XIV INTEODUCTIOK. 



game is lost, and a man cannot depend at all upon the 

 natives in the Melbourne district for assistance. There 

 are indeed but few left, for disease and intemperance are 

 sadly thinning their ranks, and these have become so 

 lazy and fond of grog, since their intercourse with the 

 white man, that they care little for work ; and if they do 

 bring you in a couple of ducks, or a bag of eels, they 

 know their full value. The shooter here must trust en- 

 tirely to his own exertions, and if he does chance to " drop 

 on " a little lot of game, keep it to himself, for there is 

 now as much competition in this respect as any other. 



"When I first commenced shooting, our great drawback 

 was the difficulty of finding a market for the game. 

 Melbourne was our only mart, and as we had then no 

 horse, and no means of getting the game up without car- 

 rying it ourselves, a journey into town on foot at night, 

 with a heavy swag of game (for the small game in the 

 summer must be sold early in the day after it is killed), 

 after a hard day's shooting, was no joke ; now, however, 

 there are hawkers at every fishing-station along the coast, 

 who will buy the game at a fair price, and, as the country 

 opens out, there will be many other places, where the 

 shooter can make a far better living than in the vicinity 

 of Melbourne. But let him be camped where he may, 

 he should by all means endeavour to keep a horse, for 

 many a weary mile's walk will this save him. An old 

 " crawler," good enough for his work, will cost him 

 but a trifle, and a season's keep in the bush stand him 

 in little more than a pair of hobbles or a tether-rope. 



