Читать книгу Tales of the Colonies - Charles Rowcroft - Страница 14

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EXPENSES OF SETTLING--INCREASE OF SHEEP AND CATTLE--ANECDOTES OF SNAKES--HIS POSITION IN 1821--INCREASE OF SHEEP AND CATTLE IN 1824--SHEEP-STEALING INCREASES IN THE COLONY--HEARS SOME DISAGREEABLE ACCOUNTS OF BUSHRANGERS--HIS PROSPEROUS STATE IN MAY, 1824--HIS TRANQUILLITY IS SUDDENLY DISTURBED BY DISTRESSING CRIES OF ALARM FROM A NEIGHBOURING FARM.

March 1st, 1818.--As I had from the first formed the plan of attending particularly to the breeding of sheep, as the easiest and most profitable occupation that could be pursued in Van Diemen's Land, I did not embarrass myself by attempting to bring a large quantity of land under cultivation, and I applied myself therefore to the tillage of my farm no more than was sufficient to supply my own consumption. I kept my attention steadily fixed on the raising of wool, as a commodity, should the value of the carcase fail, of easy conveyance, compared with corn, and of certain sale as an article of export. In early settling, the weight of the flesh of the sheep is better worth attending to than the wool, as it is difficult, if not impossible, to regulate the breed of the animal without separation and fencing, which during the early years of settling cannot be done, at least without sinking a large sum of money. My first care, therefore, was to endeavour to improve the fineness of the wool, without lessening the weight of the carcase, and I found that the stock which I had begun with was very fit for my purpose. In taking stock last month the numbers of my sheep stand thus:--

180 ewes, bought in March, 1817 180 Their lambs, then five months old, viz. 100 ewes and 80 wethers 180 2 wethers, left out of the 40 bought in March last 2 220 lambs, three months old, dropped in November, by the 180 220 ewes bought in March last; viz. 120 ewe lambs and 100 wethers The 100 ewe lambs bought in March last produce me this February lambs; namely, 64 ewes and 56 120 wethers 120 So that at the present time, March 1st, 1818, my flock of ewes, wethers, and lambs amounts to 702--too large for one flock. However, as the land around me is unoccupied, I may leave them so for some time, without any material damage to them. I have eight working bullocks; six cows with six calves, three male and three female; six dogs, Hector and Fly having added their share to the general stock; and my wheat-stack containing about 420 bushels of wheat. With respect to my money, I find a great hole in the sum of last year. My exchequer stands thus:-- Dollars Expenses of living in town on arrival 100 Two pair of working bullocks, at 160 dollars each 320 Two pair do., at 140 dollars each 280 The sheep bought in March 462 The six cows 96 Expenses of sending carts to camp 60 Expenses of living for one year on the farm, for self, wife, mother, Crab, the three servants, and five children, exclusive of the 38 wethers eaten 900 Sawed stuff 16 Dollars 2,234 This leaves me 1,366 dollars in hand. * * * * * Determined to sow a month earlier this year, which will give me an earlier harvest. Turned up twenty acres in the flat, and sowed in August; and increased my twelve-acre field to sixteen, reserving four acres for barley. Sowed all the barley in October. December 31st, 1818.--Divided my sheep into two flocks. Their numbers stand thus:-- In March last I find the numbers 702. Since then, lambs dropped in October from the 180 old ewes--ewes, 118, wethers, 100 = 218 lambs. The 100 young ewes dropped in November 62 ewe lambs and 58 wethers = 120. This makes--old flock 702 Old ewes' lambs 218 Young ewes' lambs 120 1,040 Deducting from this number 84 head consumed on the farm, my two flocks amount to 956. My working bullocks are the same as before, namely eight. My six cows have produced me six more calves, raising my stock of cattle to 18, besides the working bullocks.

I was a little puzzled to know what to do with my wool, the expense of carting it to town being great. An agent of one of the merchants offered me threepence per pound to take it away at his own expense, which, after some consideration, I thought it best to accept.

