Australia, from Port Macquarie to Moreton Bay; with descriptions of the nature, the geology, productions and resources of that region

Front matter

N I ■ AUSTEALIA, FROM PORT MACQUARIE TO MORETON BAY WITH DESCRIPTIONS OF THE NATIVES, THEIR MANNERS AND CUSTOMS; THE GEOLOGY, NATURAL PRODUCTIONS, FERTILITY AND RESOURCES OF THAT REGION ; FIRST EXPLORED AND SURVEYED -i*l» ortrcr of thr Colonial ©obcrnmnit. BY CLEMENT HODGKINSON. LONDON: T. AND W. BOONE, 29, NEW BOND STREET. MDCCCXLV. TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE EDWARD GEOFFREY SMITH STANLEY, BARON STANLEY, OF BICKERSTAFFE; HER MAJESTY'S PRINCIPAL SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE COLONIES, etc. etc. etc. THIS WORK IS, WITH PERMISSION, MOST RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED, BY HIS LORDSHIP'S MOST OBEDIENT HUMBLE SERVANT, CLEMENT HODGKINSON October, 1844.

Preface

. In consequence of the unexampled depression which has now for so long a time paralysed the colony of New South Wales, in common with the other Australian settlements, and the melancholy truth that few occupations can now be profitably carried on there ; many persons in England have arrived at the conclusion that the state of Australia is quite hopeless. Having made a visit to my native country, after a residence of five years in New South Wales, during which time I had been engaged, either in surveying for the Government a district beyond the limits of location, in the north-eastern part of the territory, or in farming pursuits, I found that many of my friends, who took an interest in the colony, were very desirous of knowing whether there was any truth in the statement, that the natural resources of that part of Australia, were not of a nature to admit of the colonists advantageously competing with other countries, in any one article of produc tion.

As this notion seemed to be very prevalent among those who have suffered from their connection with New South Wales, I have been induced to write the following pages during my limited stay in England, in the hope that they might not prove altogether VI

PREFACE.

. useless to those persons who desire to know the pre sent state of that colony, and how far her natural resources will be henceforth available for the production of articles of export. As the north-eastern part of the territory of New South Wales, from Port Macquarie northward, as far as the country has been explored past Moreton Bay, is of a very different character to the other parts of the colony, with regard to its geological structure, soil, vegetable productions, and climate, I have given a description of it ; partly with a view of shewing its adaptation for the culture of many of the productions of tropical countries, and partly to en deavour to rectify the prevailing opinion of many persons, that all parts of New Holland are distin guished by a scantiness of vegetation, and aridity of soil, exceeding that in any other country.

The only central part of New South Wales, which bears any resemblance to the north-eastern part of the territory, is the isolated district of Illawarra, which has always astonished those who have visited it, by the wonderful luxuriance and tropical aspect of its vegetation. The cause of this unusual aspect is entirely attributable to the vicinity of high ranges near the coast, and their peculiar geological formation. The rich soil, covered by luxuriant jungles, of the north-eastern part of the territory, is also more owing to analogous causes, than to the warmer climate. Although the dense vegetation which covers the rich soil in this part of the colony, entirely

PREFACE.

. VII precludes all possibility of its ever being made use of for the ordinary colonial productions, yet the time might arrive, in some future generation, when much of this kind of land might be checquered with plantations of rice, tobacco, indigo, cotton, sugar cane, and mulberry trees. I have divided this work into four parts. The first contains a description of the MacLeay river, and two smaller rivers, between that stream and the Clarence ; these rivers being included in the district I was ordered to survey, I have been rather prolix in my details concerning the geological for mation of the surrounding country, and its influence on the climate, soil, indigenous vegetation, and objects of culture, which I was able to see displayed, as I possessed a share in a station on the banks of the MacLeay, where we successfully cultivated a large tract of land for some years.

In the second part, I have described the river Hastings, and the Port Macquarie district, the Clarence, Richmond, and Tweed rivers, and the country in the vicinity of Moreton Bay and the Brisbane river. The third part contains an inquiry into the causes of the depression, and monetary panic, which have so long afflicted the colony of New South Wales. I have also examined whether any future profit will attend the investment of capital in flocks and herds, when considered as only valuable for the exportable articles of tallow, wool, or hides ; and have annexed

PREFACE.

