THE SQUATTER AND THE SETTLER. 



2 13 



and fire. The systematic storage of water throughout the country is in part 

 mitigating the one, and already in Victoria no selector is more than three 

 miles from permanent water for his stock. And as- irrigation is coming 

 apace, the fire risk, such as it is, will be diminished. Even now it is not 

 serious. Not one farmer will be burned 

 out, but at the same time a watch is 

 required to see that no flame gets the 

 upper hand. When a man burns off 

 stubble he must give notice to his neigh- 

 bours. 



Some of the most dramatic incidents 

 of bush life occur when an alarm of fire 

 has been given, and 

 the entire neighbour- 

 hood turns out to 

 beat down the confla- 

 gration with bushes. 

 The males form a 

 line and work with 

 all their energy to 

 stamp out the flames, 

 and the women and 

 children help by sup- 

 plying the toilers 

 with refreshments and 

 with a fresh stock of 

 boughs and bushes. 



'Black Thursday' 

 (February 5, 1851), 

 the memorable day 

 of the colonies, would 

 be impossible now. 

 On that dread occa- 

 sion Southern Au- 

 stralia was all ablaze, 

 there was a sad loss 

 of life, and the lurid 

 atmosphere was no- 

 ticeable as far away 



as New Zealand. Bishop Selwyn (who was afterwards translated to Lichfield) 

 told the writer that he was in his yacht off the New Zealand coast at the 

 time, and he was struck by the appearance of a fiery glow in the sky 

 towards the island continent. 



A Bush Welcome 