I worked hard this year at my fencing, which is one of the most difficult, laborious, and expensive of a new settler's operations; but if it can be done without encroaching too much on his funds, it amply repays the labour and outlay; I mean the fencing in of his corn-fields, paddocks, sheep yards, and homestead. As to fencing in sufficient land for the grazing of his flocks and herds, that would be an undertaking not only too expensive, but unnecessary where there is sufficient land unoccupied for pasture at the back of his farm or around it. I had plenty of land near me, for there were few settlers for some years between me and the western coast. I had all the country to myself; it was rather lonely, to be sure; but my solitariness had one advantage, there was no one to interfere with me, and I had full range for my stock rent free.

In October of this year, 1818, I find by my journal that Michael Howe, a notorious bushranger, who had rendered himself dreaded by numerous atrocities, was killed by a party sent in pursuit of him. He had plagued the colony terribly before my arrival, but since then he had kept himself at a distance from any settlement, being fearful of treachery. This is a good riddance.

I have not said much about the snakes to be seen all over the colony. We have killed a great many of them, but we have never been bitten by them. They always avoid you, and are glad to get out of your way. I have one or two anecdotes to relate of them, which I may as well introduce here.

I was one day walking with my shepherd, and observing the sheep, when being tired, we sat down on the grass; there was dead wood scattered around. I had only just seated myself, when turning my head I beheld a monstrous black snake close behind me; he was nearly six feet long, and apparently asleep, at least he was quite motionless. I silently pointed out the reptile to the stock-keeper, and drawing from my pocket the pistol which I usually carried, and which was loaded with ball, I approached cautiously within a few inches of the creature's head, intending to blow its brains out. Drawing the trigger, the powder flashed in the pan, but the charge having escaped, either from careless ramming or from having long carried it about in my pocket, the remaining powder in the barrel was only just sufficient to move the ball, which rolled slowly out of the muzzle, and dropping on the snake's head, roused him. I think I never was in such a terrible fright in my life; I made sure that I should kill the snake on the instant, and there I was on one knee close to it, and without the chance of escaping if it made a dart at me. By some extraordinary good luck, the snake was frightened too; it raised up its head--looked at me for a moment--and then glided away. We were both in such a fright that we had not presence of mind to kill it with sticks, and so it escaped, and right glad were we to escape the danger.

At another time, I was looking about at a short distance from the cottage, in the autumn, when the rivers get very low, when I observed on the opposite side of a deep pool of water a rustling among the long grass, and presently the head of a snake appeared over the bank, peering with curious eye into the pool below. I judged, from the creature's movements, that it had been accustomed to drink out of this pool, and was disappointed to find the water so low as to be out of its reach. It seemed to ponder a good deal on this state of things, turning its head to the right and left, as if to devise some means of getting at the water. At last it turned its head towards the long wiry grass around it, and selecting an appropriate tuft close to the edge of the bank, it twisted the end of its tail round the grass, and so letting itself down and hanging by the extremity of its tail, it was enabled to reach the water. It then drank, frequently raising up its head as a fowl does when it drinks. I was observing the motions of the gentleman all the time with much curiosity, and with my fowling-piece ready to shoot it before it retired; for the deadliest war is the constant proclamation of the colony against all snakes, and no mercy is ever shown to this most dangerous and insidious enemy. I fired and killed him. He measured nearly five feet and a half in length.

I shall tell only one more story of snakes. I was riding on the other side of the colony, about twenty miles from Launceston, when I suddenly came upon a snake crossing the road; it was not a very large one, but I was struck with the remarkable beauty and brilliancy of its colours. I had my double-barrel fowling-piece slung at my back, as was usual with me, and in my hand I had one of the little straight horsewhips used on horseback. The snake crossed just before me, and I stopped immediately and alighted with the intention of killing it, urged by that instinct to kill a snake wherever seen, which becomes added, I think, to our other natural instincts, after a residence in the colony. The creature moved away with great rapidity towards some trees at the distance of about a hundred and fifty yards, on a path which I directly saw was a snake-track. I had great difficulty in making my horse follow me in this chase. When I came up to the reptile, I reached out my arm and gave him a slash on his tail with my horsewhip. This made him stop and turn his head and hiss, with a threat to dart at me. Then I kept back, and the snake made another start, till I brought him to a stand still by another cut of my whip. I could see no broken bough near me to smash him with, and I did not like to dirty my fowling-piece by discharging it.