. some calculations on the subject. Agriculture, carried on for the production of wheat, maize, &c. — and the cultivation of the vine, with a view to the production of wine and brandy, are next analysed in the same manner, in order to ascertain whether these occupations can be profitably carried on with a view to the exportation of their products, independent of any colonial demand for them. The last part contains a few desultory observations on Australian field-sports, and the incidents of a bush life, with anecdotes of the Aborigines, Sec. Sec. In offering to the public this work, which will not be published until I am again traversing the ocean on my return to Sydney, I must crave the reader's indulgence for the defects which it may contain ; for being engaged in many other affairs during my limited stay in England, I have not been able to find time to render it as complete as I could have wished. CONTENTS.

Part I

The entrance of the MacLeay River — Trial Bay — Granite headlands— A digression on the nature and appearance of the alluvial jungles or brushes, on the banks of some of the coast rivers of New South Wales — Probable causes of the tropical aspect of the vegetation, and the inexhaustible richness of the soil, which characterise these brushes, especially in the northern districts — Extensive swamps near the estuary of the MacLeay — Successful experiment with rice — Agricultural stations of the squatters — Cedar sawyers — Prevalence of ague at the lower MacLeay — Village of Kempsey — Dongai Creek — Beautiful fertile ranges — Their geological formation the most favourable of any for vineyards — Limestone caverns — Rich fertile well-watered country on the south side of the MacLeay — Densely wooded lofty mountains —Tremendous cataracts and basaltic precipices — Extraordinary altitude of the bed of the MacLeay above the level of the sea, between the cataracts and its sources — Fine table land country of New England — Coldness of the climate from the great elevation of the country — The Nambucca River — Survey of its navigable arms — Murderous attacks of the native Blacks on the Cedar sawyers — Coohalli Creek — First appearance of Pine here, in about 30J° S.— The Bellengen River — Journal of an excursion over the mountains towards its sources —Journal of subsequent examination of the country in the vicinity of its mouth . page 1

Part II

Port Macquarie — Pleasing scenery — River Hastings — Rich agricultural farms on the tributaries of the Hastings — The sugar plantation and the success that attended it — Frequent rains in consequeuce of the altitude of the mountain chains, and their proximity to the coast — Road to the table-land — Capt. King's opinion of the wide extent of fertile country in the vicinity of Port Macquarie — Notes taken during a ride from the MacLeay River to the Hunter — Description of the Clarence River — Fine grazing country— Easy communication between the high table-land and the Clarence — The Richmond River — Extensive tracts of rich land — The Tweed — Moreton Bay — Mr. Oxley 's official despatch on the discovery of the Brisbane River — Sources of the Brisbane — Brisbane Town — Great fertility of the country — X CONTENTS.

Its capabilities for maintaining a dense population — Climate equally salu brious with the more southern parts of the colony — Moreton Bay well adapted for the culture of many tropical productions — The Bunya-hunya tree — Great number of Aborigines in the district where this tree abounds — Distinctive features of the north-eastern part of the territory of New South Wales, when compared with the more central part of that colony ; its geolo gical formation, lofty chains of mountains, numerous rivers and streams, and adaptation for tropical productions . . puge 11

Part III

The present depressed state of New South Wales — Its causes — Sheep — Their depreciated value — Sheep-boiling — Price of Australian Tallow in London — The practice of Sheep-boiling defended— Sheep, still a profitable investment when purchased at a price determined by the intrinsic worth of their Skins and Tallow — Calculations to shew the income that might be then derived from Sheep — No Foreign Countries, or other British Colonies, able at present to produce Wool and Tallow cheaper than Australia — Price of Australian Wool not regulated by the cost of production, but by the state of the Home Market — Life of the Australian Settlers not necessarily deprived of all the conveniences and comforts of civilization — Horned Cattle — Australian Beef considered of inferior quality in London — Intrinsic value of Cattle when slaughtered for their Hides, Tallow, &c— Calculations shewing the income derivable from Cattle when they are purchased at a price determined by the value of their Hides, Tallow, &c. only — Agriculture, a very uncertain occupation in Australia — Excellent quality of the Australian Wheat ; its capability of supporting long voyages without deterioration, and the high price obtained for it in the London market — Maize of New South Wales superior to that of the United States — Prices to which Wheat and Maize must fall in Sydney to allow of their being exported to England — Grain might perhaps be advantageously grown, in some few favoured localities, at these low prices, by persons purchasing improved farms at their present low value— Calculations on this subject — Districts exempt from droughts — Causes of this exemption — Vineyards — Good quality of the Wines hitherto made in New South Wales— Varieties of Grape successfully cultivated — Remarks on the French Vineyards — Expenses attending them— Calculation of the profit derivable from Vineyards in New South Wales — Remarks on planting and cultivating the Vine . pa«e 125

