COMMERCIAL AND INDUSTRIAL. 



1389 



established their ramps, and, in short, " squatted down " outside the range of all 

 constituted authority. It can be easily imagined that boundaries were ill-defined, and 

 that the ownership of stock was a little ha/.y, and that quarrels between neighbours 

 were frequent. As time went on, the example thus set of going farther out was followed 

 by other owners of sheep and cattle, who, finding their flocks and herds increasing 

 beyond all reasonable limits, or the capacity of the country to carry them, were compelled 

 to relieve the pressure by sending a portion of their stock farther afield. The younger 

 sons of the better classes of the colony, as well as the new-comers who had been 

 attracted to Australia by the fascination of the free life under new conditions there, 

 readily entered upon this service. "Squatting" in those days was rougher than it is now. 



* 



PRESSING WOOL FOR SHIPMENT. 



The railways had not opened up the country, the blacks were troublesome and dangerous, 

 and the dingoes with which the bush was infested the only wild animals, by the way, 

 that interfered with the shepherd's charge in Australia at times made great havoc 

 among the flocks. Communication with the settled districts was not frequent, as may be 

 supposed ; provisions were often scarce, and the search for good water was not alwa\ s 

 rewarded with the success that the enterprise of those early days of the pastoralists 

 would seem to have deserved. The old-time squatter was not, as now, the lord 

 of boundless acres, sending his wool to the sea-port every season, and commanding the 

 luxuries of life on his well-appointed station as readily as he might in a first-class hotel. 

 The leaders of these enterprises were in no respects better off than their shepherds or 

 stock-men, and many years had to pass away before their courage in opening up the 



