THE OVERLANDER 189 



and drays. A week afterwards the station in the in- 

 terior was reached, the cattle were collected by the stock- 

 men, and delivery taken. Then followed the trip to 

 Melbourne as before. They proceeded by easy stages. 

 The party would consist of the purchaser and his 

 brother, two friends, and nine men. It was no light 

 job. Masters and men divided the night-watches 

 among them, burnt large fires, and rode around the 

 cattle. They worked Hke slaves, night and day. They 

 rode from daylight to dark. Half the night, at other 

 times, they watched the night through, for they could 

 not trust the men. Travelhng for seven weeks, by easy 

 stages of eight or ten miles a day, they reached Mel- 

 bourne. 



When the market was glutted in Melbourne, two 

 gentlemen would join together to form a cattle expe- 

 dition in order to push on to Adelaide and capture the 

 market there. But there the cattle market would be 

 found to be depressed, and the expedition would be 

 recalled. 



The cattle thus waiting for a purchaser would be 

 placed on a temporary run near Melbourne. A number 

 of squatters kept large herds of cattle in depot at Port 

 Albert in the neighbourhood of Melbourne, whether 

 for sale or for forming new stations. But cattle were 

 then a drug in the market, and unsaleable at anything 

 like a remunerative price. A little later large flocks 

 and herds of sheep and cattle, brought across country 

 from New South Wales, were camped around Melbourne 

 for sale. All values had fallen. Out of these gentlemen- 

 overlanders developed the professional cattle-men, who 

 grew into the cattle-kings. 



Sometimes the overlanders struck out in an altogether 

 new direction. Gippsland had lately been discovered, 

 first by McMillan, and again by Count Strzelecki. The 

 problem was to find a practicable route for stock from 

 the newly discovered country to Melbourne. A meeting 

 of Overlanders was held some time in 1842 with the 

 object of discovering such a route and, at the same time, 



