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The cockies over there used to hang the meat up on the branches of the trees, and just shake it whenever they wanted to feed the fowls. And the water was so bad that half a pound of tea in the billy wouldn't make no impression on the colour nor the taste. The further west we went the worse our meat got, till at last we had to carry a dog-chain to chain it up at night.

From York I rode along the old track to Southern Cross, and a lonely ride I had, for the train had superseded the old methods of travel, much to the disgust of some of the "cockies," or small farmers, who expressed the opinion that the country was going to the dogs, "them blooming railways were spoiling everything"; the reason for their complaint being, that formerly, all the carrying had been in the teamsters' hands, as well as a considerable amount of passenger traffic.

That was the burden of the grief with which I sobbed myself to sleep on the first night after our arrival. Mother felt dubious of her husband's ability to make a living off a thousand acres, half of which were fit to run nothing but wallabies, but father was full of plans, and very sanguine concerning his future. He was not going to squat henlike on his place as the cockies around him did.

"I'll get down among the cockies along the Lachlan, or some of these rivers," said Mitchell, throwing down his swag beneath a big tree. "A man stands a better show down there. It's a mistake to come out back. I knocked around a good deal down there among the farms. Could always get plenty of tucker, and a job if I wanted it. One cocky I worked for wanted me to stay with him for good.