EFFECT OF SETTLEMENT UPON INDIGENOUS VEGETATION. 215 
The amount of hurt done to the surface of a hillside by a herd 
of cattle rushing down in very wet weather, must be seen to be 
appreciated. The soil is cut away and poached into mud, and 
large quantities of herbage destroyed. A heavy downpour of 
rain coming soon after will convert the place into something 
resembling the bed of a mountain torrent more than a hillside 
pasture. 
As to what effect the surface alterations have upon the vegeta- 
tion, I have already spoken in Division I. 
(c) Alteration in soil caused by pasturing stock. 
This occurs in two ways: first, by taking constituents from the 
soil; and second, by adding other substances to it. 
With regard to sheep, the enormous quantity of wool yearly 
taken from the soil, and in lieu of which nothing is added but the 
droppings of the animals, must result in a change in the compo- 
sition of the soil such as will render it less suited for the growth 
of the original vegetation. And with cattle and sheep alike, the 
same is the case with regard to the flesh consumed by the inhabi- 
tants of the colony (and indeed many outside of it) and the skins, 
etc., exported. In the case of the native animals, most of the sub- 
stances removed from the ground are returned to it again in their 
excreta, or in the bodies of the animals themselves at their death. 
But now, taking wool into consideration, we have some hundreds 
of millions of pounds of wool sent out of Australia annually. For 
instance Mr. T. A. Coghlan gives 306,308,699 ibs. as the total 
export of wool for 1890 for the six colonies. And this goes on, 
and increases year after year, while little or nothing is added to 
replace the valuable constituents which in the economy of the 
animal are converted into wool. 
I have not the figures showing the amount of flesh consumed, 
but taking the population of Australia as 4,000,000, and the 
amount consumed as averaging lib. per week (manifestly a very 
low estimate) we have 208,000,000 ibs. of flesh taken from the soil 
every year (omitting consideration of horns, hoofs, hides, bones, 
