mark for 
 reprisals. The recent land legislation in the colony is 
 perfectly indefensible. 
 
 A few years ago a land-tax was passed, which, until it 
 was surpassed by a still worse measure, stood alone for
 
 350 THE LAND-TAX. 
 
 a piece of villainous legislation. It was directed entirely 
 against one class, the holders of large freeholds, for all 
 town-lands and anything under the value of 2,500 was 
 exempt. The value of the whole tax is about 200,000, 
 and it is paid by a little over 800 individuals. 
 
 If anything could be worse than the Land Bill itself, 
 it is the way in which the provisions of it are carried 
 out. The assessment of the land was entrusted to the 
 hands of publicans, newspaper editors, and school- 
 masters ; and the way in which it has been carried out 
 is a perfect scandal. I have seen a large open plain, 
 divided merely by a wire fence, the land on one side 
 of which was taxed at threepence per acre, and on the 
 other side at a shilling. Extensive bribery prevails, of 
 course, the assessors being generally amenable to the 
 influence of a ten-pound note ; but where this induce- 
 ment is not forthcoming, the assessment is regulated by 
 purely political considerations. 
 
 A friend of mine, a Conservative, pays the same rent 
 for 7,000 acres of land as his next neighbour, a Radical, 
 pays for 17,000 acres of exactly the same class of 
 country. The classification of the land is itself a most 
 phenomenal piece of absurdity, involving not only 
 rotten legislation but false arithmetic. The land is 
 assessed as follows : 
 
 1st class ... Is. per acre. 
 
 2nd . . . 9d. 
 
 3rd ."' ". . 6d. 
 
 4th . V . 3d. 
 
 Thus the rise in the tax from the fourth to the third 
 class is 50 per cent., from the third to the second class
 
 RUINOUS LEGISLATION. 351 
 
 is 33J per cent, and from the second to the first is only 
 25 per cent. 
 
 As a matter of course the value of land all over the 
 colony went down 30 per cent. ; but the land tax has been 
 entirely eclipsed by the infamous Bill that has just now 
 been passed. The original leases of the squatters 
 having all of them expired some years ago, they have 
 been holding their runs under yearly lease from the 
 Crown. The Government have now resumed all lands 
 so held, without option of purchase, and without any 
 compensation for improvements of any kind, and are 
 going to put them up to auction with all improvements 
 standing on them. It is impossible to imagine more 
 wholesale and unjustifiable robbery, and the effect to 
 many of the squatters will be disastrous. 
 
 There is no doubt that the high protection tariff of 
 Victoria and recent land-legislation are doing a great 
 deal to retard the progress of the colony, and to darken 
 her future prospects. Though the tables of statistics 
 above show fairly satisfactory progress, we must remem- 
 ber that they were taken just after a run of five remark- 
 ably good seasons, and before the evil effects of the 
 Land Acts were beginning to be severely felt. 
 
 In the next decade the progress of Victoria will not 
 be anything like so rapid, and, as it is, she has chiefly 
 her enormous yield of gold to thank for the position she 
 holds. That position she is doing her best to forfeit, 
 and she will very soon be eclipsed by the sister colonies 
 of Queensland and New South Wales. It has been 
 calculated that over fifteen millions of capital have been 
 driven from Victoria into Queensland and New South 
 Wales during the last three years.
 
 352 THE HOUSES OF PARLIAMENT. 
 
 In Victoria there is manhood suffrage, and the mem- 
 bers of the Lower House of Parliament receive a salary 
 of ,300. The Upper House has recently been Liberal- 
 ised to a very considerable extent, by reducing the 
 qualifications both of its members and of those by whom 
 they are elected. While this has had the effect, if 
 indeed that were possible, of lowering the tone of the 
 Upper House, it has materially strengthened its position. 
 To any attempt to raise an outcry against the Upper 
 House as being representatives of merely a class, the 
 answer is obvious, that the Upper House now represents 
 the people, and is elected by them just as much as the 
 Lower House. The language used in the latter 
 assembly is disgraceful ; some of its members are not 
 unfrequently intoxicated, and occasionally there is a 
 fight on the floor. 
 
 In Victoria, as in new South Wales and in Queens- 
 land, Members of Parliament are principally collected 
 from the scum of the community, and politics are looked 
 down on as being unfit either for the occupation of a 
 gentleman or the profession of an honest man. 
 
 It is pleasant to turn from the spectacle of a mob 
 of selfish ruffians struggling to fill their own pockets 
 by ruining a colony, to the society of Melbourne, which 
 is one of the cheeriest and pleasantest in the world.
 
 353 
 
 CHAPTER XXL 
 
 MELBOURNE. 
 
 To know what real hospitality means, a man must 
 needs go to Australia. Let him journey through the 
 length of the land, in the solitude of the back country 
 or in the busiest of the towns, he has nothing to do 
 but to say he is a stranger to ensure him a welcome. 
 Whether he brings letters of introduction or not, as 
 long as he behaves like a gentleman he will find no 
 door in the country closed against him ; and if he 
 stays any length of time he will ever after attach a 
 meaning to the word hospitality, such as he never 
 realised in any other country in the world. 
 
 In England hospitality is a lukewarm and cheerless 
 commodity, occasionally doled out in the form of 
 patronage to those from whom no return can be ex- 
 pected, but generally only extended in carefully 
 measured quantities to those from whom an equivalent 
 in kind is anticipated at no distant date. In Australia 
 the word has a very different significance. Hospitality 
 
 23
 
 354 AUSTRALIAN HOSPITALITY. 
 
 there is no respecter of persons, bnt is extended alike 
 to rich and to poor, to those who have come from 
 ten miles off, or to people from the other side of the 
 world, who are extremely unlikely ever to be able to 
 return it. 
 
 Prompted neither by a recollection of past benefits, 
 nor by expectation of favours to come, it originates 
 in a real honest care for the comfort of others, and 
 looks for no other reward than that of giving happi- 
 ness, and for no other thanks than a kindly recollec- 
 tion on the part of those to whom it is offered. 
 
 It is deeply to be regretted that even this small 
 return is so frequently not forthcoming. Too many of 
 our own countrymen are, I fear, open to a charge of the 
 basest ingratitude in this respect. They go out to visit 
 Australia with a sort of notion that they are conferring 
 a favour on the inhabitants by doing so. While they 
 are there they avail themselves to the utmost of the 
 kindness that is everywhere shown them, and on their 
 return to England they abuse the country that they have 
 just left, and run down its institutions and inhabitants 
 in every possible way. 
 
 It is difficult to imagine a more disgusting picture of 
 humanity than a young man, educated as a gentleman, 
 who does not scruple to extract all the pleasure and 
 profit he can from people upon whom he has not the 
 slightest claim, and who, as soon as his back is turned, 
 has not the generosity to acknowledge the kindness with 
 which he has been treated, or to refrain from laughing 
 at some solecism which the extreme delicacy of his 
 insular breeding imagines it has been able to detect in 
 his entertainers.
 
 ENGLISH REFINEMENT. 355 
 
 And yet it is a picture that I have seen only too 
 often. Many of my own countrymen only think it 
 necessary to behave like gentlemen so long as they are 
 in England, and when they get to Australia offer but 
 a sorry sample of the manners and customs of the 
 country that raised them. They seem to consider that 
 because they are in a new country they can behave just 
 as they please, and often do not wait till their return 
 to requite with rudeness the hospitality they seem to 
 expect as a right. 
 
 The rampart of pseudo-refinement and class prejudice 
 behind which that portion of English society known as 
 the " Upper Ten " is accustomed to shelter itself is 
 usually supposed to be the result of birth, breeding, and 
 education. Since I have had an opportunity of ob- 
 serving the altered behaviour of the members of that 
 mystic guild who find their way to Australia, I have 
 come to the conclusion that their " insular reserve," 
 is not so much a question of class as of climate. 
 
 Probably there is something in the genial atmosphere 
 of Australia that so quickly thaws the reserve of 
 Englishmen, and causes them to enter heart and soul 
 into all the amusement that is to be found there, and 
 to accept without hesitation the hospitality that is 
 offered them by perfect strangers. 
 
 It must be the warmth of the climate that does this, 
 for I have noticed that the reverse process takes place 
 when they return to the lower temperature of their 
 mother country. There, if chance throws them, as it 
 often does, into the society of those with whom they 
 have made merry in Australia, they find it convenient 
 once more to esconce themselves behind the barrier of 
 
 23 *
 
 356 THE AUSTRALIAN IN LONDON. 
 
 their own society's law, which holds that except in a 
 foreign land a man cannot associate with anyone out of 
 his own set without losing caste, and at home must 
 not introduce any outsider into its enchanted circle 
 unless he be the possessor of fabulous wealth. 
 
 Armed with this, the Australian in London may hope 
 for a certain per-centage of return hospitality from those 
 whom he may have entertained in his own country. If 
 he takes a house in a fashionable situation, he may even 
 hope to find a few people so inquisitive as to wish to 
 make his acquaintance. But, wherever he goes, he 
 must always expect to be reminded that he is only there 
 on sufferance ; and, if he has a wife, he must not mind 
 her being stared at as if she were a wild beast, by mem- 
 bers of a society that prides itself on being the most 
 refined in the world. If people who consider themselves 
 in the best society in London were simply to declare 
 that anyone who was born south of the equator is unfit 
 to associate with them, and refuse to recognise 
 Australians at all, such conduct, though open to a 
 charge of prejudice, would at least have the merit 
 of consistency. 
 
