Cattle Tick and Tick Fever 21 



Durino: the Avet sunimer months when the lowlyin<i coastal lands' are 

 swampy, some, if n,ot all, would seek higher and drier <;razinfr lands 

 inland. Bein<^ unable to cross the Adelaide, they would keep to the 

 left bank, some in straying would ultimately reach and mingle with 

 the nearest station cattle at the time, which would be those of Glencoe. 

 Thus they would gradually, but surely, carry the ticks, and so infest 

 the land with the eggs and larvae. These larvae, though by virtue of 

 gradual infection of station cattle they might not seriously atlect them 

 with the blood ])arasite, would almost certainly seriously afi'ect fresh 

 non-imuiune arrivals that would suddenly be attacked by numbers of 

 the skin parasites, and thus the appearance of redwater amongst the 

 Queensland cattle reaching Glencoe about 188U-1881 seems sufHciently 

 accounted for. Not all these cattle would succumb to the fever. Many 

 would be but slightly affected ; others would recover, though possibly 

 be left as useless. Such travelled cattle, wl:cii they leave the iiiuu, 

 naturally tend to return over the route they have traversed, and seek 

 their original home. In this Avay the tendency would be for the ticks 

 to become carried further inland and l)ackwards gradually towards the 

 Queensland border, as we see was the case. The whole evidence, 

 although circumstantial, incriminates the importation of Asiatic cattle 

 by the British-Australian Telegraph Company in 1872 as the actual 

 agent of the introduction of ticks (Boophi/ns aiiihulatus var. mi crop! us) 

 and tick fever (Babesiasis) to Aiisbraha. As again.st tlie likliliood of 

 the Cable Company's importation of Batavian cattle having introduced 

 ticks, I must quote Mr. H. W. H. Stevens's assurance that during the 

 vcyage these cattle were daily washed with sea-water, and that no ticks 

 were observed on them during the voyage and on their arrival. This 

 may be so, but so far as the sea-water baths are concerned they would 

 not destroy living ticks, judging by experience of the applicationof much 

 more potent solutions, and everyone with eixperience of these parasites 

 knows how easy it is to overlook them when but comparatively few 

 are present. Writing me in regard to this subject, Mr. Stevens 

 states : " Although there was a small mob of English cattle depastured 

 at the Jungle 12 miles from Dainvin, belonging to the Government, I 

 never heard any reference to ticks, nor did I see them on these cattle 

 up to the year 1875. We had also milch cows and other stock in the 

 settlement, but it was not until some years later, say 1880, that any 

 trouble from tick was experienced." Ihis is additional proof that 

 ticks were not originally in the Territory. Such cattle were not mixed 

 with the Brahmas, and probably the infection reached Darwin itself 

 by a circuitous route from the native herd on the Adelaide River. 



Briefly my reasons for suspecting this importation of cattle as the 

 introducers of ticks and redwater to Australia are as follows : — 



1. All cattle in the Dutch Indies are more or less affected with 

 ticks, although naturally imnnme to redwater. 



