CH. I.] A SQUATTER. 29 



of SSS"^, to Loder's station, distant about six miles from our 

 encampment. Here stood a tolerable house of slabs, with a 

 good garden adjoining it, in charge of an old stockman and 

 his equally aged wife. This man was named by the blacks 

 " Longanay,'' (Long Ned).* The station was situated on a 

 fine running stream called the Cuerindie, and the state of 

 the sheep and cattle about it proved the excellence of the 

 pasture. We passed the limits of the territory open to the 

 selection of settlers, in crossing the Liverpool range ; and 

 the more remote country is not likely to come into the 

 market soon. Such stations as this of Loder were held, 

 therefore, only by the right of pre-occupancy, which has been 

 so generally recognized among the colonists themselves, 

 that the houses, &c. of these stations are sometimes dis- 

 posed of for valuable considerations, although the land is 

 liable to be sold by the government. A native named 

 *' Jemmy," whom I met with here, agreed to conduct me by 

 the best way, for carts, to Wallamoul on the Peel, for which 

 service I undertook to reward him with a tomahawk. f It 

 was necessary, that we should ford the Cuerindie, which 

 flows to the north-west, and notwithstanding the steepness 

 of its banks, we effected a passage without difiiculty, guided 

 by " Jemmy." One mile beyond this, another creek lay in 

 our way. It was smaller, but much more formidable and 

 difficult to cross, for the bottom and banks consisted of blue- 

 mud or clay, half-hardened on the surface, yet soft and yield- 

 ing below. It was not without considerable delay, that we 

 effected the passage, for a wheel of one of the carts stuck 

 fast in the mud, and it was necessary to dig away the earth 

 in front of the other wheel before we could release the vehi- 

 cle. At length, every thing was got across, and we fortu- 



* His wife, whom the natives had told me of as " a tohite gin," was perhaps 

 the only white woman then dwelling beyond the mountains. She was en- 

 veloped in numerous flannel petticoats, and presented a singular confi-ast to 

 the undraped slender native females, some of whom with children I saw about 

 the place, and who appeared to be treated by her with great kindness. 



t A small axe used foi' ruimcrous purposes by the natives of Australia. 



