length, greener grass
indicated that the late rains had fallen more heavily there, and at about
twelve miles I reached the station situated on a rather clear and
elevated part of the right bank of the Bogan. Here the stock of water had
been augmented by a small dam, and a channel cut from a hollow part of
the clay surface conducted any rain water into the principal pool, where
the water was very good. We had now arrived at the lowest station on the
Bogan. The line of demarcation between the squatter and the savage had
been once much lower down, at Muda, and even at Nyingan (see INFRA), but
the incursions of the blacks had rendered these lower stations untenable,
without more support than the Colonial government was able to afford.
There, at least, the squatter is not only not the real discoverer of the
country, but not even the occupier of what had been discovered. The map
will illustrate how it happens that the colonists cannot keep their
ground here from the marauding disposition of the savage tribes. [* See
map of Eastern Australia--INFRA.] The Darling is peopled more permanently
by these natives, than perhaps any other part of Australia: affording as
it does a more certain supply of food. It is only in seasons of very high
flood that this food, the fish, cannot be got at, and that they are
obliged to resort to the higher country at such seasons, between the
Darling, the Lachlan, and the Bogan. It also happens that the cattle of
the squatter are most accessible from the soft state of the ground; the
stockmen cannot even ride to protect them. The tribes from the Lachlan
and Macquarie meet on these higher lands, and when tribes assemble they
are generally ready for any mischief. The Bogan is particularly within
their reach, and when wet seasons do occur the cattle of squatters must
be very much at the mercy of the savages. The tribes from the Darling are
extremely hostile, even to the more peaceably disposed hilltribes near
the colony, and several stations have already been abandoned in
consequence of the outrages of the aborigines from the Darling and
Lachlan. Nothing is so likely to increase these evils as the precarious
or temporary occupation of such a country. The supply of water must
continue uncertain so long as there is no inducement from actual
possession to form dams, and by means of art to secure the full benefit
of the natural supply. Hence it is that half a million of acres, covered
with the finest grass, h