I 
A LEAKY BOAT 
ii 
notwithstanding the remark which a passenger made on 
board, that I looked as if I had been through one famine 
and was half-way through another. But who could fail 
to get well in such a winter climate ? 
From Rockhampton I caught the Wodonga to 
Mackay, and what a difference from the Maranoa ; 
she is a large, comfortable steamer, and I found myself 
in a cabin with a handsome, fresh-looking English girl, 
going to join her husband at Townsville. He is taking 
up land in the far north, and I cannot help thinking 
how soon her roses will fade, and how little she knows 
of the life she is going to. 
The next morning we reached Mackay, but were too 
late to catch the tide, and could not steam up the 
Pioneer River, there are so many sandbanks at its 
mouth. The pilot, who is also the harbour-master, 
offered me a seat in his boat, up to the town. There 
were a good many of us in her, and she began to 
leak so badly that we had to get on to a tender 
anchored near and wait until she was baled out : then 
into her again, and for five weary miles these poor 
men had to row us against wind and tide, under a hot 
tropical sun — every now and then having to stop and 
bale out again to keep us from sinking altogether. 
We were exceedingly glad to find ourselves on 
dry land at last The town of Mackay is small, flat 
and uninteresting, but there are a great many sugar 
plantations round it, and now that this industry has 
taken a new lease of life it will probably become an 
important town. The first person who greeted us was 
a Kanaka, paddling a small boat (these are the people 
who are mostly employed on the plantations). The 
next scene we came upon was a man trying to drive a 
buck-jumping horse in a cart, a novel sort of amusement 
of which we never saw the end, for we had to hurry on. 
