certain death to go far to the west looking for water or country. All the tributary creeks of the Flinders were dry, and those who ventured out had soon to return to the main watercourse. The native dogs crowded in on the Flinders in thousands, and the blacks themselves had also to resort to it. During that trying season, none of the rivers ran in their channels, and even most of the large waterholes in the bed of the Flinders dried up, while stages of thirty or forty miles without water were frequent. Notwithstanding these drawbacks to stockowners who were on the search for some unfrequented nook to unharness on, the crowd pressed on in the hope of better country ahead, some Canaan far beyond, where hills were always green and water abundant. These men followed each other in quick succession and took up runs on the Lower Flinders and all over the Gulf country, wherever water could be found. This settlement, carried out in those early years, was most extensive and comprehensive, and during the time the western country was being sought out and utilised the Burdekin was being stocked in every part. One of the pioneers was Mr. Robert Stewart, of Southwick station, on Fletcher's Creek, a stream of pure, clear water, flowing from the great basaltic wall into the Burdekin. Reedy Lake station was stocked with sheep by O'Reilly and Reeve, near Dalrymple, where the main route from Bowen to the Gulf crossed the Burdekin River. Many other runs were taken up on the Burdekin and towards the coast, and many soon changed hands, the first settlers passing on to occupy country in the interior. Several of these first-comers took up coast runs and stocked them with sheep, believing they would thrive there. This was found to be a mistake, and from Wide Bay to the north scarcely any sheep are now to be met with on coastal runs. For a few years in some places they did well enough, but they soon began to die from fluke, worms, and grass seeds, and they were accordingly replaced by cattle. The sheep on being removed to western pastures throve well, and soon recovered health. The seeds of the spear grass (Andropogon contortus) were a terrible scourge--they are finely barbed and intensely sharp and hard; once entered they pass right through the skin of the sheep, even into the flesh, causing great annoyance and leading to poverty and death. The soil in which this grass thrives best is in the sandy strips along the banks of creeks. After seeding, the heads bunch together, in tangled masses, and shower the seeds on to sheep passing through. It is of use as a fodder grass only when young and green, although cattle thrive fairly well upon it, and its presence in any quantity at once determines whether the pasturage is favourable to sheep or not. The cattle that were brought from Bowen Downs to stock the runs taken up on the Gulf, were brought to their northern starting point from Fort Cooper and further south during 1860 by N. Buchanan and W.