Page:The Boy Travellers in Australasia.djvu/402

378 of Public Instruction in another colony drove a coal-cart in Sydney, and there are dozens of men of prominence who have been shepherds, cattle-drivers, carpenters, bricklayers, and the like. Australia seems to have taken a leaf out of the history of the United States, and been greatly benefited by so doing. It appears to be the antipodes of England in many social customs, just as it is in geographical position and many of its natural features.

"While we were seated on the log, watching the drafting operations, Fred asked Mr. Watson about the daily life of the stockmen on a cattle-run.

"Mr. Watson answered that it was active enough, and no man who engaged in the business need have a bad digestion. The stockman gets his breakfast early in the morning, and immediately after breakfast the horses are brought up. Then he starts out over that part of the run which is assigned to him; he jogs along about five miles an hour, accustoming the cattle to the sight of men, keeping his own mobs inside the boundaries and driving back those of his neighbors, hunting up stray calves, and bringing them home and branding them, and occasionally driving the cattle to the camps, so that they will know what is expected of them when they hear the cracking of the whip.