Page:The Boy Travellers in Australasia.djvu/400

376 acquiring title under the homestead laws, or perhaps to being bought off by somebody else. In Australia the squatter is the holder of a run which he obtains by lease from the Government for a term of years, paying an annual rental of ten shillings per square mile, with a privilege of renewal, and also with the right of pre-emption or actual purchase.

"What we call a squatter in America is here a 'free selector;' he has the privilege of selecting land not already occupied for agricultural purposes, and between the squatters and the free selectors there is a feeling of great hostility. The laws of the colony have been subject to a great deal of change in the last twenty years; the squatters feel that they have been unfairly treated, and we heard many stories of downright hardship.

"Into this question of the rights of land-owners in Australia we will not enter, as the discussion would be an interminable one. More interesting to the boys at home will be the performance of drafting cattle from the herd.

"A small mob of cattle was separated from the herd and driven away a little distance to serve as the nucleus of the draft-mob. Then the cattle-dealer and two of the stockmen rode into the herd and selected the animals they wanted; each man was mounted on a good 'camp-horse,' one used to cutting out cattle, and it was interesting to see the intelligence of the horses in their work. The men selected the bullocks they wanted, and then edged them out in the direction of the draft-mob; most of the bullocks were rowdy, and gave the men a lively chase before they submitted to be separated from their fellows.

"The horse followed the bullock wherever he went, as though the latter was leading him. Over rocks, fallen trees, and among upright ones went the bullocks, with men and horses after them, and it was a wonder that none of the men had their necks broken in the chase. Accidents do happen, however, and sometimes they are fatal; one occurred at this very place a few months ago, a stockman being killed by his horse falling and then rolling-over him. He was a graduate of Cambridge College, in England, the son of a gentleman of good position but small fortune, and had come to Australia to make his way in the world.

"In speaking of this incident Mr. Watson said that a considerable proportion of the stockmen in Australia were men of education and of good families, who had come to the new country because it afforded better means of advancement than they could hope for at home. It is no disgrace in Australia for a man to work with his hands for an honest living, any more than it is in the new States and Territories of the