THE MURRAY.

Wellington Independent, Volume VI, Issue 567, 19 March 1851, Page 4

THE MURRAY.

(From the Melbourne Daily News:)

The usual festivities of the season having passed away like a dream of the night, settlers and others have again sobered "down, to the stern realities of life. And I can assure you, and I do so with much-regret, that "it is unfortunately too true, that the squatters in this district have anything but a pleasant picture to contemplate. The whole country stretching to the northward, and other"points of the compass for many hundred miles, seems to be under the ban of the genius of drought and aridity. To get a good ducking hy being caught in a shower, is oregarded as one of .the •■■ things that have been;" in '.fact has become one of the legends of this Australia Deserta. The heat is intense, .rendered more .intolerably so by.the frightful glare and glow of the burning .and and dust,.the. Tefloction of the sun-sa-ays upon which is andiscribably painful to the eyesight. As -a consequence, opthalmia and other diseases of the eye are very prevalent.

In the Billegbon country, water is to the thirsty settlers and their parched flocks, an unknown treasure —a sealed book, and therefore numbers have embraced the nomadic existence of the ancient patriarchs, and the modern Tartars. Like Ishmael, it may be truly said of them, that their hand is against every man, and every man's hand is against them, for they are literally like the locusts of South Africa, clearing off wilh remorseless appetite everything appertaining to the vegetable kingdom, with be it remarked, en passant, exactly similar results said to be- exhibited by the lean kino of Pharoah, king of Egypt. Their misfortunes have rendered some of them almost desperate, and one of them has declared to me that he has felt the sensations of the wretch devoured by burning thirst, chained to the rock within a few inches of a pleasant waterfall.

A gentleman who lately purchased a station on the Billebong, became frightened at the sterile appearance of the country, and immediately sold out at a loss of _ 3i- per cent. Such is lhe want of feed on the Murrumbidgee, caused by the long drought, that cattle and horses may be seen lying dead in all directions. It is positively disagreeable to travel, from the horrible stench arising from so many dead bodies in a state of decora position. At many places on that river you will see numbers of starved looking animals wading about the river, trying to protract a sufficiently painful existence, by poking in the mud for any stray weeds that may be found. All along the Sydney road hay is exceedingly scarce and very dear, in many places twenty pounds a ton. Inkeepers have raised the price of stabling to eight shillings per night, and even at that price the hay is by no means of the best. Many are glad to give fourteen pounds a ton for hay, besides paying for carriage, a distance of twenty miles. In fact, things at present are sufficiently miserable, and even our old friend the Murraj threatens to leave us altogether. The " oldest inhabitant" never before saw it so low; added to these causes of distress, bush fires have been rife causing a great destruction of property. Mr. finer of the Tumut lost 700 bushels of wheat and a considerable quantity of hay, and Mr. Davis, of the Murrumbidgee had burned 1,700 bushels of wheat and three or four stacks of hay. A great number of races that were to have taken place in the district this season have been knocked on the head, it I being impossible to train because o[ the scarcity of hay and oats.

A mob of horses, the property of the Royal Bank of Australasia, was lately taken to one of the lower Murray stations. These horses had come from beyond Bathurst, the original number at starting 370 head, but from the want of water and the great distance (upwards of 600 miles) they had dwindled down to 117. when I saw them, the remainder having perished by the way. They were indeed miserable looking object's, and were scarcely able to work. Had feed and water been plentiful, these horses would have arrived iv good condition, and realized good prices.

It is astonishing to notice how fast little townships spring up in the interior. Mulwaly is one of those mushroom rate of growth affairs. A few months ago all was the silence and desolation of the wilderness—now it can boast of a spacious and well conducted Inn—a general Store, where every thing is sold from a needle to an anchor ; a blacksmith, carpenter, wheelwright, shoemaker, &c. A medical man is about to settle in the place; and a splendid punt is in the course of being built. The place seems to have a goahead appearance about it.

It is au old but true saying, that " it is an ill wind that blows nobody good." This axiom holds good with regard tv the drought. One good thing, which, amidst its evils it has clone, has been to put a stop in a great measure to horse stealing. But I must conclude, and leave off expatiating auy further upon the subject of drought, "lest you cut me short by enquiring " Cur me cxanimas tuis ?" or as Dr. Lang would render it in reply to one of his dunning creditors, " Why do you deafen me with your croaking V Murray River, # 18th January, 1851. *