Squatter

“ The flashing flame gleamed from one sun-burnt countenance to another, exhibiting every variety of expression, from the juvenile simplicity of the children, mingled as it was with a shade of the wildness peculiar to their semi-barbarous lives, to the dull and immovable apathy that dwelt on the features of the squatter, when unexcited. Occasionally a gust of wind would fan the embers ”

“ Do you think the bush was better in the 'good old droving days', When the squatter ruled supremely as the king of western ways, When you got a slip of paper for the little you could earn, But were forced to take provisions from the station in return — When you couldn't keep a chicken at your humpy on the run, For the squatter wouldn't let you — and your work was never done ”

“ The squatter’s clearing, still thus encumbered, is a mere vistal opening in the woods, from which only the underwood has been removed. The more slender saplings have been cut down or rooted up; the tangle of parasitical plants have been torn from the trees ”

“ They had left the dismal depths of the forest, and were out on the open pasture land, and nearing Findlayson’s house, when Craig and Archie, riding on in front, came upon the well-known bobtailed collie, who was the almost constant companion of the squatter. The dog was alive, but dying. ”

“ A squatter that is a person who would go beyond the locations and occupy any ground that would answer his purpose might do well here with a large flock, but he must be contented with a rude house or a tent, cultivate only such ground as would give him wheat and vegetables; live much upon the produce of his dogs and his guns; drive his surplus stock occasionally to market, with his wool also ”

“ Did you ever guard the cattle when the night was inky-black, And it rained, and icy water trickled gently down your back Till your saddle-weary backbone fell a-aching to the roots And you almost felt the croaking of the bull-frog in your boots — Sit and shiver in the saddle, curse the restless stock and cough Till a squatter's irate dummy cantered up to warn you off? ”

“ A squatter is a man who, axe in hand, with his gun, dog, and baggage, sets himself down in the deep forest, to clear and improve; and this he very frequently does, both upon public and private property; and the Government is lenient, so that, if he makes well of it, he generally has a right of pre-emption, or perhaps pays up only instalments, and then sells and goes deeper into the bush. Every way there is difficulty about squatted land, and very often the squatter will significantly enough hint that there is such a thing as a rifle in his log castle. ”

“ At one of our gatherings, at which—the majority being cattle-men—a toast involving a little indirect self-laudation was duly honoured, a pioneer squatter from a distance remarked gravely, "How little you fellows can realise what a life we have been leading in our district the last year or two!" He had just finished "cleaning" his flocks, as had also his neighbours. He certainly looked, as the financial survivor of a drought expressed it once, as though he had "come through the Valley of the Shadow." ”

“ The "Mount Gambier mob," as in colonial parlance described, was at that time composed of men the majority of whom had attained to social distinction. Not far off, at Compton, lived Evelyn Sturt, to my eyes the veritable fine fleur of the squatter type. In that year, let us say about 1850, he was a very grand-looking fellow—aristocratic, athletic, adventurous; an explorer, a pioneer, a preux chevalier in every sense of the word, a leading colonist, with a strong dash of Bayard about him; popular with the men of his set, and, it is unnecessary to say, a general favourite with the women. ”

“ Then there were treacherous squalls that went boldly astern and sneaked back upon us from a mile to leeward. Again, two squalls would tear along, one on each side of us, and we would get a fillip from each of them. Now a gale certainly grows tiresome after a few hours, but squalls never. The thousandth squall in one's experience is as interesting as the first one, and perhaps a bit more so. It is the tyro who has no apprehension of them. The man of a thousand squalls respects a squall. He knows what they are.
It was in the doldrums that our most exciting event occurred. ”

“ The squall that rose up, covering half the heavens, and swept down upon us, as likely as not split into two squalls which passed us harmlessly on either side while the tiny, innocent looking squall that appeared to carry no more than a hogshead of water and a pound of wind, would abruptly assume cyclopean proportions, deluging us with rain and overwhelming us with wind. ”