This running fight lasted for some score of yards, till at last the snake, getting exasperated, turned, and stood at bay. I relate this anecdote principally, because of the attitude which the snake now assumed, which I had often seen in pictures, but never before in nature. The snake coiled itself up into a close coil, so as to form a good foundation, it seemed, for a spring. It reminded me, in this attitude, of the picture of the snake in an old edition of Milton's "Paradise Lost," where the serpent is represented tempting Eve. This resemblance occurred to me while I was fighting it.

We now had a grand battle. I let go the rein of my horse, and fought the snake with my horsewhip, I slashing him occasionally round the neck and body, and he darting out at me, and hissing furiously, with its eyes as bright as diamonds. It was rather rash of me, I confess, but I was excited at the time, and did not think of the risk that I ran. I could not master it, however, with my slight weapon, so I retired, when it immediately made off again, as much as to say, "Let me alone, and I'll let you alone." I followed it till I came to some broken boughs, when I easily killed it by a blow on the body.

On looking over my journal, I do not find any thing deserving of particular mention up to 1821. I ploughed, and I sowed, and I reaped in due order, and my flocks and herds increased without much attention on my part, except to keep them together. I attended carefully to the garden. My children had suffered no illness since I had arrived in the colony. In 1821 some new settlers took land in this district, and the place began to assume the appearance of becoming more inhabited.

A surgeon, a gentleman-like and clever man, settled near us; but there was nothing for him to do except attending to an occasional accident. A blacksmith, at the close of this year, established himself on the banks of the Clyde, and this was a great convenience to us. During this year I planned out a cut from the river, where a natural bend afforded the facility, for the purpose of erecting a flour-mill which was much wanted, as there was no mill nearer than Camp, fifty miles off; and we had to cart our wheat down to the town, and return with the flour--a tedious and expensive process. I had to manage with a handmill for my own use, but the time consumed in grinding corn this way was very great, and the labour of it was distasteful to the servants, so that it was frequently out of order. In the course of the following year I erected a small flour-mill, with an undershot wheel, which answered very well, and its cost was soon repaid by its convenience to myself, and by the toll which was paid to me by my neighbours as the inhabitants increased.

In 1821, a careful census was taken of the statistics of the colony, which I find in my journal to stand thus:--

Number of inhabitants, 7,185; acres in cultivation, 14,940; sheep, 170,000; cattle, 35,000; horses, 350. During 1822 two magistrates were appointed for this district. May, 1824.--Matters remained much as usual up to May, 1824. This completes my seventh year in the colony. During these seven years the colony had assumed a very different appearance. Numerous emigrants had arrived, and the country had become more settled. The value of sheep had risen in 1821, and good ewes sold currently for 20s. a-head, and if with lambs by their side, from 20s. to 30s. This state of things put the old settlers who had attended to their stock in fine spirits, for the influx of settlers kept up the price of stock for some years. I did very well by the sale of mine, and had the good fortune not to neglect taking advantage of the opportunity. I realised considerable sums by the sales which I made, and my sheep sold well, as the wool was fine enough to command a ready sale at the same time that the carcase was heavy enough to suit the new settlers, who wanted sheep as meat for consumption. I find, on referring to my journal, that in May, 1824, my stock stood as follows:--

Sheep--Ewes, 3,650; wethers, 290. Total, 3,940. Cattle--75. Working bullocks--14.

