and jumped frantically over. The fall was about
twenty feet only, but the animals followed each other with such rapidity
that in a few minutes some three hundred sheep lay in a mass, piled on
top of each other. It was with great difficulty the dogs and men
prevented the whole mob following suit, in which case there would have
been great loss; as it was, nearly one hundred sheep were smothered
before it was possible to extricate them.

There is another danger to which they are exposed when driving them over
new ground. There is a small plant, I forget the name of it, but it is
well known to every shepherd, and grows in luxuriance along some of the
river beds. It is about a foot high and has dark green leaves. If by any
chance a mob of hungry sheep are driven into this plant, they will
attack it ravenously, and in a few minutes they will stagger and fall as
if intoxicated, and if not immediately attended to they will die. The
only chance for them is to bleed them by driving in the blade of a small
knife each side of the nose. The blood will flow black and thick, and
the animal will speedily recover, but delay is fatal.

We travelled steadily about 15 miles each day, and in due time reached
the north bank of the Hurunui river, only to find no sign of Mr. Lee or
the Inspector. This was specially disappointing as our supply of flour
and sugar was getting very low, and we were promised a fresh supply at
this point. For several days neither the supplies nor Mr. Lee appeared.
The little flour remaining was full of maggots, our tea and tobacco were
finished, and we had to live on mutton boiled in a frying-pan (we were
obliged to kill a sheep). There was no feeding ground near the river,
the country having been recently burnt, and so we were obliged to take
the sheep daily a couple of miles inland, carrying with us some of the
mutton and water, and drink the latter nearly hot, travelling back to
the river-bed at nightfall to camp the sheep in an angle between two
streams, by which means we contrived to obtain a little rest.

One day we varied our food by securing some fresh pork in a somewhat
novel manner. There were many wild pigs about but we had no means of
shooting or otherwise killing them. One day while driving our sheep
inland, we came across a mob of pigs in a dry nallah, all of which
bolted except a full-grown sow and a litter of young ones, which could
not run with the herd; and as the mother would not leave them behin