rm but a faint idea of the
tribulations of the Doctor and his friends, who had to lead the
beasts, as best they might, with iron nose-rings, and who, moreover,
being wholly unused to cattle of that description, had at first a not
unnatural dislike of the horns. Then the pack-saddles did not fit, and
the immediate result was sore backs; the cargo would get loose and
fall off, to the fracture and destruction of straps; or the hornets,
whose nests, suspended from the branches, were disturbed by the
passage of the caravan, would drive the unlucky oxen nearly mad, by a
stinging assault upon their hind quarters. Finally, both horses and
bullocks had a singular propensity to stray back during the night to
the previous halting place, whence they had to be fetched in the
morning, causing great delay, and often postponing the start till
mid-day. Here is a significant little entry in the log, comprising the
entire proceedings of one day, which gives an idea of the difficulty
of progress. "Oct. 2--Bullocks astray, but found at last by Charley,
and a start attempted at one o'clock: the greater part of the bullocks
with sore backs. The native tobacco in blossom. One of the bullocks
broke his pack-saddle, and compelled us to halt." Only one small plug
of tobacco to all that peck of troubles! The nicotian flower the sole
object in the scene of disaster, on which the eye can rest with a
sensation of relief. Stray cattle, sore backs, broken saddles! The
combination of calamities can only be appreciated by those who have
encountered it, in the desert, and when anxious to prosecute their
march. For some time, these pleasant incidents were of daily
occurrence; added to which, the bullocks, in forcing their way through
tangled thickets, frequently tore the sacks, and wasted large
quantities of flour. And towards the latter part of the journey, when
Dr Leichhardt, owing to the death of three horses, unfortunately
drowned in a creek, had been forced to abandon, with tears in his
eyes, a large portion of his valuable botanical collection, he had the
intense mortification of seeing a reckless ox, foot-sore and heated by
a long day's march, plunge deliberately into a deep pond, where the
remainder of the dried plants, seeds, and the like, carefully packed
upon the animal's back, underwent a thorough and disastrous soaking.
As some amends for the trouble they gave, the bullocks proved useful
in an unexpected capacity, namely, as guards. They concei