 What is difficult to understand, is how people who 
 pride themselves on the perfection of their breeding can 
 ask Australians to their houses and then be gratuitously 
 rude to them. The prejudice that exists in England 
 against Australians is a perfect discredit to an age 
 so enlightened as the present, and is calculated to do 
 serious injury to the prospect of maintaining the perma- 
 nent union of the two countries, which is of such vital 
 importance to both. There is no doubt that this preju- 
 dice is partly owing to the bad impression created by
 
 ANCIENT HISTORY. 357 
 
 some few Australians, who have brought their money 
 to England to make such fools of themselves with it, that 
 many people are only too ready to tar all their com- 
 patriots with the same brush. 
 
 But this is not the real origin of the feeling. The 
 real indictment brought against the Australians is that 
 they come from a land where there was once a penal 
 settlement, and consequently are open to the suspicion 
 of being descended from those who have worked for the 
 good of their country. This may have been all very well 
 in the infancy of the colonies, but we must remember 
 that Australia is no longer a very young country, 
 and it is fully time that her early social history were 
 relegated to the annals of the past. It is inconceivable 
 how any class of people can be found so bigoted as to 
 keep such a prejudice up. 
 
 Any Englishman who is so fortunate as to be able to 
 trace his family history back a couple of centuries, will 
 certainly come across several relations who were executed 
 for treason, if for nothing worse ; and if he pursues his 
 inquiries any further he must inevitably run his ancestors 
 to ground in a rabbit-warren of immorality, from which 
 no College of Heraldry can ever really extricate them. 
 It is difficult to follow the subtle reasoning of a pride 
 that looks up to an ancestor whose head was certainly 
 chopped off for conspiracy, and looks down on an 
 acquaintance whose grandfather was possibly transported 
 for fraud. 
 
 Many Englishmen who visit Australia form an 
 erroneous opinion of its society because they persist 
 in applying to it the standard of the one that they have 
 just left. They stay sufficiently long to discover that
 
 358 ENGLISH CRITICS. 
 
 in some points it differs from what they have been 
 accustomed to, and not long enough to discover that 
 difference does not necessarily imply inferiority. Having 
 in too many cases brought with them the prejudice, 
 and left behind them the polish of England's society, 
 their views are occasionally still farther warped by the 
 discovery that, even in Australia, a man cannot behave 
 otherwise than like a gentleman without an occasional 
 rebuff. 
 
 It is from the views of such critics as these that 
 English notions of Australian society are chiefly derived, 
 and upon no point are they more unjustly censorious 
 than upon what they are pleased to call the fastness of 
 the women of Australia. If the canons of English 
 society of the nineteenth century were a fixed standard 
 for determining the propriety of woman's behaviour, 
 there might be some show of justice in condemning any- 
 thing that falls short of it. But we all know that 
 nothing of the kind is the case. Society's laws are 
 constructed on a sliding scale that varies from one 
 generation to another. In the words of Macaulay, 
 " we change the fashion of our morals with our coats 
 and our hats, and wonder at the depravity of our 
 ancestors." 
 
 We have only to look at the relative measure of 
 justice that the same society deals to a man and to a 
 woman for the same offence, to see that it is regulated 
 by arbitrary laws, which have little reference to 
 abstract principles of right and wrong. 
 
 Nothing can be more unjust than to try one com- 
 munity by the social laws which govern another ; for 
 although there are certain broad rules which cannot
 
 MANNERS AND MORALS. 359 
 
 with impunity be transgressed in any society at present, 
 still, in minor matters, what constitutes a breach of 
 propriety in one society does not necessarily do so in 
 another. 
 
 The frank demeanour and the entire absence of affec- 
 tation that make an Australian girl such a pleasant 
 companion after ten minutes' acquaintance, would in 
 England, of course, be set down to fastness, if to nothing 
 worse. Society in England holds affectation in an un- 
 married woman to be an integral part of modesty, and 
 in order, therefore, to guard against the imputation of 
 forwardness, reserve with a recent acquaintance must be 
 pushed to the verge of stupidity. 
 
 Now, as long as critics upon this point recognise 
 that it is simply the veneering of outward demeanour 
 that they are discussing, no harm is done. But any 
 inference as to the morality that may lie beneath it, is 
 most reprehensible. Whether it be a more excellent 
 thing in woman to try and entertain a man to whom 
 she is introduced, or to make it next to impossible for 
 him to entertain her, is a question which should be 
 decided entirely upon its own merits. But it is in- 
 famous to say that the absence of reserve, which in some 
 women is the natural outcome of good spirits and a 
 desire to please, argues the slightest inferiority of moral 
 principles to those who have been brought up to consider 
 that purity can only be preserved in ice. 
 
 In point of actual immorality, it is doubtful whether 
 fashionable society has varied very much in any country 
 since the age that evoked the satires of Horace and 
 Juvenal. There are periods during which open immo- 
 rality is fashionable, just as there are some summers
 
 360 MODERN SOCIETY. 
 
 hotter than others, but in the end the mean tempera- 
 ture is maintained. Certainly just now there seems 
 to be a fall in the moral thermometer all over the 
 world. 
 
 A poet not long dead has declared that London is 
 no better than the cities for whom " God heard Abra- 
 ham pray in vain." And assuredly we do not seem far 
 off the time when the words, quce jussa coram non sine 
 conscio surgit mdrito, will cease to convey any great 
 reproach to those to whom they may apply. At present, 
 however, even in London a departure from the path of 
 virtue derives an additional piquancy from the danger 
 of social ostracism to which detection exposes the 
 offender. 
 
 As long as Australia is not more lax than London 
 in upholding the Eleventh Commandment, no one has 
 the slightest right to disparage the tone of her society. 
 But it must be indeed a captious and cynical disposition 
 that would prevent a man, at least during his stay in 
 Australia, from flinging all such considerations as these 
 to the winds, and abandoning himself to the charm of 
 his surroundings.. 
 
 In Melbourne,, especially, it is impossible for a man 
 to stay long without feeling that he is in an atmosphere 
 of cheerfulness, and amongst people who are determined 
 to enjoy life thoroughly. A single introduction makes 
 him free of the guild, and before he has been there a 
 week he will know everyone in the place. In this 
 respect Melbourne has a great advantage over Sydney, 
 where society is split up into several sets, each of which, 
 for some unaccountable reason, refuses to mix with the 
 others.
 
 THE MELBOURNE CLUBS. 361 
 
 Whatever a man's tastes may be, it must be his own 
 fault if they are not gratified in Melbourne. If he is 
 inclined for sport, from October to March he will see 
 as good racing as he ever saw in his life, and during the 
 remainder of the year he will have an excellent oppor- 
 tunity of breaking his neck with the Melbourne hounds. 
 If he is fond of good living, he will find that it is with 
 good reason that the " viveurs " of Melbourne pride 
 themselves on the excellence of their wines, and the 
 proficiency of their " chefs." After dinner, if he 
 wishes to gamble, at either of the clubs he will find 
 a certain number of congenial spirits, and, whether 
 he win or lose, it is extremely unlikely next morn- 
 ing that he will complain of the smallness of the 
 stakes. 
 
 There are two exceedingly comfortable clubs, the 
 "Australian" and the "Melbourne," both of which 
 admit honorary members for a period of not more than 
 six months in two years; a very liberal allowance, which 
 adds considerably to the pleasure of a visitor's stay in 
 the place, without putting him to any expense. Occa- 
 sionally rather heavy play goes on at both the clubs. 
 I have known a single player to drop over ten thousand 
 pounds at a sitting. 
 
 For several miles to the south-east the suburbs con- 
 sist of nothing but detached houses, each surrounded by 
 more or less extensive gardens and grounds. Many of 
 these houses have been constructed at an enormous 
 expense, and fitted up by their owners with every com- 
 fort and luxury that can be imagined. The grounds of 
 some of them are really beautifully laid out, and there 
 is invariably a well-kept, prosperous kind of look about
 
 362 DANCING. 
 
 the whole concern, from the gate-post to the weather- 
 cock. 
 
 A glorious ball-room is a very common appendage 
 to one of these Melbourne houses. Dancing, with the 
 people of Melbourne, is a passion ; and, like everything 
 else that they go in for, they do it well. The ball-room 
 is strictly sacred to its legitimate use, and no profane 
 feet are allowed to invade its precincts between whiles. 
 All the anxious care of a mother for a delicate child 
 is lavished by the hostess on her ball-room floor, 
 when she is about to give a dance. The music is 
 generally excellent, and they have a happy knack in 
 Melbourne of filling their rooms without crowding 
 them. 
 
 Most of the women dance divinely. All through 
 Australia dancing seems to come as naturally to girls 
 as walking ; and in Melbourne it is as rare to find a 
 woman between fifteen and fifty who dances badly, as it 
 is in England to find one who dances well. Altogether, 
 if a man goes to a ball to dance and not to lean against 
 a door-post, it is odd if he does not look back to some 
 of these small dances in Melbourne, where everyone 
 knows each other, as amongst the pleasantest he ever 
 was at in his life. 
 
 Lawn-tennis is everywhere immensely popular. Young 
 men and maidens, old women and children, at it they 
 go, with the enthusiasm which, whether in the pursuit 
 of business or of pleasure, is a distinctive feature of the 
 inhabitants of Melbourne. Really the energy with 
 which some of the fair sex devote themselves to the 
 game savours rather of work than of play. Those who 
 do play, play for four hours every day of their lives,
 
 LAWN-TENNIS AND SCANDAL. 363 
 
 and those who do not, come to look on. A round of 
 afternoon calls means visiting the various lawn-tennis 
 courts in succession. Here, between the hours of three 
 and seven, the youth, beauty, and fashion of the place 
 are every day to be found, comfortably located in a 
 summer-house overlooking the court, drinking tea and 
 talking scandal, and watching the enthusiasts below, 
 who are playing as if their lives depended upon every 
 stroke of the game. 
 
 Hotbeds of scandal are these lawn-tennis parties, but 
 here the people of Melbourne show their wisdom by 
 declining to spoil two good things by mixing them. 
 No one who plays is expected to talk scandal on the 
 same afternoon. The players may sit down to rest 
 their aching limbs, and if there is time they may have 
 some tea ; but they must be prepared to put down 
 their cups untasted, and start up again at a moment's 
 notice to make up another set, lest a minute's interval 
 in the play should take place. To display the slightest 
 inclination to sit still, is to risk offending an otherwise 
 most indulgent hostess, who is certain to be an inde- 
 fatigable player herself. 
 
 Many a time have I watched a recent arrival in the 
 colony, whose ignorance of its customs leads him to 
 suppose that an hour's hard play under a broiling sun 
 entitles him to a few minutes' repose. Having secured 
 a cup of tea, and asked permission to smoke, he lights 
 a cigar, and, establishing himself comfortably in an 
 arm-chair, prepares to enjoy the society of one of his 
 fair neighbours who does not play. Just then the set 
 is finished. The relentless eye of his hostess marks 
 him out for another, and he is forthwith invited to play
 
 364 ENTHUSIASTS. THE CLIMATE. 
 
 again. It is no use refusing. He will have to give in. 
 His hostess is going to play again herself, and for very 
 shame he cannot say he is too tired. There is some- 
 thing sublime in the vitality of a woman who can handle 
 a lawn- tennis racquet for three hours at a stretch, under 
 the afternoon fire of an Australian sun. Gradually he 
 will find himself infected by such heroism, and by the 
 time that he has been a week in the town he will 
 never dream of refusing to play when he is asked. 
 
 The climate of the town itself is rather enervating at 
 times, especially in summer, when hot winds blow 
 occasionally for one or two days at a time ; and before a 
 stranger has been long in Melbourne society, especially 
 if he goes much into the bachelor portion of it, he will 
 find that he needs a good constitution and a hard head 
 to drink fair with some of his entertainers. The excel- 
 lent quality of the wine he is drinking is apt to make 
 him rather careless about the quantity. One of these 
 hot winds, therefore, coming on the top of a " Burgundy 
 night " at the Melbourne Club, will probably recall to a 
 visitor's mind the numerous invitations that he is cer- 
 tain to have received to go and spend a few days in the 
 country. 
 
 Away to the north of Melbourne the plain country 
 rises gradually for about forty miles to an elevation of 
 about fifteen hundred feet. Beyond this are heavily- 
 timbered mountain-ranges, on the southern slopes of 
 which are some of the most exquisitely situated country 
 houses in the world. The owners of many of them 
 seem to keep open house the whole year round, and 
 are never happy unless they have a succession of visitors 
 from Melbourne to keep their houses full. When Mel-
 
 MOUNT MACEDON. 865 
 
 bourne is suffocated with dust and heat, the climate up 
 here is delightfully cool and pleasant. Anything more 
 beautiful than some of these places cannot be imagined. 
 Of course the grounds around them are artificially made, 
 being clearances in the endless forest of huge gum-trees, 
 but they have been turned by the genius of their owners 
 into perfect paradises of beauty. Ornamental trees, 
 flowering shrubs, and creepers of every description, grow 
 as if they were determined to make up for lost time in 
 never having been planted before. Wild flowers flourish 
 as if nature had upset her basket here and never stopped 
 to pick it up, and exotics are scattered around with a 
 profusion that quite takes a stranger's breath away, and 
 makes him rub his eyes to be sure that good living in 
 Melbourne has not had the effect of making him see 
 double. 
 
 Here the exhausted lawn-tennis player from Mel- 
 bourne can stretch his weary limbs in perfect peace, idly 
 drinking in the pure mountain air, and feasting on the 
 beauty of the scene around him, without risk of any 
 less pleasant interruption than a stroll round the garden 
 and through the fern-tree gullies. With a pipe to keep 
 away musquitoes, and the conversation of one of 
 Australia's daughters to keep away care, a man must be 
 indeed hard to please who cannot enjoy himself 
 thoroughly. He need not exert himself. He has 
 nothing to do but to allow his fair companion to enter- 
 tain him. She will do it with an ease that no other 
 woman in the world is so thoroughly mistress of as an 
 Australian. 
 
 The scene is one which is not readily forgotten. 
 Around on three sides rise wild mountain ranges,
 
 366 A MOUNTAIN PARADISE. 
 
 covered to the very summit with dense masses of dark- 
 green forest. Behind them the sun sinks to rest 
 
 Not, as in northern climes, obscurely bright, 
 But one unclouded blaze of living light. 
 
 In front a garden bright with every conceivable shade 
 of colouring slopes gently down to a miniature lake, 
 whose glassy surface, unmarred by a single ripple, 
 reflects with startling distinctness the trees that fringe 
 its edges. Beyond this the plains go rolling down to 
 Melbourne, forty miles away, dimly visible, except on a 
 very clear day ; but its whereabouts is distinctly marked 
 by a murky cloud of smoke, which rises up and drifts 
 away to seaward over the shining expanse of Port 
 Philip harbour. It is pleasant to watch the storm- 
 clouds gathering in the south, and to see the steamers 
 creeping out to sea, to fight their way along the most 
 pitiless coast in the world. " Suave mari magno " rises 
 to the spectator's lips, and as he turns to the home-like 
 comfort and fairy beauty of the scene around him, the 
 conviction comes across him that by no race in the 
 world is the philosophy of life better understood than 
 by the inhabitants of Australia. 
 
 Small wonder if the lawn-tennis player who comes 
 up here to recruit, occasionally imbibes something 
 else besides mountain air. The perfect repose of his 
 surroundings, the sensation of '/masterly inactivity" in 
 himself, which is never felt to perfection out of a hot 
 climate, will make him feel that the world is very 
 pleasant to live in ; an impression that will deepen as 
 he listens to his entertainer's refreshing views of life, 
 and notes her unaffected interest in everything, which
 
 A SOUTHERN SPELL. 367 
 
 proclaims her a stranger to the meaning of the word 
 ennui. 
 
 The stillness of the evening air is heavy with the 
 scent of orange-flowers, gardenias, and stephanotis ; and 
 as the charm of his companion's manner grows upon 
 him, he will own to himself that some of the daughters 
 of the South are wondrous fair.
 
 368 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 IMPERIAL FEDERATION. 
 
 IT is impossible for anyone to visit Australia without 
 speculating upon the future that awaits a country 
 possessing such enormous natural wealth and resources. 
 The rapid development that has taken place in every 
 part of this continent during the past thirty years, a 
 development for which there is no parallel in history, 
 makes it certain that before long Australia will form a 
 very considerable item in making up the balance of 
 political power throughout the world. Already she has 
 become a financial power of the first magnitude, and the 
 annual yield of gold in Victoria alone has no small 
 share in determining the value of money in every market 
 from Hong-Kong to London. 
 
 It is obvious that a country with the natural advan- 
 tages of Australia, inhabited, as she is, by the only race 
 who have ever proved themselves able to rise from a 
 colony into a nation, has before her, if she choose to 
 claim it, an existence as one of the independent powers 
 of the world. The question, therefore, naturally arises 
 as to whether she will elect to remain a portion of the 
 British Empire, or whether she will 'prefer to sever the 
 connection that binds her to the mother country.
 
 IMPERIAL FEDERATION. 369 
 
 In the whole history of the world there has probably 
 never been a question raised of such stupendous impor- 
 tance. The remarks which apply to Australia apply 
 with equal force to Canada, and the subject involves a 
 consideration of the British Empire as a whole, its 
 possible development, its possible disintegration, and 
 the relation of both these contingencies to the future 
 of England herself, of her colonies, and of the whole 
 world. 
 
 The Imperial Federation of the British Empire is too 
 vast a subject to be considered at any length in a work 
 of this kind, but it is one with which the future of 
 Australia is so intimately connected that it is impossible 
 to pass over it in silence. Imperial Federation has 
 long been regarded as a mere vision of theorists, suffi- 
 ciently alluring as a sentimental idea, but wholly 
 incapable of being worked out as a practical problem. 
 
 Because no definite scheme has as yet been pro- 
 pounded, the unthinking majority, a class ever the 
 foremost to criticise, have sneered at the notion as 
 utterly unpractical, and relegated it in their own minds 
 to the Millennium. 
 
 Opinion on the subject may be divided into three 
 classes. 
 
 Firstly, there is the opinion of those who believe 
 that the existing relations between England and her 
 colonies are sufficiently close to secure the permanent 
 unity of the Empire, in spite of the causes which at 
 present threaten to break it up. This opinion may 
 fairly be taken as an epitome of the ignorance of those 
 who know nothing whatever about the subject. 
 
 Secondly, there is the opinion of those who recog- 
 
 24
 
 370 IMPERIAL FEDERATION. 
 
 nise the likelihood of disintegration, but who face it 
 with perfect equanimity, and entirely deny the possi- 
 bility of framing any scheme of Federation that will 
 avert it. This is a much more comprehensive class 
 of ignorance than the first, a species of perverted 
 knowledge which has been crystallized into drivelling 
 similes. Colonies are compared to children who leave 
 their parents as soon as they are grown up, or to fruit 
 dropping off a tree when it is ripe. It is impossible 
 to condemn too harshly such mischievous fallacies as 
 these. Our Colonies are not the fruit, they are the 
 branches of the tree itself, stalwart limbs of a mighty 
 empire, and they drop off, not when they are ripe, but 
 when the connection between them and the mother 
 country is rotten. 
 
