his oxen each one of them, their characters and 

 what they could do. I think he loved them too ; 

 at any rate, it was his care for them that day 

 handling them himself instead of leaving it to his 

 boys that killed him. 



Other men had other methods. Some are by 

 nature brutal ; others, only undiscerning or im- 

 patient. Most of them sooner or later realise that 

 they are only harming themselves by ill-treating their 

 own cattle ; and that is one but only the meanest 

 reason why the white man learns to drive better 

 than the native, who seldom owns the span he drives ; 

 the better and bigger reasons belong to the qualities 

 of race and the effects of civilisation. But, with all 

 this, experience is as essential as ever ; a beginner 

 has no balanced judgment, and that explains some- 

 thing that I heard an old transport-rider say in the 

 earliest days something which I did not understand 

 then, and heard with resentment and a boy's uppish 

 scorn. 



" The Lord help the beginner's boys and bullocks : 

 starts by pettin', and ends by killin'. Too clever 

 to learn ; too young to own up ; swearin' and sloggin' 

 all the time ; and never sets down to think until the 

 boys are gone and the bullocks done ! " 



I felt hot all over, but had learned enough to keep 

 quiet ; besides, the hit was not meant for me, although 

 the tip, I believe, was : the hit was at some one else 

 who had just left us one who had been given a start 

 before he had gained experience and, naturally, was 

 then busy making a mess of things himself and laying 



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