The Now Familiar Corrugated-Iron-Built Town,
With Its Streets Inches Deep In Dust Under A Blazing Sun, Its Incessant
Swarms Of Flies, The Clashing Of The "Stamps" On The Mines, And The
General "Never-Never" Appearance Of The Place, Impressed Us With Feelings
The Reverse Of Pleasant.
The building that struck me most was the bank - a
small iron shanty with a hession partition dividing it into office and
living room, the latter a hopeless chaos of cards, candle ends, whiskey
bottles, blankets, safe keys, gold specimens, and cooking utensils.
The
bank manager had evidently been entertaining a little party of friends the
previous night, and though its hours had passed, and a new day had dawned,
the party still continued. Since that time it has been my lot to witness
more than one such evening of festivity!
On leaving Southern Cross we travelled with another company of
adventurers, one of whom, Mr. Davies, an old Queensland squatter, was our
partner in several subsequent undertakings.
The monotony of the flat timber-clad country was occasionally relieved by
the occurrence of large isolated hills of bare granite. But for these the
road, except for camels, could never have been kept open; for they
represented our sources of water supply. On the surface of the rocks
numerous holes and indentations are found, which after rain, hold water,
and besides these, around the foot of the outcrops, "soaks," or shallow
wells, are to be found.
What scenes of bitter quarrels these watering-places have witnessed!
The selfish striving, each to help himself, the awful sufferings of man
and beast, horses and camels mad with thirst, and men cursing the country
and themselves, for wasting their lives and strength in it; but they have
witnessed many an act of kindness and self-denial too.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 7 of 468
Words from 1784 to 2084
of 127189
