In fact, very few people ever do seem to go there. Those that do,
either depart again very shortly, or stay until theirs makes one
amongst a collection of rudely-fenced enclosures on the banks of the
Trickle Trickle, inside which sleep the pioneers of the place.
Perhaps the first emotion that arises in the visitor’s mind is of
wonder that any pioneer, no matter how hard up he may have been,
should have thought it worth while to commence pioneering at
Jillibeejee. The second, that any others should ever join him in such
a speculation. Neither tree nor any other green thing meets the sight.
All is brown, barren, desolate—apparently a ‘waste land where no one
comes, or hath come since the making of the world,’ except that
intrepid band in possession.
Why do people live here? How do they live? I must discover this, if
possible, before leaving. Having no time to spare, I begin at once.
He is six feet in his stockings, broad, massive, hirsute, and tanned.
The insignia of office in such a place would be an absurdity.
Therefore his raiment is nondescript, and mostly slouch hat. This is
the man who rules the official destinies of the settlement—the
‘Officer in Charge.’ To him I propound my conundrum.
‘Ah,’ replies he; ‘ye shud jist come aroun’ whin ut’s a wet saison,
an’ thin ye’d see the differ av ut.’
‘Yes,’ I remark. ‘And when may that time be due?’
‘God knows,’ says he piously, and with a sigh. ‘I’ve bin here four
year, an’ I’ve seen ut wanst. Ye cudn’t see the counthry for a week
bekase av the wather. Thin, afther, comes the grass an’ the clover six
feet high. Ut’s a great counthry, them times, so it is, sorr.’
It is high noon as I and my friend stroll along the fiery, dusty track
amongst the iron-roofed ovens large and small.
Everybody seems asleep, save that now and again we catch a glimpse of
women, wan and prematurely old-looking.
In the sun’s eye a man lies in the brown dust. He is on his back, his
hat off, and snoring stertorously up at a cloud of mosquitoes,
sandflies, and other abominations hovering and buzzing about his face.