 Thirdly, there is the opinion of those who share 
 neither the false security of the optimists, nor the 
 apathy of the pessimists, and who, while they see 
 clearly the disintegrating causes that are undermining 
 the fabric of the Empire, have set themselves resolutely 
 to work to elaborate a practical scheme for reconstruct- 
 ing its political organization upon a permanent basis. 
 These are the men who, with a full recognition of the 
 danger of doing nothing, and of the difficulty of doing 
 anything, have rescued Imperial Federation from the 
 misty regions of dream-land, and brought it within the 
 scope of practical politics. 
 
 The standard of Imperial Federation has been set up, 
 and the alacrity with which men of all political parties, in 
 every part of the Empire, have hastened to enlist in the 
 ranks of its supporters, proves conclusively how power- 
 ful a hold the idea has over all the leading spirits of the
 
 IMPERIAL FEDERATION. 371 
 
 age. The extraordinary support which it has received 
 at the outset, has almost entirely silenced the enemies 
 of the League which has now been formed. Here and 
 there some editor of a newspaper, determined to prove 
 that his ignorance does not arise from want of informa- 
 tion, but from inability to digest it, exposes the petri- 
 faction of his intellect in the shape of an article sneering 
 at the promoters of Imperial Federation, because they 
 have as yet laid down no definite scheme. 
 
 Fortunately it is not by babbling critics such as these 
 that the matter will be decided. 
 
 Imperial Federation is a question that will be tried 
 entirely upon its own merits, and if ever any practical 
 form of it be carried out, it will be due to the " masterly 
 inactivity " of those who forebore to hamper its develop- 
 ment at the outset by any premature discussion of 
 details. The time is rapidly approaching when some 
 well-defined and precise scheme for the Federation of 
 the Empire must be laid down. 
 
 But in the meantime it is the wise policy of the 
 League to arouse popular enthusiasm in every British 
 community, to point out the dangers that threaten, and 
 the necessity for immediate action ; so that when the 
 time comes for the details of any scheme to be con- 
 sidered, the various portions of the Empire may be 
 prepared to make mutual concessions to avert a com- 
 mon evil, and to secure a common good. 
 
 The ever-increasing majority in whose hands the 
 power of deciding the destiny of their country has been 
 placed, are men who, in the struggle for existence, have 
 little leisure to devote to the consideration of politics. 
 When a fair statement is laid before them, the working 
 
 24 *
 
 372 IMPERIAL FEDERATION. 
 
 classes are marvellously shrewd in discerning in which 
 direction their best interests lie ; but it is too much to 
 expect them to evolve, out of their inner consciousness, 
 a knowledge of what may be termed the unwritten 
 current history of the world. 
 
 It is the solemn duty of every statesman worthy of 
 the name, to enlighten the minds of the working- classes 
 upon those momentous questions which have now, by 
 an extended suffrage, been surrendered into their 
 hands for decision. The masses of the people have 
 not the means for forming an independent judgment 
 upon foreign affairs, and are only too ready to take 
 their opinions at second hand from those who, from 
 their position, are supposed to be qualified to direct 
 them. 
 
 A change so momentous as the dismemberment of 
 the Empire of Greater Britain is not accomplished in 
 a day. It is a process so gradual that, unless we look 
 carefully both at the past and at the present, we do 
 not recognise that it is taking place. He alone reads 
 history aright who, observing the events which conduce 
 to the rise and fall of nations, traces those events back 
 to their true cause, and applies the experience so gained 
 to the solution of the problems of the present. Un- 
 fortunately the people of England at the present time 
 are likely to gain but a scant insight into Imperial policy, 
 from observing the flounderings of a Ministry whose 
 actions have alienated every single European Power, 
 and who have carried War with dishonour into almost 
 every portion of their own Empire. 
 
 Whatever questions of colonial policy have been 
 brought before them have been treated by the present
 
 IMPEEIAL FEDEEATION. 373 
 
 Ministry with a mixture of stupidity and indifference 
 which clearly proves them to be unworthy of the name 
 of statesmen. It is evident that in the hearts of more 
 than one of them the cry of " Perish India " finds only 
 too ready an echo. The importance of retaining India 
 is a question which cannot be discussed here, for its 
 abandonment is bound up with the Disintegration of the 
 Empire, and with the ruin of millions of the working 
 classes in Great Britain. It is sufficient that " Perish 
 India " is identified with the name of a veteran agitator, 
 a retrospect of whose long and still unfinished career 
 shows that, under the mask of hypocritical friendship, 
 he has never neglected an opportunity of injuring the 
 working classes. 
 
 We should be sorry to believe that the present Ministry 
 in any way represents the feeling of England toward the 
 Colonies. Most of its members neither know nor care 
 anything whatever about foreign affairs, and the few 
 whose political and geographical knowledge is not en- 
 tirely bounded by the " silver streak " are consistent 
 in nothing but a fixed determination to alienate the 
 Colonies. 
 
 Mr. Gladstone repudiates the idea of Imperial Fede- 
 ration as " wholly visionary," and declares that the 
 most he hopes for as a statesman is to effect a separa- 
 tion from the Colonies without bloodshed. 
 
 If Lord Derby and Lord Granville are allowed to 
 pursue their present treatment of Colonial interests 
 much longer, it is probable that even the modest hope 
 of Mr. Gladstone will not be realised. 
 
 The Colonial correspondence during the last twenty 
 years shows that neither Lord Granville nor Lord Derby
 
 374 IMPERIAL FEDERATION. 
 
 have ever lost an opportunity of insulting Colonial 
 susceptibilities, and injuring Colonial interests. 
 
 In 1870 it was openly stated in the Dominion Parlia- 
 ment of Canada by Sir Alexander Gait and Mr. Hunt- 
 ington that it was with unfeigned regret that they were 
 obliged to conclude that it was the deliberate intention 
 of Her Majesty's Ministers to effect a separation be- 
 tween the two countries. Even stronger was the feeling 
 which was aroused in New Zealand at the same time. 
 
 But all previous blunders of Colonial policy fade into 
 insignificance when compared with the New Guinea 
 question, and we can conceive nothing better calculated 
 to produce a revolution in Australia than the conduct 
 of the English Government in the matter. That it has 
 not done so is entirely due to the fact that the Austra- 
 lians are able to discriminate between the English 
 Government and the English people. 
 
 But no one can pretend that distinctions of this kind 
 are a basis upon which the unity of the Empire can be 
 long maintained. 
 
 Those who imagine that the existing relations between 
 England and her Colonies are satisfactory will do well 
 to study the New Guinea question, for it is one which 
 conclusively proves that the Empire cannot remain 
 united upon its present political basis. 
 
 The main facts connected with the case are well 
 known to all. New Guinea is an island off the north- 
 east coast of Queensland. Its southern shores form 
 one side of Torres Straits, which is one of the main 
 approaches to Australia, and altogether the island bears 
 about the same geographical relation to Queensland that 
 Ireland does to England.
 
 IMPERIAL FEDERATION. 375 
 
 For many years New Guinea has always been looked 
 upon as belonging by natural right to the continent of 
 Australia; but it was not until the danger of foreign 
 annexation was felt, that Australian statesmen realised 
 the importance of at once securing the island for their 
 country. 
 
 So great was the scare lest France should secure a 
 foothold in the island, that even the delay of applying 
 to the English Government was felt to be dangerous, 
 and Queensland annexed the whole unoccupied portion 
 of the island, with the full consent of Australia, and 
 then invited the English Government to sanction the 
 annexation. 
 
 The contemptuous incivility with which the Australian 
 proposals were met proves, not only that Lord Derby 
 had no sense of the delicate relations between a mother 
 country and her colonies, but also that he entirely 
 failed to realise the intrinsic importance of the question. 
 
 Setting aside any question of good feeling or decent 
 behaviour, so as to bring the matter as far as possible 
 within the scope of the present Foreign Office, it was 
 surely most impolitic to irritate Australia by an uncivil 
 demurrer to her just claims, when there was nothing 
 whatever to be gained by opposing them. 
 
 Finding that open opposition was arousing a feeling 
 in Australia which it would be difficult to deal with, 
 Lord Derby then had recourse to treachery to accom- 
 plish his object of thwarting the wishes of the Austra- 
 lians. Yielding so far to the pressure which was 
 brought to bear upon him, he annexed a portion of the 
 island, and allayed the fears of Australia on the score 
 of foreign intervention, by giving the most unqualified
 
 376 IMPEEIAL FEDERATION. 
 
 assurances that no other Power should be allowed to 
 touch New Guinea. 
 
 While these very assurances were on their way out to 
 the Colonies, it now transpires that Lord Derby and 
 Lord Granville were engaged in handing over a portion 
 of New Guinea to Germany, for no other conceivable 
 purpose than at once to insult and to injure the most 
 loyal of communities. 
 
 We look in vain for the motive which prompted this 
 betrayal of Australian interests, but the result is, un- 
 fortunately, only too apparent. The question is not 
 one of sentiment, but of real and tangible interest. 
 
 In annexing New Guinea, Australia was simply 
 making a wise and politic effort- to avail herself of 
 geographical advantages, to secure a peaceful future. 
 But the presence of the most powerful military nation 
 in Europe, in an island adjacent to her shores, has en- 
 tirely altered the prospects of Australia, and has inflicted 
 a lasting injury upon her future. 
 
 It is not by the geographical advantages of an iso- 
 lated position, but. by an enormous addition to her 
 naval and military force, that Australia must in future 
 be prepared to secure herself from foreign aggression ; 
 and for this she has only the English Government to 
 thank. 
 
 The surrender of Australian interests to Germany by 
 English statesmen has aroused a feeling of bitter re- 
 sentment and humiliation throughout the Colonies, and 
 the feeling is not likely to be weakened by the discovery 
 that while the action itself was discreditable to states- 
 men, the manner in which it was done was unworthy of 
 gentlemen.
 
