Shire River

“ Early in 1859 the exploration of the Shiré was begun--a river hitherto absolutely unknown. The country around was rich and fertile, the natives not unfriendly, but suspicious. They had probably never been visited before but by man-stealers, and had never seen Europeans. The Shiré Valley was inhabited by the Manganja, a very warlike race. Some days' journey above the junction with the Zambesi, where the Shiré issues from the mountains, the progress of the party was stopped by rapids, to which they gave the name of the "Murchison Cataracts." ”

“ The Shire is much narrower than the Zambesi, but deeper, and more easily navigated. It drains a low and exceedingly fertile valley of from fifteen to twenty miles in breadth. Ranges of wooded hills bound this valley on both sides. For the first twenty miles the hills on the left bank are close to the river; then comes Morambala, a detached mountain 500 yards from the river's brink, which rises, with steep sides on the west, to 4000 feet in height, and is about seven miles in length. It is wooded up to the very top, and very beautiful. ”

“ The river flows through a mountainous country, and in its descent to the Zambezi valley forms rapids and cataracts, rendering its middle course for a distance of 60 m. unnavigable. The most southern and the finest of these cataracts is called the Murchison Cataract or Falls, after Sir Roderick Murchison, the geologist, who identified himself during the mid-Victorian epoch with geographical exploration in Africa. In passing the cataracts the Shiré falls 1200 ft. ”

“ The first trip up the Shire was made early in 1859, and after two hundred miles of navigation Livingstone and Kirk found themselves effectually stopped by impassable rapids and cataracts and by hostile natives. Livingstone named the cataracts after his friend Sir Roderick Murchison, and returned to Tete. In March Livingstone and Kirk again started for the Shire and, leaving the steamer near Katunga, proceeded on foot. The journey resulted in the discovery of Lake Shirwa, a salt lake to the east of the Shire highlands. ”

“ Very few breeders of the present time could have sixty high class animals paraded, as the late Lord Ellesmere did for the benefit of visitors to the Worsley show in August, 1889; but scores of farmers could muster a team or two of good Shire mares; therefore it is obvious that, whatever the future of the Shire may be, English farmers will do much towards shaping it. ”

“ There is no doubt that a set of good feet often places an otherwise moderate Shire above one which has other good points but lacks this essential; therefore all breeders of Shires should devote time and attention to the production of sound and saleable bottoms, remembering the oft-quoted line, “The top may come, the bottom never.” In diseases of the feet it is those in front which are the most certain to go wrong, and it is these which judges and buyers notice more particularly. ”

“ It is noteworthy that few, if any, of the high prices obtained for Shires at public sales have come from exporters or buyers from abroad, but from lovers of the heavy breed in England, who have been either forming or replenishing studs, therefore, ‘the almighty dollar’ has not been responsible for the figures above quoted. Still it is probable that with the opening up of the agricultural industry in Western Canada, South Africa, and elsewhere, Shire stallions will be needed to help the Colonial settlers to build up a breed of horses which will be useful for both tillage and haulage purposes. ”

“ Leaving Paudio, we had Kirk's Range close on our left and at least 3000 feet above us, and probably not less than 5000 feet above the sea. Far to our right extended a long green wooded country rising gradually up to a ridge, ornamented with several detached mountains, which bounded the Shire Valley. In front, northwards, lay a valley as rich and lovely as we ever saw anywhere, terminating at the mountains, which, stretched away some thirty miles beyond our range of vision and ended at Cape Maclear. The groups of trees had never been subjected to the landscape gardener's art ”

“ On the contrary side are the Glossop moors; within the valley, the thriving town after which they are named; and the remarkably beautiful cone, covered with trees, called Shire Hill, an isolated mound that looks as if it might have been tossed there in pastime by the Titans. Glossop, as every one knows, has a station of its own, which should be remembered not only for the sake of Shire Hill, but for Lees–hall Dingle, Ramsley Clough, Chunal Clough, Melandra Castle, and Whiteley Nab, the climb to the brows of which last is no doubt somewhat arduous, but well repaid. ”

“ For the production of geldings, fashionable blood is not essential, but it sometimes happens that a foal of outstanding merit is bred by quite a small farmer, and if such an one is by a well-known sire of prize-winning stock, a real good price may be obtained, if the dam is only registered, so there is much to be said in favour of using the highest type of Shire stallion, even by owners of one or two mares. ”

“ And standing beside the white waters with the ground shaking underfoot to the tune of their mighty onrush, with the meadows, trees, and flowers round about, the awesome cliffs for guardians, and the bright blue sky over all, it requires no visionary to conjure up legendary cities at this river's end, for but half lend yourself to the notion and the glorious Sierran stream becomes a beckoning highway to a land of pleasant dreams. ”

“ It might be here mentioned that it is not at all satisfactory to rear a Shire foal by itself, even if it will stay in its paddock. It never thrives as well as when with company, and often stands with its head down looking very mopish and dull, therefore the rearing of Shires is not [Pg 38] a suitable undertaking for a small holder, although he may keep a good brood-mare to do most of his work and sell her foal at weaning time. ”

“ Among such societies may be mentioned Peterborough, Welshpool, and Winslow, in all of which districts many high-class Shires have been bred. Then there are generous landlords who hire a real good horse for the benefit of their tenants—although not Shire breeders themselves—so that it is quite possible for the majority of tenant farmers to obtain nominations to one of the best of Shire stallions if he is bent on improvement and believes in being enterprising enough to obtain it. ”

“ The cost of shipping a horse from Liverpool to New York is about £11, which is not prohibitive for such an indispensable animal as the Shire horse, and if such specimens of the breed as the medal winners at shows like Peterborough could be exhibited in the draught horse classes at the best horse shows of America, it is more than probable that at least some of the visitors would be impressed with their appearance, and an increase in the export trade in Shires might thereby be brought about. ”

