BY THE HON. A. NORTON, M.L.C. 89 



Before the cattle were ready for us to start I crossed one 

 day to South Grafton having to ride up the road thence 

 towards Armidale for a couple of horses which, if we could get 

 them, we were to take with the cattle. I crossed the lovely 

 Clarence River in a boat and landed amongst the few buildings 

 in the South Grafton township, A Mr. Bawden kindly 

 supplied me with a saddle-horse to go as far as Mr. Aitken's 

 station. There I borrowed another and got that evening 

 to Nimboyda station, having crossed the Oorara River a few 

 miles back. Mr. Therold, the manager, like all others in the 

 district, was most hospitable. My journey from South Grafton 

 that day covered only 2B miles. On the following morning the 

 river was in flood, and as it was an uninviting, swift-running 

 stream, I waited until the afternoon, and at 4 p.m. started on 

 with the post-boy. Of course there was a Big Hill to surmount; 

 every road from the coast to New England has its big hill, so 

 big that most men walk and lead their horses to the top. We 

 did this, and rain drenched us as we did so. The road for some 

 distance followed the saddle of a mountain spur, appropriately 

 called the Razorback. Some distance down one of the steep 

 slopes of the hill, a large boiler lay against two or three trees ; 

 this was being taken with the machinery for a mill which was 

 to be erected somewhere up the road, but the driver had a 

 difficulty with his bullocks and the dray on which was the 

 boiler overturned. The boiler remained as a warning to the 

 bullock-drivers of the future, for it was impossible to bring it to 

 the top of the spur again. We travelled only 13 miles from 

 Nimboyda to Peter Shea's inn, but we did not reach the latter 

 place until late at night. On the following day I rode another 

 13 miles to Parrott's, having crossed Blake's River on the way. 

 This stream is — or was — the boundary dividing the Clarence 

 district from that of New England. Here then I was again in the 

 latter district, and the country was similar to much more on the 

 eastern slopes ; splendid red volcanic soil, and giant stringy- 

 barks of great height and girth, and enough of them to build a 

 city ; around their butts a confusion of fallen logs, burnt-out 

 stump holes, and luxuriant undergrowth, and an abundance of 

 green wattle in the less thickly timbered spaces. Here I was 

 supposed to pick up one of the horses of which I had come in 

 search, but the animal had got away with a wild mob, in 

 running which in such country it would be easy to cripple two 

 or three others. We tried that day and two others to run her 