This year I bought three horses, two mares heavy with foal for £50 and £60, and a gelding, for which I gave £65, for my own riding, as my circuits began to be too heavy to be performed on foot. I was in Hobart Town at the close of the autumn of 1821, at which time there was more than one excellent hotel, when, in walking about, I came upon a bit of land, about half an acre (within the town, I may say), and covered with rubbish and stagnant water here and there, and looking wretched and neglected; the run of new buildings had taken a turn in another direction, and this piece of waste had been overlooked.

Living at a distance, I could not help being struck with the rapidity with which the town was increasing; a sightly church had been built; a new court-house in progress of completion; the government-house completed in its improved state; there was a talk of the establishment of a bank; and the colony was thriving and improving rapidly. I took all these things into consideration, and was surprised to find this plot of ground neglected; but so it was, and nobody seemed to care for it. Having spare money which I did not at the moment well know how to dispose of, I made inquiries about the owner and price, and found that I might have the lot for a hundred pounds. So I bought the bit of waste land; but other matters distracting my attention from it, I did nothing with it for some years after. What was done with it I shall have to relate in its proper place.

Sheep-stealing had been rife for the last two or three years, the value of the animal making it a great temptation, and the facilities for driving off and concealing sheep being considered, it is not to be wondered at. One or two bushrangers have also been abroad; I was on business in town this year (1824), and heard the information of a party who had been attacked by bushrangers. It made a very disagreeable impression on me, and I felt very uneasy as I listened to it, from thinking that my own family was exposed at that moment to the same disaster. I got a copy of the information from the clerk, and took it home to my inn, and pondered over it till I became very restless. I find this copy preserved among the papers of my journal. Here it is:--

Pitt Water, May 19th, 1824. The information of William Stark, Esq.:--

"At my farm at Kangaroo Valley, yesterday evening, about dusk, I went out to see my sheep folded, while my son went to bring in the cattle, the herdsman having been that day otherwise employed. When the sheep were yarded, my shepherd returned from the hut, and I waited at the well for my son, who was bringing up the cattle to drink.

"During this interval, I was talking to a shepherd in the service of Mr. Lorton, who has lately taken possession of Mr. Duckett's land at Stringy Bark Plains. When my cattle arrived, a bullock was missing, and Mr. Lorton's shepherd told my son that he had seen it go out of the field towards the hills. My son immediately went in search of it, while I remained with my cattle at the well.

"My son not returning so soon as I expected, and as it was then nearly dark, I drove the cattle home. When I arrived within about twenty yards of my men's hut, I called out to one of my men to come and put the cattle up. At this moment I was accosted by a man whom I had not seen before, although he was close to me; he was armed with a double-barrel gun and a brace of pistols. He said to me, 'I have your house completely surrounded by a banditti, and your men are all tied, therefore resistance would be unavailing: surrender immediately.'

"I said that I would not surrender. He said, 'If you stir a step, I'll blow your brains out.'

"I said, 'Fire away, I don't regard a shot.'

"He instantly levelled his piece at me, and drew the trigger. Fortunately, his piece missed fire. I then retired in the direction of the shepherd and my son, whom I knew to be in the rear at some distance.

"I was pursued by this man. I called out loudly for assistance to Lorton's shepherd, whom I left at the well. I received no assistance from him. As this man, who afterwards told me that he was Collier, was fast coming up to me, and I receiving no assistance from Lorton's shepherd, I stopped, as Collier assured me that all he wanted was a little tea and sugar.

"I then walked with Collier to my men's hut, where he bound my hands, and where I found all, namely six, of my men tied together with three men, who I afterwards learnt were brought from Mr. Fullarton's, where Collier and his party, I was informed by Collier, had stopped the preceding day. I then went into my house with Collier. He searched my house. He took away a small quantity, about two or three pounds, of tea, and two or three pounds of sugar, which was almost all there was in the house, and about eighteen pounds of tobacco. Another man, calling himself McGuire, took one pair of blankets, a shawl, and two necklaces, nine silk handkerchiefs and one cotton handkerchief, and two guns. The blankets, the shawl, and the handkerchiefs were all marked 'Stark'.

