Page:The Boy Travellers in Australasia.djvu/390

366 and horses neighing in the yards, and everything betokened activity.

"We went in the direction of the yards, and as we did so a black boy came dashing up behind a drove of thirty or forty horses which he had brought in from the great paddock. They were intended for the day's riding, and one of the men about the place told us that it is the custom on an Australian station to bring up the horses every morning in this way, and turn them out again after the selections for the day have been made.

"The stock-keepers were on hand to pick out their horses, and we watched the work with a good deal of interest. Australian horses have a bad reputation, and as we saw the men going into the yard we felt sure there would be a lively time; but, contrary to our expectations, the animals quietly submitted, and were saddled and bridled without the least resistance. The horses are cunning creatures and know their masters, so that when an old hand approaches them they thoroughly understand the folly of resistance, as it is sure to bring punishment.

"It was very different the next morning when a new chum went in to catch a horse. With the aid of a black boy he cornered it off in the yard, and then, with the bridle over his arm, approached it slowly and with soothing words, which might as well have been addressed to a grisly bear. Australian horses are cruelly treated all their lives, and consequently they nearly all have vicious tempers, on which kindness is wholly thrown away. The horse immediately understood the man to be a stranger in the