 IMPEEIAL FEDERATION. 377 
 
 The recent offer of military assistance from the Colo- 
 nies must awake enthusiastic admiration in the heart of 
 every true Englishmen for the patriotism and loyalty 
 of our kin beyond the sea. But the joy with which we 
 in England hail the offer must be considerably lessened 
 by the reflection that while the troops are embarking in 
 Sydney for Suakim, the Colonial Secretary is being 
 burnt in effigy in various parts of Australia. 
 
 Too many of us will be only too ready to jump to 
 the conclusion that because the Colonies have shown 
 themselves willing to take an active part in fighting 
 our battles, therefore Imperial Federation is a fait 
 accompli, and that nothing more remains to be done. 
 A more mischievous delusion can hardly be imagined, 
 and it is of the utmost importance that the present 
 attitude of the Colonies should not be misunder- 
 stood. 
 
 The present offer of military assistance proves, indeed, 
 that the Colonies are able and willing to bear their 
 share of Imperial Defence. But we must remember 
 that the offer is coupled with a protest against the 
 recent action of the English Government, which no 
 statesman will be wise to neglect. 
 
 The tone of the Australian Press with regard to the 
 New Guinea question is a solemn warning that the pre- 
 sent relations between the mother country and the 
 Colonies cannot exist much longer. 
 
 The enthusiasm which prompted Australia to send 
 her money and her men to help England in the Soudan, 
 while still smarting under her betrayal to Germany by 
 the English Government, is indeed the triumph of 
 loyalty over exasperation. It is, in fact, a direct over-
 
 378 IMPERIAL FEDERATION. 
 
 ture for Imperial Federation, ' and we shall do well to 
 accept it as such, and as nothing more. 
 
 The sixteen Cabinet Ministers who have brought dis- 
 honour and disaster upon their country in every quarter 
 of the globe, and who still cling desperately to office 
 like barnacles to the bottom of a wreck, undoubtedly do 
 not represent either the intelligence or the feeling of 
 the country which they still pretend to govern. This 
 the Australians recognise ; but while their loyalty at 
 present remains unshaken, they see clearly that where 
 such a state of things exists their own interests cannot 
 fail to be compromised, of which fact they have lately 
 had a most disastrous example. 
 
 Let all those who believe that Imperial Federation 
 now exists ask themselves if it is likely that the Colonies 
 will continue to supply men and money for wars in the 
 conduct of which they have no voice, and which are 
 carried on upon purely party principles by a Govern- 
 ment in whose imbecility they originated. 
 
 Is it likely that, after the warning of New Guinea, 
 the Colonies will continue to surrender their interests to 
 the arbitrary control of statesmen who betray every de- 
 termination to repeat the blunders which caused the 
 American Revolution ? 
 
 It is possible that in years to come England may 
 alienate Australia in the same way that she alienated 
 America. Undoubtedly a prolonged succession of such 
 statesmen as at present guide her foreign policy would 
 have the effect of forcing every one of England's Colo- 
 nies, who were strong enough to do so, to declare their 
 independence. 
 
 Fortunately, however, Imperial Federation is not a
 
 IMPERIAL FEDERATION. 379 
 
 matter that will be left to be manipulated into a party 
 question by politicians whose blunders have made all 
 Europe merry for four years. It will be decided by the 
 working men of Great Britain and her Colonies, whose 
 interests are most deeply affected by the question ; and 
 it is probable that when the time comes, as it shortly 
 will, that the matter must be settled one way or the 
 other, they will decide in favour of retaining their 
 respective positions as portions of one Empire. 
 
 There exists in Australia, among all classes, a feeling 
 of loyalty and affection for the old country that has been 
 well described as a passion. To those who look below 
 the surface, there is something very instructive in the 
 sentiment that prompts all Australians, born and bred 
 in the colony, invariably to speak of England as 
 " home," though very possibly they may never have 
 been there, and never intend to go. But although 
 sentiment is undoubtedly an important element, there 
 are other and far more weighty considerations which 
 nearly affect the future of England and her Colonies. 
 
 The cardinal point upon which Imperial Federation 
 turns is Imperial Defence ; and the more closely we 
 investigate both questions, the more impossible we shall 
 find it is to separate them. The growing population 
 of England, combined with her fiscal policy during the 
 last thirty years, have made her dependent upon foreign 
 supply for the necessaries of life, to an extent that it is 
 impossible to contemplate without the gravest mis- 
 givings. 
 
 The only precaution that could neutralize the danger 
 would be an enormous addition to the strength of her 
 navy, and this has been neglected. At the same time
 
 380 IMPERIAL FEDERATION. 
 
 the increase in the navies of other Powers has been so 
 great, that it is now doubtful whether, in the event of 
 war, England could defend her own shores and at the 
 same time afford sufficient protection to her commerce 
 to avert the horrors of starvation. 
 
 It is evident, then, that if the Empire is to hold 
 together, the Colonies must be prepared to contribute 
 their due share towards its defence. That they are 
 perfectly willing to do so, there is little doubt, provided 
 that their true position as integral portions of the 
 Empire be recognised. England lost America because 
 in the days of her weakness she never made it worth 
 her while to continue as part of the Empire. She made 
 the fatal mistake of treating her as an outlying estate, 
 from which as much as possible was to be squeezed 
 for her own benefit ; and the consequence was, as soon 
 as America was strong enough she severed the con- 
 nection. 
 
 The slightest attempt on the part of England to 
 repeat the same tactics with regard to Australia at the 
 present time, or to treat with her otherwise than as an 
 equal in the matter of Federation, would inevitably be 
 followed by separation. And very justly so ; for the 
 question of Imperial Federation, though it is undoubtedly 
 for the advantage both of England and of Australia,, is 
 of infinitely greater importance to the future of the 
 mother country than to that of the colony. Both 
 Australia and Canada have before them a glorious future, 
 whether they remain portions of the Empire or become 
 independent. But the future of England herself, de- 
 prived of her Colonies, is too gloomy a picture to dwell 
 upon for a moment.
 
 IMPERIAL FEDERATION. 381 
 
 Indeed, the Disintegration of the Empire would be 
 a sufficiently deplorable catastrophe, supposing that it 
 were inevitable. It is rendered doubly so by the 
 brilliant prospect that is opened up by the possibility of 
 Federation. 
 
 There is now, outside of England herself, a population 
 of ten millions of Englishmen, inhabiting a territory of 
 almost boundless extent, and with unlimited capabilities 
 for development. In about fifty years these ten millions 
 will have increased to fifty, which, with the population 
 of the mother country, will make a total of at least one 
 hundred millions. 
 
 The question, therefore, for Englishmen in every 
 quarter of the globe to ask themselves is this : Are we, 
 by a wise and far-seeing policy, going to unite this 
 enormous nationality in the close relations of an Im- 
 perial Federation ; or are we, by neglecting the lessons 
 of the past, and by ignoring the warnings of the present, 
 going to allow the vast mass to resolve itself into hostile 
 and helpless fragments, most of which will fall into 
 obscurity among the increasing Powers of the world ? 
 
 Shall our children and our grand-children see the 
 sublime spectacle of one hundred millions of the most 
 highly-civilised race in the world, inhabiting an Empire 
 upon which the sun never sets, united by the bonds of 
 race and religion, and still more closely united by the 
 interests of an inter- dependent trade, secure from the 
 attack of any foe from without, and developing an 
 ever-increasing prosperity within ; or shall they be forced 
 to mourn over the ruins of the finest Empire that the 
 world has ever seen, to watch one after another of its 
 provinces detached from their centre, whether alienated
 
 382 IMPERIAL FEDERATION. 
 
 
 
 by England's own folly, or torn from her by a Power 
 which she can no longer resist ; and, finally, to watch 
 England herself, shorn of the strength which her 
 remote Dependencies alone can give her, sinking beneath 
 the burden of a paralysed trade and an enormous popu- 
 lation, into an obscurity among the nations from which 
 she will never rise again ? 
 
 A Federation of all parts of the British Empire 
 would form by far the most mighty Power that has 
 ever existed in the world, and could laugh at any pos- 
 sible combination of hostile nations. England's future 
 as one of the leading Powers depends upon the success 
 of the movement that has now started ; and we believe 
 that although an independent existence is open to more 
 than one of her Colonies, they will one and all prefer 
 the still more glorious future that awaits them as por- 
 tions of the Empire of Greater Britain.
 
 383 
 
 INDEX, 
 
 A. 
 
 Aden, scenery of, 7, 8. 
 
 Adventures with alligators, 
 100-102; black spider, 93; 
 emus, 89, 90 ; kanakas, 
 165-168 ; tame snake, 47 ; 
 wild Blacks, 150, 152 ; wild 
 cattle, 115-118; and wild 
 pigs, 102-105. 
 
 Agricultural resources of 
 Queensland, 284. 
 
 Ague, prevalence of, in Queens- 
 land, 307. 
 
 Alligators, in the Pioneer River, 
 32 ; adventures with, 100-102. 
 
 Anecdotes of French sailor, 2 ; 
 German doctor at the dig- 
 gings, 198-205, 249 ; a 
 " sober " judge, 228, 229. 
 
 Ant, green-head, effects of a 
 bite from, 184. 
 
 Australia, voyage to, 1-22 ; 
 pearl-fisheries of, 23, 24 ; 
 alligators in, 101 ; importance 
 of good roads, 211 ; the land 
 question, 334, 349 ; and New 
 
 Australia cont. 
 
 Guinea, 374-376 ; Govern- 
 ments of, 285 ; and Govern- 
 ment jobs, 286, 339, 340; 
 banks of, 342 ; gold-mining 
 (q.v.), 172 et seq, ; first dis- 
 covery of gold at Summer 
 Hill (1851), 332 ; comparison 
 of cattle and sheep stations 
 in, 120-136; effects of the 
 drought in, 126, 127, 134, 
 333. 
 
