bag or purse) are of the lowest grade in the scale of intelligence. They appear to have just as much intelligence as is requisite to the performance of the merest animal functions, and no more. They have never been known to recognize an individual who has fed and tended them for years from the most complete stranger, or to exhibit an appreciation of any sort of caress you may please to bestow upon them. Their vocal powers are extremely limited; a sort of hollow bark, or growl, being the nearest approach to a perfectly developed sound made by them; indeed, the larynx of the kangaroo lacks the necessary apparatus for producing a vocalized sound, to which the noise that the animal emits bears no resemblance.

The kangaroo is an inhabitant of New Holland and Van Diemen's Land, and, singular as is its formation, it would be impossible to conjecture another better adapted to the country. Australia is proverbially a thirsty region, and during a considerable portion of the year the supply of water is very precarious. True, as a rule, marsupial animals drink but little, but that little is indispensable. With her progeny comfortably tucked in her pouch, the kangaroo can within an hour quench her thirst, even though the next pool should lie ten miles distant; whereas, if she had to convey her little ones by. means of her mouth, as do members of the canine and feline family, the task would soon exhaust her strength, and there would be nothing left her but to abandon her young or lie down and die beside them.

The flesh of the kangaroo is by no means unpalatable, and is especially relished by the Bushmen. Its only fault is that it is too lean; its tail, however, is said to make excellent soup. A native recipe for a dish of kangaroo is as follows: "Skewer slices of lean, and what bits of fat you can collect, on your ramrod, roast at a fire that any native will make with two sticks, or that you can make for yourself with a flash of gunpowder, and if you happen to be hungry, you will not require knife or fork, salt, pepper, or pressing." "Kangaroo steamer" is another dish, a sort of haggis of venison and salt . pork, very popular with those who have time and patience for the culinary operation known as simmering.

HOW IT IS HUNTED.

KANGAROO hunting is a very favorite pastime with both colonists and natives, and is accomplished by the native by flinging his unerring "boomerang," or else a body of men will stalk a kangaroo fam

ily until it is fairly surrounded, and then suddenly burst upon it with their clubs and spears. The colonists, however, confer dignity on the sport, and set out for a kangaroo hunt on horseback, and accompanied by trained dogs in regular fox-hunting fashion. Nor is there wanting in the chase the glorious chance of getting badly hurt, which, after all, is the true salt of all hunting games; and after all you may come empty away. Take the following as a fair sample of kangaroo hunting:

"In a long day's ride we only found one kangaroo, fortunately a good specimen of that .kind known as a 'red-flyer,' a strong and fleet animal, not less than five feet high. The bush was tolerably open, hampered only by fallen timber, and occasionally rocky or boggy bits. The find was very fine. The kangaroo, which was feeding in a patch of long grass, jumped up under our horses' feet, and at first going off, looked very much like a red deer hind. Its action was less smooth, though equally swift; but no one could have guessed that it consisted only of a series of jumps, the fore-feet never touching the ground. A shrill tally-ho from one of the finest riders I ever saw, made all the dogs spring into the air. Two of them got away on pretty good terms with our quarry, and while facing the hill, at a pace considerably greater than an ordinary hunting gallop, I thought we should have had a 'whoo-whoop' in less than five minutes. After crossing a ridge and commencing a descent on the opposite side, however, the red-flyer showed us quite another pair of shoes,' and a pretty fast pair too. I never saw a stag in view go at all like our two-legged friend, and, in short, after a sharp burst of twelve or fourteen minutes, both dogs and men were fairly distanced. . . . I think I can perceive why the animal always, if possible, takes a down-hill course when pursued. The hare, which, like the kangaroo, has very long hind-legs, prefers running up hill, but she makes good use else of her fore-legs. At full speed, as I have said, the kangaroo's fore-feet never touch the ground; and therefore in going down hill he has more time to gather up his hindlimbs to repeat his tremendous spring than he could have in facing. an ascent."

...

Wild and innocent, however, as the kangaroo looks, to bring him to bay is only half-way toward conquering him. He may take to a water-hole, and standing therein and seizing the dogs as they approach him, thrust them under water, holding this one at the bottom with his hinder feet, and this by the nape of the neck with his hand-like fore-paws, till death by drowning thins the pack very con

siderably. Should the hunter bring the kangaroo to bay on land, the animal will fight desperately for his life. Each of his hind-legs is furnished with a claw as formidable as a boar's tusk, and woe betide the dog that comes within range of a lunge of either of them; or, worse still, if the kangaroo should catch his assailant in his forearms, there he will hold him until he is flayed from chest to tail. Even man may not attack the kangaroo with impunity, as the following incident, extracted from the Sporting Review, will show. The narrator had commenced the attack with his dogs, one of which had been seized and treated in the unceremonious fashion above noticed.

"Exasperated by the irreparable loss of my poor dog, I hastened to its revenge, nothing doubting that with one fell sweep of my formidable club my enemy would be prostrate at my feet. Alas! decay and the still more remorseless white ants frustrated my murderous intentions, and all but left me a victim to my strange and active foe. No sooner had the heavy blow I aimed descended on his head, than my weapon shivered into a thousand pieces (the heart of it had been eaten out by the white ants—a customary practice with these interesting insects), and I found myself in the giant embrace of my antagonist, who was hugging me with rather too warm a demonstration of friendship, and ripping at me in a way by no means pleasant. My only remaining dog, too, now thoroughly exhausted by wounds and loss of blood, and apparently quite satisfied of her master's superiority, remained a mute and motionless spectator of the new and unequal contest.

"Notwithstanding my utmost efforts to release myself from the grasp of the brute, they were unavailing, and I found my strength gradually diminishing; while, at the same time, my sight was obscured by the blood which now flowed freely from a deep wound, extending from the back part of my head over the whole length of my face. I was, in fact, becoming an easy prey to the kangaroo, who continued to insert with renewed vigor his talons into my breast, luckily, however, protected by a loose, coarse canvas frock, which in colonial phrase is called a 'jumper,' and but for which I must inevitably have shared the fate of poor Trip. As it was, I had almost given myself up for lost; my head was pressed with surpassing strength beneath my adversary's breast, and a faintness was gradually stealing over me, when I heard a long and heart-stirring shout. Was I to be saved? The thought gave me new life; with increased power I grappled and succeeded in casting from me my

determined foe, and seeing a tree close at hand, I made a desperate leap to procure its shelter and protection. I reached and clung to it for support, when I heard the sharp report of a rifle, and the bark about three inches above my head was penetrated with a ball. Another shot followed with a more sure aim, and the exasperated animal-now once more within reach of me-rolled heavily on its side. On the parties nearing, I found them to be my brother and a friend, who had at first mistaken me for the kangaroo, and had very nearly consummated what had been so strangely begun. You may imagine that the little beauty I ever possessed is not much improved by the wound on my face, which still remains and ever will. I am now an older hand at kangaroo hunting, and never venture to attack so formidable an antagonist with an ant-eaten club; my dogs also have grown too wary to rush heedlessly within reach of his deadly rips. We have killed many since, but rarely so fine a one as that which first tried our mettle on the plains of New Holland."

TILL within the last century, the very existence of this magnificent animal was doubted by Europeans-at least, it was no more believed in than the unicorn. Who can wonder at the incredulity of the people? I have seen an animal, said the traveler, with the skin of a leopard, the head of a deer, a neck graceful as the swan's; so tall, that