t
of Gippsland off his feet. From Dan to Beersheba--from the bore in
the mountains to the shores of Corner Inlet, all was barren to this
disappointed drover.

[Footnote] *In the season of 1844 the average price per 100 for
sheep-shearing was 8s.; the highest price asked, 8s. 6d.

And the squatters, in order to keep a foothold in the country, had to
seek markets for their stock over the sea. The first to export
cattle was James McFarlane of Heyfield. He chartered the schooner
'Waterwitch' for 100 pounds a month for six months, and found her in
everything. She arrived on March 2nd, 1842, but could not come up to
the Port being too sharp in the bottom, and drawing (when loaded with
cattle) thirteen feet six inches, so she lay down at the Oyster Beds.
McFarlane borrowed the square punt from the 'Clonmel' wreckers, a
weak stockyard of tea tree was erected, and the punt was moored
alongside. A block was made fast to the bottom of the punt, and a
rope rove through it to a bullock's head, and the men hauled on the
rope. Sometimes a beast would not jump, and had to be levered and
bundled into the punt neck and crop. Then the men got into a boat,
and reached over to make the rope fast from the head of the bullock
to one of the eyebolts which were fixed round the punt, and even then
the bullock would sometimes go overboard. It took a week to load
twenty fat bullocks and twenty cows with their calves. The schooner
set sail for New Zealand on April 2nd, 1842, and at Port Nicholson
the bullocks were sold for fifteen and the cows for twelve pounds
each, cash. The 'Waterwitch' returned to Port Albert on April 29th,
and took in another cargo of breeding cattle, which had to be sold on
bills, the cash at Port Nicholson being exhausted. McFarlane next
sought for a market at Hobarton, which was then supplied with beef
from Twofold Bay. Forty bullocks were put on board the 'Waterwitch'
in five days, and in forty-eight hours they were offered for sale in
Hobarton, and fetched fourteen pounds ten shillings a head--all but
one, a snail-horned brute, which was very wild. When he landed, a
number of soldiers were at drill in the paddock, and he charged the
redcoats at once. They prepared to receive cavalry, but he broke
through the ranks, scattered the citizens the whole length of
Liverpool Street, and reached the open country. Guisden, the
auctioneer, sold the chance of him for eleven pounds.

At this time, nobody in Hobar