THE EVOLUTION OF THE STATION 71 



spaces, these western, northern, and north-western runs 

 range in area from 1,000 to 9,000 square miles ; they are 

 separated from one another by great stretches of un- 

 trodden bush-land that may be from 20 to 100 miles in 

 breadth, marked by a faint track that leads from one 

 to another. They may thus be compared with the 

 vast estancias of South America, where a single in- 

 dividual (like General Rosas) may be lord of seventy -four 

 square leagues of land. The South American, however, 

 may own as many as 300,000 head of cattle," * while the 

 Australian stations are credited with only some 70,000 

 cattle, which produce 20,000 calves a year. All of these 

 runs are still fenceless, like the early runs, and their 

 boundaries are creeks, rivers, and mountains.! 



* Darwin, Voyage of the Adventure, chs. iv. viii. 



f General Rosas's estancia seems to have been exceptional 

 in its extent. Another that was seen by Darwin was only two 

 and a half square leagues in extent, and had only 3,000 cattle. 

 Its boundaries were the river Plata and two impassable brooks. 

 Sydney Morning Herald, April 30, 1910. 