Part IV

Australian Field-sports— Kangaroo hunting— Curious mode of shooting the Pademella, or brush-kangaroo— Dingo hunt— Emu chase— Varieties of Quails in New South Wales ; very abundant north of Port Macquarie - Varieties of Australian Ducks— Duck-shooting— Geese and Moor-fowl— Brush-turkeys— Very good for the table— Their extraordinary mode of constructing their nests -Large size of the eggs, which are hatched by the CONTENTS.

XI heat generated by vegetable decomposition — Pigeons — The Wonga-wonga — Its habits — Very difficult to shoot — Peculiar delicacy of its flesh — The flock-pigeon of the brushes — Easily shot — Bronze-wing pigeon — Black pigeon — Fruit-pigeon — Its brilliant plumage — Doves — Spur-winged Plovers — Snipes — Curlews — Black Swans — Curious method of chasing them in a boat — Pelicans — Quantity of oil contained in them — Divers, Godwits, and Red-bills— Swamp Pheasants, Lyre-birds, Bustards — Snakes of Australia almost all venomous — Description of the different species in the colony — Peculiar action of the poison of the generality of Australian snakes — Account of the symptoms experienced by the author from the bite of a large snake at tie MacLeay in 1841 — Treatment under which he recovered — Description of a curious salt-water snake of the genus Hydro phis, killed in Tryal Bay in 30° 50' S. — Extreme poison of sea-snakes exem plified by two cases — The Aborigines of the north-eastern part of the territory, vary considerably in some of their habits from those to the southward and westward — The more circumscribed limits roamed over by each tribe — Abundance of indigenous food for the native population in the north-eastern districts — Impossibility of their ever suffering from famine — Exaggerated statements respecting the miserable condition of the Aborigines of New South Wales — Comparison between them and other savage races, in several respects advantageous to the former — Customs of the natives of the Mac- Leay River — Their Cawarra ceremonies different from those of the generality of the Aborigines — Description of the Cawarra — Accounts of some fights between different tribes of the MacLeay River — Their cruelty and treachery towards the whites — Their civilization almost hopeless — Their wonderful intelligence ..... page 196 LIST OF PLATES.

Map ..... to face page 1 Halt near a Fern-tree scrub .... 30 Natives spearing Fish in the Bellengen River . • 65 Kangaroo at bay . . . . .199 Dance at the conclusion of the Cawarra ceremonies . . 233 Cranky Tom and Dilberree .... 236 A Fight ...... 237 Dance of Defiance of the Yarra-Bandini tribe . . Title NEW SOUTH WALES.

Part I

The entrance of the MacLeay River — Trial Bay — Granite headlands — A digression on the nature and appearance of the alluvial jungles or brushes, on the banks of some of the coast rivers of New South Wales — Probable causes of the tropical aspect of the vegetation, and the inexhaustible richness of the soil, which characterise these brushes, especially in the northern districts — Extensive swamps near the estuary of the Mac- Leay — Successful experiment with rice — Agricultural stations of the squatters — Cedar sawyers — Prevalence of ague at the lower MacLeay — Village of Kempsey — Dongai Creek — Beautiful fertile ranges — Their geological formation the most favourable of any for vineyards — Limestone caverns — Rich fertile well-watered country on the south side of the MacLeay — Densely wooded lofty mountains — Tremendous cataracts and basaltic precipices — Extraordinary altitude of the bed of the MacLeay above the level of the sea, between the cataracts and its sources — Fine table land country of New England — Coldness of the climate from the great elevation of the country — The Nambucca River — Survey of its navigable arms — Murderous attacks of the native Blacks on the Cedar sawyers — Coohalli Creek — First appearance of Pine here, in about 30|° S. — The Bellengen River — Journal of an excursion over the mountains towards its sources — Journal of subsequent examination of the country in the vicinity of its mouth.

