THE HOT WINDS—?PROJECTED MAIL-?ROAD FROM SYDNEY TO PORT ESSINGTON—?SHEEP-?FARMS—?GRAZING IN AUSTRALIA—?HORSE-STOCK.

I have often heard the question raised in Australia, Whence proceed the hot winds? Hitherto, this inquiry has not, to my knowledge, been satisfactorily answered. These winds invariably blow from the north-west; but the question is, Whence do they derive the heat they are charged with? In the months during which they prevail, the north-west monsoon is blowing in the Java sea, and thence all the way to Torres' Straits; and northerly winds are prevalent on the eastern coast of Australia. The weather in those seas, at that season, is wet and cold for the latitude; consequently, the north-west wind, when it first reaches the northern coast of Australia, is the reverse of a hot one: whence, then, the heat it brings with it to the thirty-fourth degree of south latitude? From Torres' Straits to this latitude, the distance is, in southing alone, fifteen hundred miles, twelve hundred of which are entirely unexplored. I have heard it suggested, that, in this space, may, and probably does exist, a great inland desert, the crossing of which heats and dries the wind. Whether such a desert does or does not exist, is a problem that may not be solved for many years to come; unless, indeed, the expedition now in contemplation, for the survey of the country in search of a practicable overland route from Sydney to Port Essington, should lead to its earlier solution. To this expedition, should it ever start, I wish every possible success, though I have my misgivings as to its favourable result, and question the soundness of the judgment that advises the undertaking at this time. Supposing the route should prove practicable simply as a mail line, is the Colony at present in circumstances to bear the expense of keeping it up? The object is, to have the overland Indian mail carried from Singapore by steam to Port Essington, thence to Sydney overland; the distance being, in round numbers, two thousand miles, three-fourths of the way through an uninhabited and unknown country. To keep up such a line, the outlay would be enormous, and would far exceed any return that could be expected for the next fifty years. The good folks of Sydney seem bent on trying it, however; and on being refused pecuniary aid from the Government, they resolved on carrying it through at their own expense; but they have since cooled in their ardour. At least, I have not heard of the money being forthcoming.[19]

I shall now proceed to offer a few observations upon sheep and sheep-stations. A sheep-station is, probably, the most desolate place at which a man could be sent to pass his time. Fancy three men in charge of one thousand sheep, which range over five square miles of country, of which five miles those three outcasts are literally the only inhabitants, and, strange as it may seem, seeing but little of each other. One is the watchman, who remains by the hut all day, shifts the folds, and sleeps between them at night, to protect their occupants from the prowling native dog: the other two are shepherds, who start every morning at daylight, in different directions, each in charge of his flock; they do not return to the hut till sun-down, when they are tired, weary, and eager for supper and bed. Thus, day after day, and month after month, pass in solitary wretchedness, relieved only on the Saturday for a couple of hours, when a man with the week's rations arrives at the station. These men live all the year round on salt beef and bread, the latter baked by themselves: they have no change either of diet, of employment, or of any thing else; for, be it known, a really good sheep-station in Australia yields nothing but grass and gum-trees, the soil being dry and poor. A shepherd on the hills of Scotland, who returns every night to his bothie, and finds a warm supper cooked for him by some kind female hand, is a prince compared to the exile of Australia, who comes home tired and sleepy at sun-down, and may then either chop wood to cook his meal, or go supperless to bed, as suits his fancy. It is under these circumstances that those unhappy connections are formed with native women, the offspring from which are invariably killed by the mother. Against these connections, the present Governor has very properly set his face, and positively interdicted them. Although he may check, he cannot, however, do away with the evil; which leads not only to the murder of helpless infancy, but to bloodshed and wrangling between the whites and the blacks.

Sheep, when I arrived in Australia in 1836, were in great request, and ewes with lambs at their feet were worth 30s. each, while wool was at 2s. 2d. per pound. In 1837-38 and 1838-39, stock of every kind rose in price; and in the former year, I paid as high as 3l. per head for a flock of four hundred ewes with lambs five months old at their feet. This purchase was not a safe one; it was made when I knew but little of the value of stock, but acted under the advice of others, and when the colony was in the very midst of that wild career of mad speculation which has since worked so much misery to thousands. I suffered in common with many others who invested money in sheep at the same time, and who left the Colony. Nevertheless, I look upon sheep as one of the best descriptions of stock in which a man can speculate, provided that he keeps within reasonable bounds as to price. Good ewes purchased from 20s. to 25s. per head, will, nine times out of ten, pay their proprietor from fifteen to twenty per cent, for his outlay. To do this, they must of course be properly tended, and be kept on what is here called, a good run, i.e. fine dry pasture on rather an elevated tract of country. The sheep-farmer ought to have a good homestead in an agricultural part of the Colony, (this, in my opinion, is indispensable to his success,) where he may grow grain sufficient not only to render him almost independent of bad seasons and high prices, but, generally, to give him a few hundred bushels of surplus wheat and maize with which to buy tea, sugar, and clothing. Hundreds of sheep-farmers have of late been ruined by having to purchase the actual necessaries for their stations on credit. Cash they had none, being unwilling to part with even their surplus stock at the miserably low prices alone obtainable.