"My son, when I called out for assistance, heard me, although more than half a mile off. He came running back. Mrs. Stark, his mother, met him at the door, told him that I was bound together with all my men, and told him that the best thing he could do would be to alarm the neighbourhood. My son returned in about an hour, with Hammond, the constable, and another man, armed, my son and another man being without arms. On his return, he found that the bushrangers had left the house about three quarters of an hour.

"The bushranger who stood sentry at the door of my men's hut was recognized by one of my men to be Sturt, lately one of Mr. Franks's servants.

"When Collier left my house, he took away with him the three men whom he had brought from Mr. Fullarton's.

"Signed) WILLIAM STARK."

I could not sleep all night after hearing this news of bushrangers being out. Hitherto we had not been molested at the Clyde, but it occurred to me that the arrival there of fresh emigrants likely to have money and valuables about them, and new to the country, and thereby more easy to be attacked, might tempt the convicts to go up there. These thoughts kept possession of me all night, and I could not resist the desire of returning home. At dawn of day, therefore, I set out, and my horse being fresh, I had no difficulty in reaching the Clyde before two o'clock the same day. I may remark here that the horses in Van Diemen's Land are capable of enduring great fatigue; they are small, but strong and hardy; sure footed, and capable of supporting their work on the natural grass of the country on their journeys. * * * I was glad to find all safe at home, but I made my wife rather uneasy by my report of the marauding of the bushrangers at Pitt Water.

I went the same evening to one of the resident magistrates at the Clyde, to report about the bushrangers, when I found him hearing a complaint of the sheep of a neighbour of his having been stolen. This made me think of my own. I find the following copy of this complaint among my papers:--

"District of Murray.

"Mr. Philip Bushel, being first duly sworn, saith:--

"That he is manager of Captain Flood's agricultural affairs; that some months ago, about one hundred and thirty sheep belonging to Captain Flood were lost; that this deponent, after diligent search and inquiry, has reason to believe that some of the said lost sheep are in the flock of one MacShane at the Shannon River, in this district; that he has examined part of the said MacShane's flock, and that he can positively swear to one sheep that it is one of the sheep lost some months ago; and that he verily believes there are more of the said Captain Flood's sheep in the said flock of the said MacShane. He prays, therefore, that a warrant may be granted to search the said flock of the said MacShane.

"PHILIP BUSHEL.

"Sworn before me, May 21, 1821."

This information about the sheep-stealing coming upon the news of the bushrangers at Pitt Water, made me uncomfortable and restless. But the sight of my family and my home soon restored me to my usual cheerfulness.

Extract from my Journal of May, 1824:--

"Kept a sharper look-out after my own flocks. Certainly I have been very lucky hitherto; things have thrived with me most prosperously. I am now in possession of a numerous flock of sheep; of a tolerable herd of cattle; I have forty-five acres of land under tillage; the building of my new stone house proceeds favourably; I have a fair portion of land fenced in; my garden has succeeded admirably; I have all sorts of English vegetables in abundance; strawberries, raspberries, gooseberries, currants, young apple and pear trees, vigorous and growing fast.

"My family, now increased to seven, begin to be companions to me; and their education, even in this out-of-the-way place, has not been neglected. The place is becoming settled around me, which, although it curtails the run for my sheep and cattle, increases the feeling of security, and affords some society.

"My eldest boy, now seventeen years of age, is a valuable assistant to me, and affords the promise of becoming a healthy, intelligent, and honourable man. My daughter Betsy grows a fine, handsome girl; and my other children are healthy, happy, and improving. I have the pleasurable feeling of caring little whether my consumption of meat and flour is a little less or a little more. Abundance reigns around me. The feeling of anxiety with which I used to be haunted in England in respect to how my children could be made certain of lodging, food, and clothes, has departed from me. There is plenty for all; and the dominant desire now is changed to that of becoming wealthy! To be sure, we still live rather in the rough, but usage has made it familiar to us. We use no fine furniture, wear no fine clothes, and our establishment still bears the impress of a settler's early life. But I am rich (for independence is riches) in sheep and cattle, and house and land. My large room has become furnished with an ample supply of books, and I find recreation and advantage in their perusal.

