Spinifex and Sand | Page 3

get there!"
We attended a rather remarkable dinner--given in honour of the Boot,
Shoe, Harness, and Leather trade, at the invitation of a
fellow-countryman in the trade, and enjoyed ourselves immensely;
speech-making and toast-drinking being carried out in the extensive
style so customary in the West. Picture our surprise on receiving a bill
for 10s. 6d. next morning! Our friend of the dinner, kindly put at our
disposal a hansom cab which he owned, but this luxury we declined
with thanks, fearing a repetition of his "bill-by-invitation."
Owing to the extreme kindness of Mr. Robert Smith we were at last
enabled to get under way for the scene of the "rush." Disregarding the
many offers of men willing to guide us along a self-evident track, we
started with one riding and one packhorse each. These and the contents
of the pack-bags represented all our worldly possessions, but in this we
might count ourselves lucky, for many hundreds had to carry their
belongings on their backs--"humping their bluey," as the expression is.
Our road lay through Northam, and the several small farms and
settlements which extend some distance eastward. Very few used this

track, the more popular and direct route being through York, and thence
along the telegraph line to Southern Cross; and indeed we did pass
through York, which thriving little town we left at dusk, and, carrying
out our directions, rode along the telegraph line. Unfortunately we had
not been told that the line split up, one branch going to Northam and
the other to Southern Cross; as often happens in such cases, we took the
wrong branch and travelled well into the night before finding any
habitation at which we could get food and water.
The owner of the house where we finally stopped did not look upon our
visit with pleasure, as we had literally to break into the house before we
could attract any attention. Finding we were not burglars, and having
relieved himself by most vigorous and pictorial language (in the use of
which the teamsters and small farmers are almost without rivals) the
owner showed us his well, and did what he could to make us
comfortable. I shall never forget the great hospitality here along this
road, though no doubt as time went on the settlers could not afford to
house hungry travellers free of cost, and probably made a fair amount
of money by selling provisions and horse-feed to the hundreds of
gold-fever patients who were continually passing.
Southern Cross, which came into existence about the year '90, was a
pretty busy place, being the last outpost of civilisation at the time of our
first acquaintance with it. The now familiar corrugated-iron-built town,
with its streets inches deep in dust under a blazing sun, its incessant
swarms of flies, the clashing of the "stamps" on the mines, and the
general "never-never" appearance of the place, impressed us with
feelings the reverse of pleasant. The building that struck me most was
the bank--a small iron shanty with a hession partition dividing it into
office and living room, the latter a hopeless chaos of cards, candle ends,
whiskey bottles, blankets, safe keys, gold specimens, and cooking
utensils. The bank manager had evidently been entertaining a little
party of friends the previous night, and though its hours had passed,
and a new day had dawned, the party still continued. Since that time it
has been my lot to witness more than one such evening of festivity!
On leaving Southern Cross we travelled with another company of
adventurers, one of whom, Mr. Davies, an old Queensland squatter,
was our partner in several subsequent undertakings.
The monotony of the flat timber-clad country was occasionally relieved

by the occurrence of large isolated hills of bare granite. But for these
the road, except for camels, could never have been kept open; for they
represented our sources of water supply. On the surface of the rocks
numerous holes and indentations are found, which after rain, hold water,
and besides these, around the foot of the outcrops, "soaks," or shallow
wells, are to be found.
What scenes of bitter quarrels these watering-places have witnessed!
The selfish striving, each to help himself, the awful sufferings of man
and beast, horses and camels mad with thirst, and men cursing the
country and themselves, for wasting their lives and strength in it; but
they have witnessed many an act of kindness and self-denial too.
Where the now prosperous and busy town of Coolgardie stands, with
its stone and brick buildings, banks, hotels, and streets of shops, offices,
and dwelling-houses, with a population of some 15,000, at the time of
which I write there stood an open forest of eucalyptus dotted here and
there with the white tents and camps of diggers. A part of the timber