Another error that sheep-farmers fall into from time to time, is, the allowing their establishments to outgrow themselves, as it were, by not selling every year's surplus stock. I have known establishments become quite unmanageable from this cause, and have heard large proprietors frequently say, they were losers by holding so large a number of sheep: still, they went on in spite of their own better judgment, from year to year, without selling a single head of stock. This loss attendant upon overgrown establishments, arises as much from the difficulty of getting good and trustworthy servants, as from any other cause. The master's eye cannot be everywhere, and the overseer's is seldom to be trusted. Lazy shepherds keep sheep in till ten A.M. in place of turning them out at six. Idle watchmen shift the folds twice a week, instead of every day. Fifty other cases of this kind take place on a large sheep-farm, that never could occur on a small establishment. In damp weather, the watchman's neglecting to shift the folds, is sure to do harm. One of its first evil effects is to give the sheep toe-rot; a troublesome complaint that lames the animal, and is not easily got rid of. Then, a careless shepherd will allow his flock to stray on your neighbour's run, which may have been fed over by scabby sheep the day before. If no rain has fallen during the night, the disease is sure, in that case, to be caught by the trespassers, as I can testify from dear-bought experience. Scab, here, is a very different disease from what the sheep-farmer at home is acquainted with, and is much more difficult to cure. The remedies applied for it are severe, and of a kill-or-cure description: indeed, it requires a strong sheep to bear this application. Rubbing with tar, as practised in Scotland, has been found utterly useless.

In advising sheep-farmers to have a good agricultural homestead, I am aware I am recommending what hundreds have not the power to obtain. As a general rule, however, it is a golden one; and I would adhere to it, even were I compelled to have three hundred miles between my stations and the homestead. Indeed, I have known those two establishments separated by two hundred miles.

Since 1838-9, sheep have been sold in New South Wales as low as ninepence a head: this, however, was under very extraordinary circumstances, and is not likely to happen again; more especially since the proprietor has found out that, by slaughtering the animal, and boiling down the carcase, he can get 3s. 6d. for the tallow it yields. During the recent distresses, thousands of sheep have been disposed of in this way, the proprietors being so much reduced as to be literally unable either to pay or to feed men to look after their flocks. I know many parties who purchased sheep between the years 1837 and 1840, at the rates then current, at three years' credit, paying ten per cent, per annum for the indulgence, who, after keeping their purchases and their increase for three years, were compelled, when their acceptances became due, to sell off original stock, increase, and all, and then had not half enough to satisfy their creditor. This, as I said before, arose from peculiar circumstances, being caused by the prevailing panic. I shall advert again to this subject, in offering a few remarks upon the recent distresses and their causes.

Now as to cattle. The English or Scotch grazier, who has his cattle brought home and housed every night, can have no idea of the sort of work his brother grazier in Australia has to go through. Here, the climate is so mild, that cattle are never housed, but wander in the bush from year's end to year's end. The proprietor of five hundred head of horned cattle, must command the run of five thousand acres of pasture-land, of fair quality, as the grass in the woods of Australia is so thin, that it takes three acres to feed a sheep, and ten for a bullock. He generally employs two men, called stock-keepers, to look after them: these are mounted, and ought to employ their time in riding over and roundabout their master's run, to see that his cattle do not stray, and that his grass is not trespassed on by others. This, however, is more than most of these gentry condescend to do, many of them preferring the company of cattle-stealers and other vagabonds, with whom they are frequently leagued; and if I may judge from the money I have seen in possession of stock-keepers, they share largely in the cattle-stealers' plunder. With the exception of some twenty cows and calves usually kept about the house, to give milk, which are called the milking herd, the grazier sees nothing of his herds but on muster-days, which occur twice a year. For some time previously to muster-day, the stock-keepers have been very busy drawing their herds by degrees as near the stock-yard as possible; and when the day arrives, the whole are driven into the yard to be inspected. All the yearlings are then branded, and fat bullocks are picked out for sale or slaughter. At this time, the stock-keeper and his horse have no sinecure; for the cattle they have to collect, are as wild, and nearly as swift as deer; so much so, that a cattle-hunt in Australia is nearly as much enjoyed by the young men as a fox-hunt in Old England. Some breeds of cattle are much more easily managed than others, being naturally quieter; but, generally speaking, the wild way in which the Australian herds are reared, makes them intractable and troublesome.