"The climate, on experience, we find healthy, though very changeable, and subject to extreme variations of heat and cold. I find by the register of my thermometer that the temperature has varied thirty-two degrees between night and noon; being below freezing-point in the night, and above sixty-three at twelve and one o'clock. These variations, however, do not affect the health of any of us; we feel the cold, that is all.

"This year we have added fish to our table. We threw a net across a narrow part of the river, about half a mile from the house, and we now obtain a plentiful supply of eels at most times. We catch also a small fish of the nature of the gudgeon, but larger, which we call the fresh water smelt. But the rivers in this colony, at least the inland portions of them, are not prolific of fish; nor do the large lakes, the sources of several of them, supply much. Scarcely a fish, indeed, is to be found in the lakes of the colony. There is plenty of wild fowl at the lakes; I have seen flocks literally of thousands of wild ducks on one of them."

But to return to my Journal.

Thus, in May, 1824, all things prospered with me. But now, the uniform life which I had led for some years experienced a great change. Just before the winter, that is, in the beginning of May, 1824, we were sitting round our cheerful fire, and the servant had with difficulty borne in a huge log to replenish it; it was about nine o'clock, and quite dark, when the barking of the dogs announced the arrival of a stranger; he was on horseback, as we could hear from the sound of the horse's hoofs on the hard ground. He was quickly shown into the house, and according to the custom of the colony, food and drink were placed before him ere he was troubled with any questions. But he was eager to communicate the tidings with which he was charged.

Information had been received by the government of the escape of a body of convicts from Macquarie Harbour, who were spreading consternation over the district of Pitt Water, where they had plundered and ill-used many settlers, and where they had been joined by further bands of convict servants. Our guest was in haste to communicate the intelligence to the resident magistrates, as it was thought likely that the band of bushrangers would turn their steps to this district, as being unprotected, and abounding to the west in places of concealment.

We were still in earnest conversation on this alarming news, and I was hastily revolving in my mind the best means of guarding against an attack, when loud cries, seemingly for help, from the opposite side of the river, on which a new settler had lately fixed himself, caused us suddenly to break up our party. I lost no time in preparing our arms, which from habit were always kept in a state of efficiency, and calling in two of my men on whom I could entirely depend, I entrusted them with a musket apiece, and made such preparations for our own defence as the circumstances afforded.

Crab, who had now become part of the family, undertook to defend the house; and after a hasty consultation, we agreed that it would not be kind or manly to abandon our neighbours in their distress and difficulty. I was perplexed to contrive how to render them the requisite assistance, and to leave a sufficient defence at home, when a fresh and violent barking of the dogs caused us a further alarm. The night was quite dark, but the stars shone brightly. The dogs barked furiously, and it was plain to us, who were acquainted with the language of their warnings, that they were excited by the approach of some unusual object, and of more than a single individual.

Seeing the necessity of prompt and decisive action, I advanced from the door of the cottage, being protected in the rear by one of the men. A voice amidst the tumult called out to me to call off the dogs, who were furious. I thought I recognized the voice of the speaker, and it proved to be a neighbour who had settled about four miles off. He had been going his rounds to look after his sheep, marauders being abroad, when, approaching within half a mile of my cottage, his attention had been attracted by the cries which had alarmed us. He was well armed, and accompanied by two friends, also well armed.

Cheered by this reinforcement, I lost no time in acquainting them with the news of the escape of the convicts from Macquarie Harbour, and of my fears that our new neighbour was in the hands of the bushrangers. They at once agreed to lend him their help; and as I was well acquainted with the point where the river could be best crossed, and my home being now secure from any sudden attack, we advanced without delay to the scene of danger. But as this forms one of the epochs of my life, I must reserve the account of the adventures and disasters which now came thick upon me to another chapter.