“ If they see William with their dinner they say “quack” and if they see a chicken-hawk sailing about they say “quack” and if I so much as look at them—from a distance—they say “quack” just the same. I don’t believe “quack” means a thing. They just want you to think it does.
Well, one day I was trotting around by myself looking for something to do when I caught sight of a duck sitting in the grass on the side of the brook quite a ways beyond the pond. ”

“ At that instant there sounded a strange flapping like the sound of a bird in its flight.
The men all looked around. There was no bird in sight. They looked in each other’s faces, for indeed it was a most wonderful incident. All had heard it, and even while they looked there came the cry of “quack, quack,” of a wild duck, and the “quack, quack, quack,” sounded right over their heads. They strained their eyes—there was no duck in sight ”

“ Next morning, as I stood motionless and with heavy eyes at the helm—for I had not slept well—I began to weary anxiously for daylight, and peered towards the horizon, where I thought I observed something like a black cloud against the dark sky. Being always on the alert for squalls, I ran to the bow. There could be no doubt it was a squall, and as I listened I thought I heard the murmur of the coming gale. ”

“ I saw the worst assault at night on a seaside parade where the sea smote on the doors of England with the hammers of earthquake, and a white smoke went up into the black heavens. There one could thoroughly realise what an awful thing a wave really is. I talk like other people about the rushing swiftness of a wave. But the horrible thing about a wave is its hideous slowness. ”

“ The swell occasioned by an earthquake can alone compare with it in magnitude. It rolled beneath the Panther, lifted her upon its crest, and swept her towards the rocks. An instant more and I was flat upon the deck, borne down by the stroke of falling water. The wave had broken on the abrupt shore, and, after touching the rocks with its crest a hundred feet above our heads, had curled backward, and, striking the ship with terrific force, had deluged the decks. ”

“ It is not easy to divert the Quaker from his course; we swung to the right, but the wing of the car, on my side, struck the man full in the chest. He fell as instantly and solidly as if he were a stone pillar, and, like a stone, he lay in the mud. ”

“ On a sudden the ice split on the starboard hand with a noise louder than the explosion of a twenty-four pounder. The schooner swayed to a level keel with so sharp a rise that I lost my balance and staggered. I recovered myself, trembling and greatly agitated by the noise and the movement coming together, without the least hint having been given me, and grasping a backstay, waited, not knowing what was to happen next. Unless it be the heave of an earthquake, I can imagine no motion capable of giving one such a swooning, nauseating, terrifying sensation as the rending of ice under a fixed ship. ”

“ While on shore to-day we witnessed a quarrel between two squaws, which appeared to be growing every moment more boisterous, when a man came forward, at whose approach every one seemed terrified and ran. ”

“ On the morning of the 14th of January, 1824, we experienced a shock of the most unpleasant kind, which lasted about six seconds: the motion was perpendicular, not horizontal, and the various noises by which it was accompanied, the cracking of the doors, the rattling of the windows, and the melancholy howling of the dogs, who are usually the first to feel and to announce the approach of an earthquake, were well calculated to alarm even the least timid. ”

“ The 10th of June was introduced by a furious squall which tore the fore square-sail to ribbons. A curious sight is seen at sea: "two serpents--said to be often seen on the coast. One dark olive, with light yellow rings round it, and flattened tail; the other lighter in color. They seem to be salt-water animals."
Next day, a wet scowling morning. Frequent rains, and thunder in the distance. "A poor weak creature. Permit me to lean on an all-powerful arm."
"The squalls usually come up right against the wind, and cast all our sails aback. ”

“ In one of the deepest lulls and hushes of the wind, when there was no apparent cause in operation to produce such an effect, a tall and majestic trunk was seen to decline from the perpendicular, topple slowly through the air, and then fall to the earth with a crash like the shock of an earthquake. ”

