THE NOMAD 185 



and returned to his native Scotland. Once more he 

 was tempted to the Antipodes, but this time to New 

 Zealand, where in the late seventies (he was there in 

 1877) he settled in the barren AVaikato district of the 

 North Island. Of the two well-known station-partners, 

 Beck and Brown, Brown travelled from Canal Creek 

 with sheep, Beck remaining in charge at Canal Creek. 

 Going in search of a run, Brown pulled up at Dogwood 

 Creek, which was the furthest out station where sheep 

 grazed. Beck and Brown had taken up 1,100 square 

 miles of land, but could not for a long time occupy so 

 great extent of country. They were far from their base 

 of supplies ; labour was dear and hardly to be procured ; 

 there were no neighbours within 100 miles. Brown 

 wandered from place to place with his sheep — sometimes 

 a year here, at another a year there. For two years 

 he settled in Gidemhay's country, which was then un- 

 occupied and still in a state of nature, with no roads 

 beyond, but only a track. Not till 1856 was the vast 

 area (of the 1,100 square miles) formed, and then it was 

 sub-divided into four stations.* 



In certain parts of Australia the early nomadic move- 

 ment is constant. The overlander and the bullock- 

 driver or the sheep-drover are the descendants of the 

 Kirghiz and the Bedouins. " A Riverina Road " 

 witnesses their daily passage : — 



" A land of camps where seldom is sojourning, 

 Where men, like the dim fathers of our race. 

 Halt for a time, and next day, unreturning, 

 Fare ever on apace." 



Mobs of sheep and cattle are driven in search of pas- 

 ture. 



'• The sheep are travelling for the grass, and travelling very 



slow ; 

 They may be at Mundaroon now, or past the Overflow, 

 Or tramping down the black-soil flats across by Waddiwong." 



* Babtley, Pioneering Reminiscences, pp. 185-6. 