 Judges of, 228 ; the Blacks 
 (q.v.), 137-153; mode of 
 living in, 308 ; benefit of hard 
 work in, 86, 306 ; drunken- 
 ness in, 225-229 (see also 
 Drink) ; hospitality in, 353 ; 
 Englishman in, 354, 355, 357 ; 
 Australian in London, 356 ; 
 morality in London and 
 Australia, 360; woman in, 
 358, 359, 362, 365 ; sport in, 
 106 ; Australian cricketers, 
 339; coaching in, 319, 320; 
 its future, 368. (See also 
 Bush, and Queensland.) 
 
 Australian Steam Navigation 
 Company, 321.
 
 384 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 B. 
 
 Bark, buildings of, 194, 196, 
 
 198. 
 Batavia River, agricultural land 
 
 on, 294. 
 Blacks, the, of Australia, 
 
 137-153 ; physical qualities, 
 
 138 ; their sense of humour, 
 
 139 ; homicidal propensities, 
 147, 148, 150, 152; their 
 habits, 140, 147, 151, 152; 
 their creed, 142 ; and super- 
 stition, 142, 14B ; their trou- 
 blesomeness, 146, 147 ; at 
 Somerset, 24, 25 ; at hard 
 work, 197 ; a noble specimen, 
 139, 140 ; missionaries among 
 them, 143 ; under religious 
 instruction, 141 ; employed 
 by white men, 145, 146; the 
 labour question, 161 ; native 
 police among, 147; hunting 
 them, 107; a wholesale poison- 
 ing, 148, 149 ; adventures 
 with, 150, 152. 
 
 Black's Creek, hunting wild 
 cattle at, 108-119. 
 
 Blue Mountain, a Bush station, 
 60 ; pig-sticking adventures 
 at, 102-105. 
 
 Brighton, near Melbourne, 341. 
 
 Brisbane, population of, 317; 
 the town, 308 ; hotel accom- 
 modation, 317 ; railway 
 through, 319 ; the people, 
 315, 316; hospitality of the 
 residents, 318 ; amusements 
 of, 318 ; Salvation Army in, 
 318, 319 ; voyage from, to 
 Sydney, recollections of, 
 321-324 ; coast trade at 
 (1879), 288. 
 
 Bullock-driving at the diggings, 
 197; a model team, 237; the 
 driver, 238, 242 ; method of, 
 237 ; use of the whip, 237, 
 
 Bullock- driving cont. 
 
 238 ; professional swearing, 
 197, 241 ; downhill without 
 the brake, 239, 240. 
 
 Bush, the, first impressions of, 
 39 ; dangers of, 40, 62 ; eaten 
 alive by ants, 63 ; slowly 
 burned to death, 63 ; snakes, 
 91 ; black spiders, 93, 261 : 
 pest of flies, 94; bush-fires, 
 97; emus, 89, 90; glory of 
 morning, 49, 50. 
 
 A station in, 44-59 ; houses, 
 51, 52, 194, 196, 198, 257; 
 home in, 257-260; life in, 
 60 et seq. ; mode of living, 
 304, 305 ; manners and 
 morals, 309- 310 ; absence of 
 woman, 313 ; sleeping, 48 ; 
 boots, 91 ; riding in, 41, 74 ; 
 splitting timber, 87, 88; wages 
 in, 303; pig-sticking adven- 
 tures, 102-105 ; Sunday in, 
 260; the drink curse, 219 
 et seq. (see also Drink) ; pre- 
 valence of drinking, 223 ; a 
 bushman's method of drink- 
 ing, 224, 311 ; " knocking 
 down a cheque," 222 ; relative 
 advantages of town and Bush 
 life, 309 et seq. 
 
 Buck- jumping, by Bush horses, 
 54, 55, 56. 
 
 Burgess, Billy, a model stock- 
 man, 69, 80, 109, 112. 
 
 Butcher-bird, in the Bush, 50. 
 
 c. 
 
 Camping-out in the Bush, 109 
 
 et seq. 
 
 Capitalists, advice to, 302, 303. 
 Carpentaria, Gulf of, unhealthy 
 
 district, 307. 
 Cattle, wild, hunting them, 
 
 108-119.
 
 INDEX . 
 
 385 
 
 Cattle-camps, 64, 66, and see 
 
 Cattle-growing. 
 
 Cattle- growing, the. runs, 60 ; 
 fencing, 86-88; camps, 64, 
 66 ; fat cattle, 67, 68 ; rowdy 
 cattle, 81 ; agility of Bush 
 cattle, 82 ; wild cattle on a 
 run, 108, 119; " burnt feed," 
 97. 
 
 Stockman's work, 61, 67; 
 stockman's faculty, 69 ; a 
 model stockman, 69, 80 ; 
 mustering, 64, 77 ; drafting 
 or "cutting out," 70, 77 et 
 seq. ; " yarding-up," 78 ; 
 "tailing," 84; choosing cattle, 
 71 ; "droving," 72, 75 ; driving 
 fat cattle, 72. 
 
 Expenses and profits of 
 
 station, 121, 122 ; prices of 
 
 cattle, 123; risks, 123, 124; 
 
 losses from dro'ught, 333 ; 
 
 "financing," 124 ; comparison 
 
 of cattle and sheep stations, 
 
 120-136 ; cattle and sheep in 
 
 Victoria, 347, 348. 
 
 Ceylon, tourists in, 17, 18. 
 
 Charters Towers, gold-field, 264, 
 
 266, 267. 
 
 Chinamen at the diggings, 189. 
 Cingalese at sugar - growing, 
 
 170. 
 "Clean skins," wild cattle so 
 
 called, 109. 
 
 Cloncurry, copper mines, 278. 
 Coaching in Australia, 319, 320. 
 Coal-beds in Queensland, 279, 
 
 280. 
 Coasting trade of Queensland, 
 
 288. 
 Cobb and Co.'s mail-coaches, 
 
 319. 
 Colonies, British, and Imperial 
 
 Federation, 373-381. 
 Colonist, an ideal, 172. 
 Coolies, for sugar-growing, 168, 
 
 169. 
 
 Copper mines of Queensland, 
 276-279; at Peak Downs, 
 
 Copper-mines cont. 
 276 ; the Mackinlay ranges, 
 277; Cloncurry, 278; Mount 
 Flora and Mount Orange, 
 278, 279. 
 
 Cricket, at Melbourne, 338 ; 
 Australian cricketers, 339. 
 
 D. 
 
 Davidson, Mr. John Ewen, first 
 sugar - mill in Queensland 
 erected by, 155. 
 
 Derby, Lord, and the New 
 Guinea question, 373, 375, 
 376. 
 
 Diggings, life on, 194 et seq. ; 
 names on, 217; "jumping" 
 a claim, 178, 199 ; settling 
 disputes, 178, 199 ; accidents 
 in the shaft, 215-218 ; wages 
 on, 262, 303; home on, 
 257-260 ; the doctor at, story 
 of, 198-205, 249 ; the police- 
 man, 201-203 ; drink curse 
 on, 219 et seq. (see also Drink) ; 
 death-bed scene on, 206-209. 
 (See also Gold-mining and 
 Mount Britten.) 
 
 Draught - cattle, see Bullock- 
 driving. 
 
 Drink, evils of, 19 ; its deadly 
 consequences, 221 ; death 
 from, on the diggings, 219 ; 
 public-houses in Mackay, 29 ; 
 public- houses on the diggings, 
 219 ; adulteration of liquor, 
 220 ; conduct of Government 
 with regard to adulteration, 
 225, 226; substitutes for 
 liquor " Pain killer," kero- 
 sene, " Farmer's Friend," 230, 
 23] . 
 
 On the diggings, 177, 190, 
 219 et seq. ; Bacchanalians, 
 195 ; cold water cure, 196 ; 
 
 25
 
 386 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Drink cont 
 
 the Bush drunkard, 311 ; a 
 Bushman's method of drink- 
 ing, 224, 311; "knocking 
 down a cheque," 222 ; drink- 
 ing ,600 in three weeks, 222 ; 
 " hospitality," 223 ; drinking 
 with Death, 206-208. 
 
 Prevalence of drinking 
 among all classes, 225 ; pre- 
 ventive legislation useless, 
 220, 225 ; difficulties of reform 
 in liquor traffic, 226, 227, 
 229 ; drinking customs in 
 towns, 315, 316 ; drunken 
 legislators, 227 ; " sober " 
 judges, 228 ; anecdote of one, 
 228, 229 ; the doctor drunk, 
 28 ; the town drunkard, 311 ; 
 " nipping," 311, 316 ; " a 
 swizzle," 34; " anti-shouting," 
 317 ; drink on New South 
 Wales Railway, 334 ; a man 
 with D. T. on voyage, 323. 
 
 Drought in Australia, 126, 127, 
 134, 333; provision against, 
 134. 
 
 " Droving " in Australia, 72, 75. 
 
 Drunkenness in Australia, 
 225-229. (See also Drink.) 
 
 Duck-driving on the Pioneer 
 river, 98, 99. 
 
 E. 
 
 Eastern and Australian Steam- 
 ship Co., boats of, 20, 26. 
 
 Eaten alive by ants in the Bush, 
 63. 
 
 England, hospitality in, 353, 
 356 ; Australian in London, 
 356 ; morality in London and 
 Australia, 360. 
 
 Englishman in Australia, 354, 
 355, 357. 
 
 Emu, in the Bush, 90 ; suicide 
 
 of, 89 ; oil, 90. 
 " Erratic Star " gold reef, 192 
 
 et seq. (See also Mount 
 
 Britten.) 
 
 F. 
 
 Fashion in Mackay, 29, 30. 
 
 Fencing for cattle stations, 
 86-88. 
 