The MacLeay River, and the adjacent country to the north of it, having been the districts allotted to me, by the Colonial Government, to explore and B THE MACLEAY RIVER. survey, I will commence my observations on the northern part of the territory of New South Wales, by a minute description of that river ; especially noticing those peculiarities in the geological forma tion, soil, and botanical productions, which dis tinguish the MacLeay from the rivers in the south country. The general character of the country on the banks of the other rivers, north of Port Stephens, viz. : the Manning, the Hastings, the Clarence, the Richmond, the Tweed, the Brisbane, &c. being, with some little variation, nearly similar to that at the MacLeay, a more brief notice of their natural features will suffice. The MacLeay river disembogues in Trial bay, lat. 30° 40' S. The entrance is obstructed by a bar of sand, the position of which is not unfrequently altered by floods and other causes ; it has, how ever, generally sufficient water on it for vessels drawing eleven feet.

Trial bay is a good road stead, being completely protected from all winds but those between north and east, from which quarters the winds are seldom strong. The basis of the country in the immediate vicinity of the mouth of the MacLeay river, is a pink granite, overlaid occasionally by dark-coloured rock of trap formation ; a few miles west of the bar, this granite rises abruptly to an altitude of nearly two thousand feet in the Yarra-Hapinni range ; which is the termination of the range dividing the basin of the THE BRUSH. 3 MacLeay river from that of the Nambucca river to the north of it. Mount Yarra-Hapinni is densely wooded to the summit, with an almost impenetrable forest of gigantic trees, but its spurs towards the sea descend in beautiful verdant park like declivities to the beach, the grass growing luxuriantly, even within reach of the salt spray of the ocean.

At the south extremity of Trial bay, the granite again rises in a lofty conical grassy forest hill, to which I gave the native name of Arakoon; its gullies are enveloped in brushes of bangalo palms, cabbage palms, and gigantic ferns. In ascending the MacLeay river, from its en trance, the first objects which meet the eye on both banks are extensive mangrove flats, with thickets of myrtle, palm, and swamp oak, which, a few miles farther on, are superseded by dense alluvial brushes, rising like gigantic green walls on both sides of the river. I must here make a digression to attempt to convey to the English reader some idea of the very peculiar appearance of that kind of vegetation to which the colonists have assigned the unmeaning name of brush. It grows on the richest alluvial land, and consists of trees of almost endless va riety, and very large dimensions, totally differing in appearance from the ordinary Eucalypti and Casuarinæ, which grow on the common open forests of Australia, for the brush trees in general possess a rich umbrageous foliage of bright shining green. b THE BRUSH.

The popular names of the most remarkable brush trees are as follow :— Red Cedar, White Cedar,* Mahogany, Tulipwood, Rosewood, Ironwood,t Ligbtwood, Sassafras, Corkwood, the Australian Tamarind,^ Box, the numerous and elegant varieties of trees of the Myrtle genus,§ the Australian Palms, and the Brush Fig-tree, which, from being originally a mere creeper, requiring the support of another tree, gradually envelopes it, and attains occasionally such a size, as to cause it to rank among the largest vegetable productions in the world. But the peculiar appearance of the brush is principally caused by the countless species of creepers, wild vines, and parasitical plants of singular conformation, which, interlaced and entwined in * Red cedar, Cedrela Toona, is quite different from the Lebanon cedar, Pinus Cedrus, and also from the American Pencil cedar, which is a species of juniper.

The White cedar, Melia Azederach, appears to be identically the same as the Pride tree of Asia. The foliage of both red and white cedar is deciduous. t The Australian trees, popularly named Rosewood, Mahogany, &c. belong to totally different genera from the American trees of those appellations, the names having been given from the similar appearance of the wood. X This very beautiful tree is dissimilar in every respect to the Tamarind tree of the Indies ; it has obtained its popular appella tion from the grateful acidity of its fruit, which hangs in large clusters of transparent, amber-coloured berries, of the size of small grapes. \ The berries of several trees of the Myrtle tribe are edible, and are sometimes used for tarts, preserves, &c. by the settlers. RICHNESS OF THE SOIL. 5 inextricable confusion, bind and weave together the trees almost to their summits, and hang in rich and elegant flowering festoons from the highest branches.

