2o6 



AUSTRALIAN PICTURES. 



quite unfitted for rearing wool-bearing sheep. For fully a quarter of a 

 century the hairy sheep of India and the Cape of Good Hope were bred 

 by the colonists ; and it was not till Captain McArthur sold Australian grown 

 merino wool in the London market at the rate of 5.?. per lb., that the 

 sheep-owners became aware of the splendid industry that awaited develop- 

 ment. Merino sheep then became the rage, and large sums of money were 

 spent in importing the finest specimens of the breed from the purest flocks 

 in Germany. In a few years Australia took her place at the head of the 



list of fine wool-pro- 

 ducing countries, and 

 has held it ever since. 

 The world never before 

 saw merino wool so soft, 

 so bright, or so long in 

 staple. It produced a 

 revolution in the manu- 

 facture of woollen fa- 

 brics, and it brought 

 within the reach of 

 the artisan cloths of a 

 quality that only the 

 wealthy could afford in 

 the previous century. 

 This great work has 

 been effected by the 

 Australian squatters. 



The management 

 of live-stock in the old 

 squatting days was 

 thorougly patriarchal. 

 The sheep were kept 

 in flocks varying from 

 800 to 2000 head, ac- 

 cording to the character 

 of the country, tended 

 all day by shepherds, and inclosed at night in hurdle yards. As a further 

 protection against lurking blackfellow or prowling dingo, a man slept in a small 

 wooden portable cabin, called a watch-box, close by the sheep. It was no 

 uncommon thing for the men to be roused up two or three times during the 

 night ; but, as they had plenty of time to sleep during the day, this was thought 

 no great hardship. The shepherds led an inexpressibly dreary life ; they were 

 out at daybreak, and, having turned their sheep in the proper direction, they 

 followed them all day, seldom exchanging a word with a human being till 



A Merino Sheep. 



