THE ROUTE OF THE PA8T0RALI8T 97 



a more distant objective. Thus, the tide of settlement 

 that had flowed down the Murrumbidgee and the 

 Murray to below Gundagai and Howlong evaded the 

 stockman's paradise drained by the Wakool and the 

 Edwards. It made the same unobservant blunder in 

 pioneering to Adelaide. And (as is noted by Mr. 

 Favenc, to whom I owe these instances) it made a 

 similar irrational leap on the Darling Downs and left 

 long unoccupied the country between the Lower Con- 

 damine and the Darling. Next it proceeded from the 

 river-frontages to the back country and even skirted 

 the edges of the sandy deserts. A later stage was 

 reached when land that had been despised was perceived 

 to have value for producing fat stock in the winter 

 and spring seasons. A discovery of equal importance 

 was made when it was found that artesian or other 

 springs (for the propriety of the name is disputed by 

 geologists) could correct the niggardliness of Nature 

 and supply her deficiencies. Then rich, but waterless, 

 regions in the interior were taken up. With the opening 

 up of the country by means of railways the wavy or 

 intermittent settlement of it was superseded by a 

 continuous occupation. Examined closely, it might 

 still disclose sUght and swift rhythmical movements, 

 and that " rhythm of motion," which Emerson first 

 enounced and a great philosopher erected into a cosmic 

 principle, would be found exhibited by the pastoral 

 advance throughout Australia. 



