THE BULLOCK-DRIVER 207 



and are employed as ofE-siders, but aliens of the white, 

 yellow, or brown races never rise above being " finished 

 bunglers." 



The bullock-driver was a sunburnt, healthy-looking 

 man, of tali and muscular figure (height was needed for 

 the successful wielding of the whip), clad in a home- 

 made flannel shirt and moleskin trousers, wearing 

 usually a cabbage-tree hat and sometimes also a Parra- 

 matta frock, which ma}^ bo conceived to repeat the 

 English peasant's smock. The assistant blackboy was 

 similarly dressed, but wore a gaudier shirt. Both rode 

 on horseback when the journey was long, but where a 

 diflficult place had to be negotiated the driver descended 

 to terra fir ma. 



When the bullocks yoked up to start on their short, 

 but lengthy day's journey, there was much running 

 about, shouting, and swearing. The whip was freely 

 used, and every lash left a long, deep cut on the hide of 

 the animal. In driving there were great differences in 

 skill. With an amateur in charge, the team would move 

 at its own pace, but when the true driver appeared, the 

 bullocks straightened themselves and instantly obeyed 

 the word of command. He did not walk up and down 

 his team, but was where he was wanted, pushing on a 

 laggard, or urging the polers over a stiff place. The 

 leaders and polers showed themselves docile and obe- 

 dient to the word of the driver, says another old bush- 

 man ; but the bullock, according to a third, is, on 

 occasion, the most exasperating animal that man has 

 ever used as an instrument. Even the best team, by 

 its perversity, may '* reduce " an irascible driver to " a 

 state of foaming idiocy," or impel him towards the 

 boundaries of insanity. The craft would have been 

 called, by the medievals, a " mystery." At one place the 

 driver will issue an imperious call : " Stand up. Tiger ; 

 get on, Snowy," in stentorian tones. As they near a 

 steep and apparently unscalable barrier, he addresses 

 Spot and Mouse, Brindle and Nobby, in terms of en- 

 dearment, and the scene that follows has been described 



