160 THE SWAN RIVER DISTRICT 



resin. It burns fiercely like pine, and fires made with it 

 blaze brightly, and crackle in a series of small explosions. 

 It is this property of making good fires that has largely 

 led to its destruction. I am not aware that the wood is 

 used for any commercial or manufacturing purposes ; but it 

 seems admirably fitted for many of those purposes to 

 which hard woods are applied. 



Having resolved to make a little expedition into the 

 interior, I began my preparations at the end of the summer, 

 by engaging a couple of blacks and a white man as servants, 

 and purchasing horses fit for the purposed journey. The 

 white man, Thomas Hamblin, was an old stockman who 

 had had great experience on the back-runs. The black- 

 fellows, John Chuckabe and Jacky Whiteboy, were, of 

 course, men who had long forsaken the wilds and the 

 habits of their untamed countrymen. They had both been 

 in the employ of stock-farmers as cattle-hunters, i.e., hunters 

 up of stray cows and bullocks which wander away some- 

 times, and both bore good characters for stability and 

 willingness — great points in the disposition of a black 

 servant. 



These two natives were engaged chiefly to lead and 

 look after the pack-horses, of which we had four, besides 

 the four riding horses. These carried stores of tea, sugar, 

 biscuit, tobacco, and flour for three weeks ; in addition to a 

 couple of picks, shovels, axes, and other tools, blankets and 

 a little extra clothing, and a bottle or two of spirits and 

 medicine. 



Tea, sugar, and tobacco seem, at first sight, to be 

 luxuries, but the influence of such articles on the health 

 and spirits of a party travelling in the bush can only be 

 appreciated by those who have had a bush experience. 

 The soothing influence to the mind of tea and tobacco is 

 of the highest importance to a party of men in the lone 

 wilderness, and a supply of these luxuries often wards off 

 the breakdown of men wearied with the monotony and 

 hardship of incessantly travelling in such country as is 

 usually characteristic of the Australian bush. The want of 

 tobacco is especially hurtful to men who, like stockmen 



