1890. `Goldfields of Victoria,' p. 11:
"All the ground . . . is held in blocks which are being merely shepherded."
(2) By transference from (1). To follow or hang about a person in the hopes of getting something out of him. Compare similar use of <i>shadow</i>.
1896. Modern:
"The robbers knowing he had so much coin about him, determined to shepherd him till an opportunity occurred of robbery with impunity."
<hw>Shepherd</hw>, <i>n</i>. a miner who holds a claim but does not work it.
188-. `Argus' (date lost):
"The term `jumper,' being one of reproach, brought quite a yell from the supporters of the motion. Dr. Quick retorted with a declaration that the Grand Junction Company were all `shepherds,' and that `shepherds' are the worse of the two classes. The `jumpers' sat in one gallery and certain representatives or deputy `shepherds' in the other. Names are deceitful. . . . The Maldon jumpers were headed by quite a venerable gentleman, whom no one could suspect of violent exercise nor of regrettable designs upon the properties of his neighbours. And the shepherds in the other gallery, instead of being light-hearted beings with pipes and crooks—<i>a la</i> Watteau and Pope—looked unutterable things at the individuals who had cast sheep's eyes on their holding."
<hw>Shicer</hw>, <i>n</i>. (1) An unproductive <i>claim</i> or mine: a <i>duffer</i>. From the German <i>scheissen</i>.
1861. T. McCombie, `Australian Sketches,' p. 135: