"LAMBING DOWN" A CHEQUE 267 



I suppose they would proceed to Bowen, or some other 

 township, and " lamb down " {i.e., waste in drink) the 

 wages due to them. Wages are almost invariably paid 

 by cheques. These cheques are handed by the recipient 

 to the landlord of the inn where the drunken spree takes 

 place. That individual nearly always contrives to delay 

 handing the change to the customer until the latter is too 

 drunk to see clearly, much less to count, and by and by 

 the foolish fellow is turned out of the house penniless, 

 robbed by the innkeeper and the loafers who live on the 

 hard-working fools, who seem to become temporarily 

 insane the instant they enter a dram-shop, so madly 

 anxious are they to " shout " for, or treat, any dirty fellow 

 who chooses to sponge on them. It may seem a drastic 

 suggestion, but it would be a wise and just regulation if 

 bankers were requested not to cash stock-riders' and 

 shepherds' cheques when passed through the hands of 

 innkeepers. I do not mean that all colonial innkeepers 

 are dishonest men. I do not hesitate to say that those of 

 them who permit farm-servants to " shout " on their 

 premises are. 



The first thing our two friends asked for was whisky, 

 of which, however, they obtained but little, for most of 

 that brought with us had already been drunk. A life in 

 the wilds seems to breed an irrepressible longing for 

 fiery spirits ; and I regret to say that, outrageous as are 

 some of the tales I have heard or read of American 

 topers, we have men in our country who can claim, 

 without boasting, to be the heroes of far more dreadful 

 orgies than any of those related of American cow-boys. 

 Whisky by the glass and the bottle ! There are seasoned 

 stock-riders and miners among us who would think scorn 

 of sitting down to a less quantity than a pailful, and there 

 is an authenticated instance of a party of five miners who 

 had a thirty-six gallon barrel of whisky sent up to camp 

 to them, and on its arrival never left it until they had 

 drank every drop. Strange to say, they survived the 

 hoggish feast, which is a good illustration of the extreme 

 toughness of the Australian miner. 