In spite of all this thieving and trouble, however, cattle-stock is a good investment for money in ordinary times. In extraordinary times like the last year or two, no investment is safe, except to the man who can hold on till things mend. In 1838, cattle were worth from 3l. 10s. to 5l. per head, for a herd consisting of cows, steers, and heifers from one to three years old, and calves under six months. Very superior herds were worth more; but I speak generally. Since that time, thousands of cattle have been killed and boiled down for their tallow. But times are mending, and this stock, like every other, is not likely to be again so unsaleable.

It is of the greatest possible importance to a grazier, to have his herds near some place where there is communication by water with Sydney. In this respect, Hunter's river and Port Macquarie have the pre-eminence over the rest of the Colony. The possessor of fat cattle, in either of those districts, can at all times send them to market by steam, without their losing much flesh; whereas I knew in 1839, when fodder was so scarce, a man having three hundred head of beasts fit for the knife, running in Wellington valley, which, could he have got them into Sydney, would have brought 8l. per head ready cash, but which were utterly valueless to him, from the impossibility of driving them through a country almost bare of pasture. Had this man been on the banks of either of my favourite rivers, he could have turned his cattle into cash in three days.

The wild way in which cattle are reared in Australia, makes the young steer a troublesome animal to break in for the plough; and then, the absurd system of turning all the working bullocks into the bush to feed after their day's work, adds very much to the farmer's cares. These bullocks are very cunning, and at daylight, when they well know the ploughman will be after them, invariably conceal themselves in some snug corner. I have had men out for hours, looking for a team of bullocks in this way, and have frequently been vexed to see them return as late as noon with only half the number.

Were I again to turn Australian farmer, I would stable my working cattle, keep a man to take care of them, grow ten acres of Lucerne hay to feed them, save their manure, (an article almost universally thrown away in Australia,) get double work out of them, and have the satisfaction of seeing my ploughs going at regular hours, in place of being worried "from July to eternity," as Sam Slick says, by having to search for the cattle in the bush. It often struck me, that the Australian grazier loses a chance of making a good deal of money by neglecting his dairy produce. Had he a regular establishment in the bush where his herds run, to milk the cows and make butter and cheese, it would not only, in my opinion, pay well for the trouble, but would make his cattle much less wild. His having forty or fifty cows brought home every evening to milk, would not only make their calves quiet and tractable, but would also compel the stock-keeper to be more active, would keep him at his duty, and, I feel satisfied, would save the proprietor a great deal in the course of the year. The butter and cheese here are both of excellent quality, and might be made in large quantities; yet, both are regularly imported into Sydney from the Derwent (Van Diemen's Land) and Port Phillip; a state of things the settlers of New South Wales ought to be ashamed of.

Many a fine cattle-run is rendered useless in dry seasons, by want of water. Nature has provided, all over the country, reservoirs (or tanks) for water, which are filled by every heavy rain; and their contents last a long time: still, in a very dry season, these fail; and many a thirsty bullock loses his life by tumbling, from excessive weakness, into one of those pits. Some parts of the country have no tanks, (or water-holes, as they are called,) except a few muddy puddles at the foot of the hills, and thus become unavailing sooner than other parts. This inconvenience might in a great measure be remedied, at trifling cost, by constructing dams at properly chosen places in the ravines or gulleys that intersect the hills from top to bottom, every two or three hundred yards. In one instance, I have seen this plan adopted with success. The owners of property between Sydney and Paramatta are compelled to make tanks, the water in the river being salt, and that procured by digging wells being very little better. Water, Water, is the cry, in dry seasons, all over this otherwise highly favoured country; and till the end of time, this want will prevent New South Wales from becoming a densely populated country.

The horse-fancier may invest a few hundreds very profitably in the purchase of some really good brood mares. From these, he will not only draw a good return for his money, but will also derive a great deal of pleasant pastime in superintending the breaking-in of his colts and fillies. Horse-stock, like every other, has fallen much in price lately, but will doubtless recover itself when times improve. I am acquainted with more than one proprietor who has made no inconsiderable sum of money by rearing horses. There is a constant demand for them; and of late, a good market has been found in India for those suited for cavalry.

Another profitable investment for money is to be found, in Sydney, in the way of mortgage. Ten and twelve per cent, is paid regularly, and security given of an undoubted character,—security that has not in one instance failed the mortgagee, even in the recent desperate times. Large sums may be invested in this way; and for the absent capitalist, it is the mode of investment I would recommend in preference to any other. Bank Shares used to be in great favour with monied men when I was in Australia. The holders have, however, had a severe lesson since then, having suffered seriously by some failures among those establishments.