“ The force of the shock was so great that I could scarcely support my self on my knees; and it was attended with some circumstances still more dreadful than the former. On a sudden I heard a general cry, “The sea is coming in; we shall all be lost.” Upon this, turning my eyes towards the river Tagus, which in that place is near four miles broad, I perceived it heaving and swelling in a most unaccountable manner, for no wind was stirring. ”

“ Thus, for instance, during the celebrated earthquake at Lisbon, in 1755, many ships at considerable distances from the actual focus of the movement, were violently shaken, the concussion in one ship far out in the Atlantic being so great, that the men were tossed up into the air a foot and a half perpendicularly from the deck.
In the horizontal movement, the shock is propagated in a linear direction, producing undulations in the surface of the earth, bearing some resemblance to the waves of the sea, and the sight of which, curious enough, causes a swimming in the head, like sea-sickness. ”

“ For a moment I could not help laughing, because, being borne up high and dry by a tumult of the torrent, he gave me a look from his one little eye (having lost one in fight with the turkey-cock) , a gaze of appealing sorrow, and then a loud quack to second it. But the quack came out of time, I suppose, for his throat got filled with water, as the hurdle carried him back again. ”

“ One of them in particular informed me, that when the second shock came on, he could perceive the whole sky waving backwards and forwards like the sea when the wind first begins to rise; that the agitation of the earth was so great even under the river, that it threw up his large anchor front the mooring, which swam, as he termed it, on the surface of the water ”

“ In almost every severe earthquake, the neighbouring waters of the sea are said to have been greatly agitated. The disturbance seems generally, as in the case of Concepcion, to have been of two kinds: first, at the instant of the shock, the water swells high up on the beach with a gentle motion, and then as quietly retreats; secondly, some time afterwards, the whole body of the sea retires from the coast, and then returns in waves of overwhelming force. ”

“ Heralded by the increasing fierceness of the squalls, sometimes by a faint flash of lightning like the signal of a lighted torch waved far away behind the clouds, the shift of wind comes at last, the crucial moment of the change from the brooding and veiled violence of the south-west gale to the sparkling, flashing, cutting, cleareyed anger of the King's north-westerly mood. ”

“ I took my quadrant on deck; the sun did not show himself, and I got at the situation of the brig by dead reckoning. The westerly gale blew fresh and strong, and I needed to keep the vessel under the tall canvas of the topgallant sail to run her free of the huge Horn surge, which chased us as though to the hurl of an earthquake. It was impossible to make too much of such a wind; at any moment might come a greasy Horn calm with a swell like a land of hills; to be swept with horrible suddenness by a black outfly right ahead. ”

“ SQUALL, the name given to any sudden increase of wind to gale force. Generally speaking a squall is understood to be of short duration, but the word " gust " would be used to indicate an increase of wind force of more transient character than a squall. Gusts may succeed one another several times within the compass of a minute. A squall may comprise a succession of gusts, with intervening partial lulls, and would last with varying intensity for some minutes at least. ”

“ The rapid quiver grows into a rude violent shaking of increasing amplitude. Everything beneath seems beaten with rapid blows of measureless power; loose objects -138- begin to fly about; those that are lightly hung break from their fastenings. The shaking increases in violence. The floor begins to heave and rock like a boat on the waves. Plaster ceilings fall, the walls crack, the chimneys go crashing down, everything moves, heaves, tosses. Huge waves seem to rush under the foundations as if driven by a gale. ”

“ Hitherto no one appears to have formed any clear notion as to what an Earthquake is—that is to say, any clear idea of what is the nature of the movement constituting the shock, no matter what may be the nature or origin of the movement itself. ”

“ First a clatter and an earthquake, then a greater clatter and another earthquake, and so on a third time; only this year the earthquakes were far worse than the year before. Then all at once everything was as still as death, and the lad heard how something was cropping the grass outside the barn-door, so he stole to the door, and peeped through a chink; and what do you think he saw? Why, another horse standing right up against the wall, and chewing and champing with might and main. ”