s are created. When
underground channels have been begun, coursing streams of water assist
the chemical action and wear away the rock by simple friction. With
these facts in mind, the Fish River Caves cease to be miraculous
formations, as some have imagined them, and are only marvels,--giving us
tangible evidence of the many thousands of years which must have
transpired during their creation.

In the broad space of country lying between the coast and the Alpine
range, of which the Blue Mountains form a part, there are many
sheep-runs of large proportions, upon which are sheep in almost fabulous
numbers. The land here seems especially adapted in its natural condition
to the raising and sustenance of these profitable animals, though it is
also susceptible of a much higher degree of improvement and cultivation.
Our observation was confined mainly to the country nearest the borders
of New South Wales and Victoria. Here one man, a thrifty Scotchman from
"Auld Reekie," with whom we became acquainted, was the owner of over one
hundred and twenty thousand sheep, and several other men had more than
half that number each. Forty or fifty thousand belonging to one person
is not considered at all remarkable in this great South-Land of
Australia. When it is remembered that each one of these animals must be
sheared annually, the enormous labor involved in caring for such a stock
begins to be realized.

In the clipping season, bands of men sometimes numbering forty or fifty,
go from one run to another to shear the sheep, and become very expert at
the business, realizing a handsome sum of money at the close of each
season. Some of these men invest their money in flocks, and thus
gradually become possessed of runs of their own. Several such instances
were named to us. Such "a neighbor" (any one within ten miles is called
"a neighbor") "began as a clipper two or three years ago, and now he
owns his twenty thousand sheep." The annual natural increase is fully
seventy-five per cent per annum. Some clippers are not so careful of
their means, but after the season is finished they hie away to Sydney,
Melbourne, or some other populous centre, where they drink and gamble
away their money much faster than they earned it.

A smart professional shearer will clip one hundred sheep in a day of ten
hours. The highest price paid for such service is five dollars a day, or
rather five dollars per each hundred animals sheared. These men often
work over