“ For many years Hertfordshire has provided a string of winners, yet no judge has hailed from that county, or from Surrey, which contains quite a number of breeders of Shire horses. No fault whatever is being found with the way the judging has been carried out. It is no light task, and nobody but an expert could, or should, undertake it; but it is only fair to point out that high-class Shires are, and have been, bred in Cornwall, and Devonshire, Kent, and every other county, while the entries at the show of 1914 included a stallion bred in the Isle of Man. ”

“ For the Severn valley is so intercepted with small hills, so richly wooded, so ornate in places with the park lands and foliage of country seats, so sprinkled with pleasant villages, one is apt to forget that the little streams hurrying down to the river from the north come from a really wild Wales beyond, while lying back to the south the regions of Kerry and Clun speak in their very names to the initiated of the spirit of solitude. ”

“ The Shire marshes support prodigious numbers of many kinds of water-fowl. An hour at the mast-head unfolds novel views of life in an African marsh. Near the edge, and on the branches of some favourite tree, rest scores of plotuses and cormorants, which stretch their snake-like necks, and in mute amazement turn one eye and then another towards the approaching monster. ”

“ The only large rivers that are at present known are those which flow off the western slope of the Great Eastern Chain in New South Wales, and of these the only one having a permanent stream of water is the one which rises from the only mountain summits that are permanently covered with snow,—namely, the river Murray from the Australian Alps. The whole remaining coast of Australia, has now been carefully surveyed without the mouth of any large or important stream having been discovered. ”

“ The banks become yet farther apart, the water is salt, the tide ebbs and flows, as in the sea. The estuary, indeed, continues for many a mile, still retaining the form of a river-valley. Very probably there was a time when a Severn flowed along a broad valley, where now the Bristol Channel parts England from South Wales, to join another stream which had descended over land, now sunk beneath the Irish Sea, and the two rivers discharged their united waters into a more distant Atlantic Ocean ”

“ Through the ridge of Benthall Edge the Severn has sawn its way, so that the river-valley now becomes almost a gorge, along which, on the abrupt southern side, the Severn Valley railway has been conducted, and this not without considerable engineering difficulties. Wooded steeps and grey crags on either side of the strong stream flowing at their feet form a series of exquisite pictures, though unhappily not for long, for a change comes where the dirty hand of man has smirched the face of Nature. ”

“ Every variety of feature may be seen in these southern parts, from the lofty alpine region on the east, to the low grassy plains in which it terminates on the west. The Murray, perhaps the largest river in all Australia, arises amongst those mountains, and receives in its course various other rivers of considerable magnitude. These flow over extensive plains in directions nearly parallel to the main stream, and thus irrigate and fertilise a large extent of rich country. ”

“ As an advertisement for the Shire it is obviously beneficial that the Shire Horse Society—which is unquestionably the most successful breed society in existence—gives prizes for breeding stock and also geldings at a few of the most important horse shows in the United States. This tends to bring the breed into prominence abroad, and it is certain that many Colonial farmers would rejoice at being able to breed working geldings of a similar type to those which may be seen shunting trucks on any large railway station in England, or walking smartly along in front of a binder in harvest. ”

“ To the Soar come tributary streams from the pasture lands of Leicester, dear to the fox-hunter, which tributaries, like the river itself, glide past many a quiet village, of which the churches are often of no little interest, and the houses not seldom afford to us excellent specimens of the domestic architecture of our country from the sixteenth to the eighteenth century. The junction of the Soar is not far from another junction, which has given both an origin and a name to what is rapidly becoming a town. ”

“ The Hunter River may be considered a favourable specimen of an accessible and long-settled district. The river is now not only the means of communication by the sea for the produce of its immediate territory, but also for all the wool and all the supplies interchanged by the great squatting district of New England and Liverpool Plains, to which access is obtained by a deep cleft through a spur of the Australian cordilleras, called the Liverpool Range, which bounds the Liverpool Plains in a northerly direction. A great and increasing steam communication exists between Sydney and Hunter River. ”

“ I never was at the crossing of the Sevier river in summer, for seven years after our settlements in Iron county had been established, without experiencing frost; and now the Sevier valley produces luxuriant fields of grain and vegetables in the season thereof, in every place where the water has been taken out from the mouth of that river to the head of it, nearly nine thousand feet above the level of the sea. Who has done this? God and the Saints have done it! ”

“ This led to the adoption of measures to prevent exhibitors from making more than two entries in one class. The year 1889 holds the record, so far, for the number of export certificates granted by the Shire Horse Society, the total being 1264 against 346 in 1913, yet Shires were much dearer in the latter year than in the former. ”

“ The southern end, seen from a distance, has a fine gradual slope, and looks as if it might be of easy ascent; but the side which faces the Shire is steep and rocky, especially in the upper half. A small village peeps out about halfway up the mountain; it has a pure and bracing atmosphere; and is perched above mosquito range. The people on the summit have a very different climate and vegetation from those of the plains; but they have to spend a great portion of their existence amidst white fleecy clouds, which, in the rainy season, rest daily on the top of their favourite mountain. ”

“ The land upon their margins is thinly wooded; and I have often seen exposed fine vegetable mould of ten or twelve feet in thickness, through which these streams had worn their way. Good examples of this kind of valley are those through which run the Fitzroy and Glenelg rivers.
The northern banks of Prince Regent's River I conceive to offer no inducement whatever for the formation of a settlement, the whole of the country in that direction, as far as I have seen, consisting entirely of sandstone ridges. ”