The luxuriant and vigorous character of the brush, on alluvial land, in the northern part of the territory of New South Wales, cannot be surpassed in any tropical region. When this brush land is cleared, and cultivated, its fertility seems inexhaustible. For even in the old settled parts of the colony, near Sydney, the productiveness of the thickly wooded alluvial flats is most wonderful; thus, on the banks of the Hawkesbury, there is some land of this description, which has now been cultivated for forty years, without intermission, and without any renovating application to the soil ; and it has been observed by Mr. Wentworth, the present member for Sydney, in the New Legislative Council, that, on the banks of that river, the same acre of ground has been known to produce, in the course of the same year, fifty bushels of wheat, and a hundred bushels of maize, and yet the settlers have never any occasion for manure.* I have also been informed of fourteen successive crops of wheat having been reaped off the same piece of ground at Illawarra, without manure, and on ground, too, out of the reach of flood. * Notwithstanding the richness of the alluvial soil on some parts of the banks of the Hawkesbury, it is not a good agricul tural district, as the settlers there frequently suffer from the two opposite evils of successive droughts, and destructive floods.

RICHNESS OF THE SOIL. Facts such as these will appear almost incredible to the English, or even the Canadian agriculturist ; several causes may be assigned for this more than ordinary richness in alluvial soils in some situations on the east coast of Australia.* First, the more than ordinary quantity of renovating substances which have been deposited on them during heavy floods. For in those districts in which we find the most of this rich brush land, (the Illawarra country, the Williams and Pater son rivers which join the Hunter, and all the northern rivers), the mountain ranges are eminently formed, from their height, steepness, and narrow shelving ravines and gullies, to effect the rapid transportation of rain-water to the lower grounds ; and as the Australian climate is characterised by long intervals of fine weather, followed by sudden and violent rains, the decayed vegetation on the ranges becomes desiccated and pulverized by the heat during the dry weather, or else is reduced to ashes by the frequent bush fires, and is therefore in a state most favourable for being easily washed away by heavy rains, and subse quently deposited on the alluvial lands.

The geological formation of the basins of different rivers in Australia, exercises also a most * Dr. Lang has travelled extensively in America since he published his work on New South Wales. He has said, since his return to Sydney, that he saw no land in the United States superior in fertility and productiveness to that at many parts of the lower Hunter and its tributaries. GEOLOGICAL FORMATION. marked influence on the comparative fertility of the soil of their respective alluvial lands. For instance, in examining a well dried handful of alluvial soil, taken from the banks of the MacLeay river, with a microscope, I saw in it minute particles of fels par, and quartz, and little thin laminæ of mica ; thus at once indicating, that in the basin of this river there is a preponderance of primitive rocks.

Now soil containing minute particles of these kinds of rocks, would, of course, have different qualities from soil in which particles of other kinds of rock, such as sandstone, predominated. Professor Jameson has made the following apposite remarks on the different qualities of alluvial soils pro duced from this cause. — "The varieties of transported soil depend chiefly upon three circumstances : first, the nature of the rocks from which they are derived ; 2ndly, the quality and effect of the moving powers ; 3rdly, the changes which they may have undergone after their formation. The origin of the materials, which enter into the composition of transported soil, has already been considered. From their difference may be easily explained why soil generated from the debris of primitive crystalline rocks, has different qualities from soil which has been derived from strata of sandstone."

There is, indeed, scarcely any country where the surface rocks exercise so great an influence on the fertility of the soil, and the aspect of the vegetation, as in Australia. Thus, sandstone, the all-pervading GEOLOGY AND VEGETATION. 8 rock of the central part of the colony, and of which the Blue Mountains are composed, from the Shoal haven to the Liverpool range, except in a few places where it is overlaid by whinstone, is always indica tive of barrenness and sterility ; whilst nearly all the varieties of trap, with the clay slates, (so fre quently met between the Hunter and Moreton), limestone and granite, are generally accompanied by good soil, and a more luxuriant vegetation. Thus the richness and tropical aspect of the isolated district of Illawarra, is principally attributable to the whinstone, of which the abrupt range, which sepa rates it from the surrounding country, is composed ; whilst a few of the higher summits near Sidney, such as Hay, Tomah, and Warrawolong, which consist of trap, are crowned with lofty trees, and stand conspicuously prominent amidst the miserable sandstone ridges around them.

