18 A NATURALIST IN CANNIBAL LAND 



the opportunity to learn to swim in a back-water, 

 or billabong, as the Australian word is. 



Many of the men in the " back country " of 

 Australia who tramp from one station to another 

 do not wish for steady work. They are known as 

 " sundowners " because they try to shape their 

 movements so as to arrive at a station at sundown. 

 It is the custom for most stations to give a " sun- 

 downer " rations sufficient to support life for a day. 

 Thus it is possible to tramp the " back country " with- 

 out having either work or any means. But during 

 my six weeks of " humping bluey " I never cadged 

 for tucker. Having 6 or 7 in my pocket I was 

 able to buy what I wanted. 



Finally, at a station called Elderslie on the Diamin- 

 tina River, I got a job repairing some fences which 

 had been knocked down by the floods. While there 

 I saved a little money, and having received some more 

 money from my father in England for the Natural 

 History specimens that I had sent home, I made up 

 my mind to strike out on my own. I bought a 

 horse and a gun and joined a kangaroo- shooting 

 party in the Bladensburg ranges outside Winton. 

 Kangaroo-shooting was at that time a fairly profit- 

 able occupation. The kangaroos were so numerous 

 as to be a pest to the pastoralists, and so it was the 

 custom to pay a bonus of 2s. for each kangaroo 

 destroyed. On producing the scalp of a kangaroo 

 at the Land Board Offices you were able to draw 