 Fielding, General, agent for 
 the Syndicate of the Trans- 
 continental Railway Scheme, 
 292. 
 
 Fitzroy River, alligators in, 100, 
 101 ; removing the Flats, 
 287. 
 
 " Flat-top," an island at mouth 
 of the Pioneer river, 289. 
 
 Flies in the Bush, pest of, 94 ; 
 the solitary fly, 95. 
 
 French sailor, anecdote of, 2. 
 
 G. 
 
 Galle, description of, 16 ; 
 tourists at, 17, 18. 
 
 German doctor at the diggings, 
 story of, 198-205, 249. 
 
 Gibbard, Charley, of the "Little 
 Wanderer" (q.v.) gold reef, 
 186, 190, 205, 209. 
 
 Gladstone, Mr., on Imperial 
 Federation, 373. 
 
 Gold -mining, gold first dis- 
 covered in Australia at Sum- 
 mer Hill (1851), 332; in 
 Queensland, 172 et seq. ; 
 Queensland gold-fields, 265- 
 267 ; future of, in Queens- 
 land, 268 ; gold-mines of Vic- 
 toria, 344 ; yield of gold there,
 
 INDEX. 
 
 387 
 
 Gold-minin g cont. 
 
 345 ; Gympie reefs, 263 et seq. ; 
 richest mine in the world at 
 Mount Morgan, account of, 
 273-276; at Mount Britten 
 (q.v.), 182 et seq.; "Little 
 Wanderer," 190 et seq. (see 
 also Mount Britten) ; " Erratic 
 Star," 192 et seq. (see also 
 Mount Britten) ; alluvial gold, 
 185, 189 ; uncertainty of gold, 
 262, 263 ; significance of black 
 slate, 263, 264. 
 
 The gold fever, 175 ; the 
 professional digger, 176 ; a 
 new chum's luck, 178 ; a 
 "duffer rush," 188; "divi- 
 ding mates," 186; prospecting 
 for a reef, 186, 187; dis- 
 covering a reef, 190, 191 ; a 
 good " prospect," 193 ; warden 
 of gold-field, 192. 
 
 Life at the diggings, 194 
 et seq. (see also Diggings ; 
 accidents in the shaft, 215-8 ; 
 cost and difficulties of setting 
 up machinery, 209-215, 232, 
 236, 243 ; damming a creek, 
 233-236; a quartz mill, 
 244-249 ; amalgamating, 245, 
 246 ; retorting, 252. 
 
 Uncertainty of mining, 179, 
 191 ; instances of evil effects 
 of, 180; cost of gold, 181; 
 expenses and profits, 261, 
 262 ; statistics of Mount 
 Britten reefs, 261 ; ordinary 
 history of a gold-field, 266 ; 
 floating a company, 341-344. 
 
 Gracemere, near Eockhampton, 
 scene in a cattle-yard at, 83. 
 
 Granville, Lord, and the New 
 Guinea question, 373, 376. 
 
 Grass-seed, on the coast of 
 Queensland, evils to sheep 
 from, 120. 
 
 Grass-trees in the Bush, 43. 
 
 Griffiths, Mr., his Ministry, 298 ; 
 in the Steel Bail Inquiry, 298. 
 
 Groom, Mr., Speaker in the 
 Queensland Parliament, 298, 
 299. 
 
 Gulf district of Queensland, 
 advantages for sheep-farming, 
 135 ; unhealthiness of, 307. 
 
 Gympie, gold-field, 209, 263-7, 
 272. 
 
 H. 
 
 Haslewood, a Bush station, 60. 
 Holliman, William, erects mill 
 
 at Mount Britten diggings, 
 
 214 et seq., 235, 248. 
 Horses, in the Bush, 41, 53-59, 
 
 259 ; buck-jumping, 54, 55, 
 
 56 ; endurance of, 56 ; break- 
 
 ing-in, 57, 58 ; " camp-horse," 
 
 70 ; in Victoria, 347. 
 Houses, of wood, in the Bush, 
 
 52, 194, 196, 198, 257. 
 Hunting in Queensland, 102- 
 
 119. 
 
 I. 
 
 Imperial Federation, opinions 
 on, 369; opponents of, 371; 
 work of the League, 371 ; 
 disintegration theory, 370 ; 
 dismemberment of the Em- 
 pire a gradual process, 372 ; 
 conduct of present Ministry 
 in Colonial affairs, 373-378; 
 and New Guinea, 374-377 ; 
 not a party question, 379; 
 will be decided by working- 
 men of Great Britain and 
 her Colonies, 379 ; importance 
 of Australia, 282, 368 et seq. ; 
 sentiment in Australia, 379 ; 
 question of Imperial Defence, 
 379 ; the case of America ap- 
 plied to Australia, 380; to 
 be, or not to be? 380, 381.
 
 388 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 J. 
 
 " Jackaroos," in the Bush, 85. 
 " Johnny cakes," in the Bush, 
 
 111. 
 "Jumping," on the diggings, 
 
 178, 199. 
 
 K. 
 
 Kanakas, who and what they 
 are, 162, 163; effect of reli- 
 gious teaching on, 144, 145 ; 
 " missionary boys," 144 ; kid- 
 napping them, 162; employ- 
 ment of, 163, 168; plundered 
 by store-keepers, 164; trou- 
 blesomeness of, 165 ; a scare, 
 166-168. 
 
 Kangaroos, in Queensland, 106 ; 
 hunting them, 107. 
 
 L. 
 
 Labour question, in sugar- 
 growing, 158-171. 
 
 Land, price of, in Australia, 
 127, 128. 
 
 Land question, the, in Australia, 
 334, 349; in New South 
 Wales, 334; in Queensland, 
 300-302 ; in Victoria, 348, 
 350 ; selectors, 301. 
 
 Lawn-tennis, in Melbourne, 362, 
 363. 
 
 " Little Wanderer," gold-reef, 
 see Mount Britten. 
 
 M. 
 
 Mackay, description of, 27, 28, 
 30; need of port at, 289; 
 story of its breakwater, 289, 
 290 ; copper mines near, 278 ; 
 opposition of, to mining, 213 ; 
 sugar-growing (q.v.) in, 154; 
 progress of, 156, 160 ; planters 
 of, 211; fashion at, 29. 
 
 Mackinlay ranges copper mines, 
 277. 
 
 Marseilles, votive offerings of 
 sailors at, 2, 3. 
 
 Mcllwraith, Sir T., Premier of 
 Queensland, his Ministry, 
 297 ; his estimate for Trans- 
 continental Railway, 291, 
 292 ; on the Colonial debt, 
 291; in the Steel Rail In- 
 quiry, 298. 
 
 Melbourne, its origin, 210; 
 climate, 364 ; population, 
 336 ; the town, 336, 341 ; 
 Government House and Bo- 
 tanical G-ardens, 341 ; Public 
 Library and Institute of 
 Pine Art, 338 ; its fine build- 
 ings, 336; hotels, 337; and 
 churches, 337 ; its streets, 
 337 ; a man nearly drowned 
 in a gutter, 337, 338; the 
 River Yarra, 340, 341; rail- 
 ways, cost of an accident, 
 339, 340 ; the telephone, 341 ; 
 the Exchange, 341 ; mining 
 speculation at, 341-344. 
 
 The people, 341; life in, 
 360, 361; drinking in, 364; 
 its clubs, 361 ; dancing in, 
 362; cricket at, 338; lawn- 
 tennis in, 362, 363 ; tennis- 
 court, 338 ; suburbs, 341 ; its 
 suburbs, 361 ; country resi- 
 dences, 364-367. 
 
 " Milky sea," near Aden, 9.
 
 INDEX. 
 
 389 
 
 Mines, advantage of, to a dis- 
 trict, 210, 212; of Queens- 
 land, 276. (See also Coal, 
 Copper, Gold, Tin.) 
 
 Mount Britten, description of 
 valley of, 183 ; gold-field at, 
 182 ; " Little Wanderer " reef 
 at, 190, 205, 209, 253, 256 ; 
 " Erratic Star " reef at, 192 ; 
 accidents, 215-218 ; damming 
 a creek, 233-236 ; setting up 
 a mill, 209, 213-215, 232, 
 236, 243-249 ; " Sabbath 
 Calm" mill, 247; a first 
 crushing, 250-253 ; first gold 
 escort from, 253 ; result of 
 further crushings, 256; sta- 
 tistics of reefs at, 261, 264 ; 
 floating the Company, 341-4. 
 
 Mount Flora, copper mines at, 
 278, 279. 
 
 Mount Morgan, richest mine 
 in the world, account of, 
 273-6. 
 
 Mount Orange, copper mines at, 
 278, 279. 
 
 Mount Spencer, a Bush station, 
 44-46 ; description of, 51, 
 52 ; the horse-yards, 53 ; 
 cattle runs, 60 ; cattle-growing 
 (g.v.) at, 61 et seq. ; camping 
 at, 46. (See also Bush.) 
 
 Mount Spencer country, its ex- 
 tent and divisions, 60. 
 
 Mummies of Australian Blacks, 
 143. 
 
 " Myalls," wild Blacks (q.v.) of 
 Australia, 150. 
 
 N. 
 
 Naples, beauties of, 1. 
 
 New Guinea question, 374-377 ; 
 
 public feeling in Australia, 
 
 376, 377. 
 
 New South Wales, the Colonial 
 debt, 291 ; Government, 285 ; 
 population, 332 ; gold dig- 
 gings of, 333 ; mining swindle 
 in, 342 ; chief produce of, 
 333; the drought, 333; the 
 land question, 334. 
 
 Newton, Mr. R., his exposure of 
 the Trans-continental Railway 
 Scheme, 295. 
 
 P. 
 
 Palmer, gold-field, 267. 
 
