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Updated: June 2, 2025
All these creeks were supposed to be tributaries of the Batavia River. The party had only to unpack the horses twice during the day, and made a capital stage, but not without paying for it, for even the Black-boys shewed signs of fatigue. Their legs and feet, as well as those of most of the party were in a frightful state, cut in peices by the thorny vines which covered the line of march.
A good many prospectors, depending on their black-boys almost entirely, wander from one range of hills to another, dodge here and there for water, keep no count or reckoning, and only return by the help of their guide when the "tucker-bags" are empty; others make a practice of standing two sticks in the ground on camping at night, to remind them of the course they have travelled during the day and must resume in the morning.
The cattle were all gathered this morning, save 10, for which Frank Jardine left two of the black-boys to seek and then follow the party. To his great annoyance they came on at night without them. The course to-day was N.N.E. over boggy tea-tree flats, and low stringy-bark ridges.
One of the black-boys, whose turn at watching had just come, was already riding round with one leg cocked lazily over the pommel of the saddle, and chanting a coroboree dirge, both to let the cattle know that he was about and because he was happy. The other boy was waiting for Sax's horse. Sax dismounted and noticed that the man standing near him was Eagle.
The cattle were counted and some found missing; the Black-boys were therefore sent in search of them. A beast was killed, cut up, and jerked, a tedious task, from the absence of the sun. Although there were only a few light showers towards evening, the air was damp; the meat, therefore, had to be smoked under a covering. 'February' 13.
The improved travelling allowed them to make the stage of 9 miles in less than four hours, and turn out early. Before starting, Barney, one of the black-boys had to be corrected by the Leader for misconduct, which had the effect of restoring discipline. An observation taken at night gave the latitude 18 degrees 1 minute 59 seconds, which gave about 41 miles of Northing. 'October' 16.
Breaden had with him his black-boy "Warri," an aboriginal from the McDonnell Ranges of Central Australia, a fine, smart-looking lad of about sixteen years, whom Breaden had trained, from the age of six, to ride and track and do the usual odd jobs required of black-boys on cattle stations. I had intended getting a discharged prisoner from the native jail at Rotnest.
There are, unfortunately, no fences in this country, but there are a thousand worse obstructions fallen trees, thick clumps of black-boys extending right across the plain, and therefore not to be avoided; woods through which the game dashes at speed, and where you must follow at the risk of striking head or limbs against the trunks or branches of trees, or else you will be thrown out.
It seemed incredible that fifty men armed only with boomerangs and wooden spears should have been able to commit such a slaughter. The white man took all this in at a glance, and then his face hardened and he knew that he was nearer death than he had ever been before, for a little distance away were the bodies of six clothed black-boys and a white man, laid out in a row.
Not only was Forrest a surveyor but a bushman as well, and accompanied by good men and black-boys, who let not the slightest indications of the existence of water escape them. One has only to notice the numerous twists and turns in his route to understand that no pains were spared to find water, and thus from rock-hole to rock-hole he wound his way across.
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