Sir Thomas Mitchell, in the valuable dissertation on the geology of the eastern part of New Holland, given in his interesting work, has observed, that, " by a little attention to the geological structure of Australia, we learn how much the superficial qualities of the soil and produc tions depend upon it, and where to look for arable spots amid the general barrenness." He also frequently alludes to the sterility of the country wherever sandstone occurs, whilst he observes, that trap forms an excellent soil on decomposition. Captain Sturt, also, was much struck with the apparent connection between the geology and vege- THE MACLEAY RIVER. 9 tation of Australia ; and he observes, that this connection was so strong, that he had little difficulty, after a short experience, in judging of the rock that formed the basis of the country over which he was travelling, from the kind of tree or herbage that flourished in the soil above it.

Begging the reader to pardon this long digression, I will now continue the description of the MacLeay river. It is navigable for vessels of fifty or sixty tons, to a distance of thirty-four miles from its bar, the water being of a good depth, except at Shark and Pelican islands, where sand flats extend across the river, which can be passed by vessels only at high water. The reaches of the river are long and straight, averaging about a quarter of a mile in width, and flanked on both sides by huge walls of the dense brush I have just now described. These borders of alluvial brush land on the banks of the river, are generally half a mile, or a mile wide, and are then backed by extensive swamps of many thousand acres in extent, whose verdant sea, of high waving reeds and sedge, stretches away to the base of the distant forest ranges.

There are several lagoons in these swamps, and stagnant water is very generally diffused over their surface. Their soil is very good in some parts, and rice would probably grow in them very well ; for Richard Oakes, Esq. the late Commissioner of Crown Lands for the MacLeay river, planted a small quantity of rice at his station, situated on the ALLUVIAL PLAINS. verge of Clybucca Swamp, and the experiment was very successful. The continuous brush renders the aspect of the lower part of the MacLeay very monotonous to the admirer of picturesque scenery ; however, an occasional glimpse of the azure tinted peaks of the distant mountain ranges, with green islands covered with palms, now and then varying the uniform sameness of the reaches of the river, not to speak of the air of cheerfulness imparted to the scene, by the large flocks of aquatic birds, of won derful variety, all busily engaged, and fish leaping out of the water in every direction, renders an ex cursion on the waters of the MacLeay pleasant enough.

At the distance of twenty miles from the mouth of the river, and from thence to the point where the river ceases to be navigable, the brush land is inter spersed with small alluvial plains, clear of trees, and varying in extent from fifty to a hundred acres. These clear patches of ground possess all the exu berant fertility of the brush land, and have now been cultivated for several years by squatters, (the MacLeay river being beyond the boundaries). This part of the river, however, has the great drawback of giving ague to those residing there, which is not to be wondered at, when one considers the immense extent of the surrounding swamps. This disorder was particularly prevalent among the cedar sawyers, who lead a life, compared with which, the life of the lumberers, or wood-cutters in Canada, is civilization CEDAR SAWYERS. itself.

These men are generally convicts, who have become free by servitude ; they live in pairs in the dense dark brushes ; their habitation being merely a few sheets of bark temporarily piled together, as they are continually moving in search of fresh cedar. Here they live exposed to the myriads of noxious insects with which the brush abounds, whilst not a breath of air can reach them through the entangled mass of surrounding vegetation. — The cedar dealers furnish them from time to time with salt provisions, flour, tea, and sugar; and every three or four months the sawyers travel down to the cedar dealers, who live at the mouths of the rivers, for a settlement of their accounts. As these latter individuals are not remarkable for delicate scruples of conscience, they generally settle the balance due to the sawyers in a very summary way.

They take care to have a good assortment of clothing, tobacco, &c. in their huts, with which they furnish the sawyers at an advance of about three hundred per cent, on the Sidney prices : this, with a cask or so of rum and wine, to enable the sawyers to have a fortnight's drinking bout, generally balances their accounts. The scenes I have wit nessed at the MacLeay river, on these occasions, surpass all description. Men and women, (for many of the sawyers have wives), lying day and night on the bare grass in a state of intoxication, and only re covering to renew their orgies ; casks broken in, and the contents passed round in buckets ; men fighting ; VILLAGE OF KEMPSEY. native blacks, who have been supplied with liquor, yelling and screeching like demons, under the in fluence of alcohol. Such are a few of the accompa niments of the cedar sawyers' drinking bouts.