 Peak Downs, copper mines, 276. 
 
 Pearl-fishing, Australia, 23, 24. 
 
 Pigs, wild, adventures with, at 
 Blue Mountain, 102-105. 
 
 Pioneer River, scenery of, 30, 
 31 ; alligators in, 32 ; wild 
 duck shooting on, 98, 99. 
 
 Poison-wood, effects of, 205. 
 
 Port Said, character of, 3. 
 
 Q. 
 
 Queensland, voyage to, 1-22 ; 
 coast scenery, 25, 26; coast 
 towns, 28, 29; area and 
 population, 270 ; climate, 
 304-307; unhealthy district 
 of, 307 ; fever and ague in, 
 307. 
 
 Her resources and pro- 
 spects, 270-307 ; forests and 
 timber, 270-272; the Bush 
 (q-v.), 39 ; mineral wealth, 
 272-281; gold-fields, 265-268; 
 gold-mining (q.v.} in, 172 et 
 seq. ; mining in, 344 ; copper 
 mines, 276-279 ; coal-beds, 
 279-280 ; tin-mines, 280 ;
 
 390 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Queensland cont. 
 her real greatness, 281 ; 
 prairies, 282 ; stock-rearing 
 resources, 283 (see Cattle- 
 growing and Sheep-farming) ; 
 advantages of Gulf country 
 for sheep-farming, 135 ; com- 
 parison of cattle and sheep 
 stations, 120-136 ; drought, 
 333 ; well-sinking, 134 ; agri- 
 cultural resources, 284 ; price 
 of land in, 127, 128 ; sugar- 
 growing (<?.#.) in, 154-171 ; 
 need of railways, 284, 285 ; 
 great want of harbours and 
 sea-ports, 285, 288 ; coasting- 
 trade, 288; vitality of the 
 colony, 290; the Colonial 
 debt, 291. 
 
 The Government, 159, 169, 
 285 ; conduct of Government 
 with regard to adulteration of 
 liquor, 225, 226; and the 
 Mackay breakwater, 289, 290 ; 
 the McEwraith Ministry, 297 ; 
 and the Trans-continental 
 Railway Scheme, 290-297; 
 the new Speaker, 298 ; de- 
 pravity of Parliament, 299; 
 indifference of squatters to 
 legislation, 299, 300 ; coloured 
 labour question, 158-171 ; 
 the land question, 300-302; 
 selectors, 301 ; the Land Bill, 
 136. 
 
 The population required, 
 302 ; capitalists in, 302 ; the 
 working-man in, 303 ; wages 
 in, 303. 
 
 Life in coast-towns, 308 ; 
 townsmen's mode of living, 
 305, 306 ; relative advantages 
 of town and Bush life, 309 
 et seq. ; sport in, 98 et seq., 
 106-119 ; coaching in, 319, 
 320 ; a thunder-storm in, 
 233, '234 ; the Blacks trouble- 
 some in, 147 ; native police 
 of, 147. (See also the Bush.) 
 
 R. 
 
 Railways, in Australia, 319 ; in 
 Victoria, 346 ; Brisbane-Roma 
 line, 290; the Central Rail- 
 way, 296 ; from Sydney to 
 Melbourne, 332, 334 ; of Mel- 
 bourne, 339 ; cost of an acci- 
 dent, 339 ; rival brakes, 339, 
 340 ; great need of in Queens- 
 land, 284, 285 ; benefit of, to 
 Queensland, 291 ; story of 
 the Trans-continental Railway 
 Scheme, 290-297. 
 
 Ravenswood, gold-field, 267. 
 
 Rawson, Mr. Charles, of " Sleepy 
 Hollow," Mackay, 33-36. 
 
 Riding, in the Bush, 41, 53-57, 
 74 ; dangers in the Bush,. 62. 
 
 Rockhampton, origin of, 188; 
 richest mine in the world, in 
 neighbourhood of, 273-276; 
 scene in a cattle-yard near, 
 83. 
 
 "Round Top," an island at 
 mouth of the Pioneer river, 
 289. 
 
 S. 
 
 " Sabbath Calm," mill at Mount 
 Britten (q.v.), 247. 
 
 Salvation Army in Brisbane, 
 318, 319. 
 
 " Scrub," a, in Queensland, 36. 
 
 Sheep farming, in Queensland, 
 120 et seq. ; past and present, 
 125 et seq. ; advantages of 
 the Gulf country for, 135 ; 
 estimate of expenditure on 
 sheep-station, 130-133 ; price 
 of land, 127, 128 ; drought, 
 125, 126, 134; losses from 
 drought, 333 ; " financing," 
 124 ; over- stocking, 126 ; pro-
 
 INDEX. 
 
 391 
 
 She ep-f armin g cont. 
 
 duce of wool, 129, 130 ; pro- 
 fits of, 129-133 ; comparison 
 of cattle and sheep stations, 
 120-136 ; number of sheep in 
 New South Wales (1883), 
 333 ; in Victoria, 347, 348. 
 
 Shepherding, effects of, 84. 
 
 Shooting wild ducks on the 
 Pioneer river, 98, 99. 
 
 Singapore, description of, 18, 
 19. 
 
 " Sleepy Hollow," station in 
 Mackay, 33, 36, 37. 
 
 Smoking, among Bushmen, 49, 
 112. 
 
 Snakes, in the Queensland 
 Bush, 91 ; snake-bite and 
 antidote, 92 ; a tame one, 47. 
 
 Somerset, pearl-fishing at, 23 ; 
 Blacks and whites at, 24, 25. 
 
 South Sea Islands, labour traffic, 
 159 et seq. (See also Kana- 
 kas.) 
 
 Spider, black, poisonous effects 
 of bite, 93 ; met by, 261. 
 
 Spiller, Mr. John, first to grow 
 sugar in Queensland (1866), 
 154. 
 
 Sport in Queensland, 98 et seq., 
 106-119. 
 
 Squatters of Queensland, 299- 
 301 ; pioneers of civilization, 
 349; and the Land Bill, 351. 
 
 St. Kilda, near Melbourne, 341. 
 
 Steel Bail Inquiry, account of, 
 298. 
 
 Stockmen, their work, 61, 67 
 (see also Cattle - growing) ; 
 faculty for remembering 
 cattle, 69, 114 ; their con- 
 versation, 112-114 ; a model, 
 69, 80, 109, 112. 
 Straight, Mr., Commissioner of 
 
 Railways, his Bill, 340. 
 Sugar-growing, in Queensland, 
 154-171 ; in Mackay, 30 ; 
 favourable climate for, 157; a 
 " rush " on, 155, 156 ; over- 
 
 Sugar-growing cont. 
 speculation in, 157 ; risks of, 
 158 ; effects of " rust," 155 ; 
 increase of trade, 289 ; pro- 
 gress in Mackay, 156, 160 ; 
 labour question, 158-171 ; 
 kanakas (q.v.), 162-168 ; 
 coolies (q.v.) 168; and white 
 labour, 170. 
 
 Sugar planters in Mackay, 31. 
 
 Sunday in the Bush, 259, 260. 
 
 Sunstroke, causes of, 19 ; in the 
 Bush, 306. 
 
 Swearing, 313 ; among bullock- 
 drivers, 197, 241. 
 
 Swimming in Queensland 
 creeks, 174. 
 
 " Swizzle," a, what it is, 34. 
 
 Sydney, its climate, 327, 328; 
 population, 332 ; the harbour, 
 
 325, 332 ; the town, 326, 
 330; the Exhibition, 327; 
 hotel accommodation, 329, 
 330; steam tram-cars, 330; 
 its newspapers, 331, 332 ; 
 railway, 332, 334 ; and wealth, 
 327. 
 
 Its society, 327; and people, 
 
 326, 327, 330, 331 ; the Syd- 
 ney waiter, 329 ; yachting at, 
 332 ; value of land in and 
 near, 327; recollections of 
 hospitality at, 327, 328. 
 
 Sydney Morning Herald, 331. 
 Sydney Bulletin, 332. 
 
 T.- 
 
 Tea-drinking in the Bush, 87 ; 
 "quart-pot" tea, 111. 
 
 Thunder-storm in Queensland, 
 233, 234. 
 
 Timber, varieties of, in Queens- 
 land, 271, 272. 
 
 Tin-mines, of Queensland, 280 ; 
 at Stanthorpe, 280 ; the 
 Herberton " rush," 280.
 
 392 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Townsville, imports of (1883), 
 
 288. 
 Tram-cars, by steam, in Sydney, 
 
 330. 
 Trans - continental Railway 
 
 Scheme, story of the, 290-7 ; 
 
 its exposure, 295. 
 
 u. 
 
 Underwood's antidote for snake- 
 bite, 92. 
 
 V. 
 
 Victoria, population of, 345 ; 
 Government, 285 ; scene in 
 the House, 339, 340 ; statistics 
 of, 345-347 ; mining in, 343 ; 
 gold-mines, 344 ; and gold- 
 mining in, 181, 185 ; yield of 
 gold in, 345 ; the land ques- 
 tion, 348, 350 ; the land-tax, 
 350 ; prospects of, 351. 
 
 w. 
 
 Water-hole camp, at Mount 
 Spencer (q.v.~), 66. 
 
 Whit-sunday Passage, scenery 
 of, 26. 
 
 Williamstown, port of Mel- 
 bourne, 340. 
 
 Woman, her influence, 314. 
 
 Wool, value of, in Australia, 
 124, 125 ; produce of, in 
 Queensland, 129, 130 ; in- 
 crease of, in Victoria, 347 ; 
 amount exported from New 
 South Wales (1883), 333. 
 (See also Sheep-farming.) 
 
 Y. 
 
 Yarra Eiver, through Mel- 
 bourne, 341. 
 
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