The Black Trackers of Australia.

Manawatu Herald, 16 May 1899, Page 2

The Black Trackers of Australia.

None of the marvellous unravellings of mystery by the impossible detectives of fiction can surpass in ingenuity the work done by our own and other detectives and by the black trackers of Australia. The following story of a stockrider who, travelling with a large sum of money, disappeared will give j some id.; a. of the cleverness of the blacks in tracking. The stockrider's horse had returned riderless to the station, a', j •vithout saddle and bridle. A search was at once instituted, but proved fruitless. The horse's hoof marks were followed to the very boundary of the run, near which stood a hut occupied by two shepherds. These men when .. questioned declared that neither man nor horse had passed that way. Then a native who worked on the station was pressed into service, and starting from the house, walking with downcast eyee, and occasionally putting his nose to the ground, he easily followed the horse's tracks to the shepherds'* hut where he at once oftered some information. " Two white men walk heroft he said, pointing to indications he alone could discover on the ground. A few yards further he <sried— " Here fight, here large fight !" and it was seen that the grass had been trampled down. Again close at hand he shouted in great excitement-" Here kill, kill 1" A minute examination of the spot showed that the earth had been moved recently, and on' turning it over a quanity of clofcted blood was found below. . . . The black now discovered the tracks^ o£ men by the banks of a stream hard by, . . . The stream was shrunk to. a tiny thread after the long drought, and here and there was swallowed up by sand. But it gathered occasionally into deep stagnant pools, which marked its course. Each of these the native examined, still finding footmarks on the margin. At last they reached a | pond larger than any, wide, and seeminly very deep. The tracker after circliug round and round the bank, saiJ the trail had ceased, and bent all his attention upon the surface of the water, where a quantity of dark scum was floating. Some of this he skimmed off, tested, and smelt, and decided positively — " White man hetp I" The pond was dragged, and tho mangled remains of the stockrider were found in a sack weighted with stone. Suspicion fell on the shepherds who were arrested and sent to Melbourne. The saddle bags were still to be found. The black followed the tracks of the two men's feet, and after some time came upon a dry watercourse, in the middle of which was a > high pile of stones. The tracks ended at a stone on the side, when the native said he could smell leather. When several stones had been taken down the saddle-bags saddle and bridle were found hidden in an inner receptacle. The money, no less than £2000, was still in the bags. The shepherds were 4 both hanged at Melbourne.