HARDWICKE'S SC LEN CE-GOS SI P. 



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nocent opossum, seized a big stick, and caught the 

 poor fellow a hard crack on his beautiful head, 

 rendered hiin nearly senseless, and popped him into 

 his hutch. He arrived on board without further 

 adventure, and was given over to the cook to take 

 charge of. The crow, who had left off piping and 

 taken to imitate the fowls during his stay at the 

 hospital, was carried from his cab to the ship by an 

 imprudent porter, who put his hand through the 

 bars of the hutch to lift it. He dropped it with a 

 sudden crash ! The crow had driven his sharp hard 

 beak well into the flesh of his fingers. There were 

 two other opossums on board ship, and all the pets 

 were under the charge of the ship's cook. One 

 opossum got away and was missing for two or three 

 days: at last he was found under the galley fire 

 amongst the ashes ; the poor thing had felt the cold 

 severely. A death occurred in the trio ; my friend 

 had suspicions that the deceased was his opossum 

 who had suffered the crack on his poor head ; but 

 the cook affirmed that it was not so. Anyhow at 

 the end of the voyage a very large and very tame 

 opossum was shown as my friend's, and taken away 

 by him. A faint idea existed that the real owner 

 of that opossum would not have been so likely to 

 fee the cook as the cook considered my friend likely 

 to do ; but certainly the creature that was brought 

 to me was full-grown, gentle, domesticated to a 

 degree. 



In some houses in Australia they live and run 

 about like tame cats, and had I not been so afraid 

 of losing him, or of dogs touching him, I believe I 

 could have allowed Marco to do the same. He and 

 the crow were left at our little country station for 

 a short time till they could be fetched ; their fame 

 very quickly spread, and visitors came down to the 

 station to see the two foreign creatures. The hutch 

 was carried into our yard, and I eagerly proceeded 

 to examine my possession. I saw a cramped, dirty 

 little hutch, and behind the bars a soft, grey 

 creature, about as big as a large cat, only broader. 

 It had a pointed face, with cat-like furry ears, and 

 two dark stripes upon its head ; its colour was a 

 rich light grey, with a reddish tinge about the head, 

 and dark brown tail. It had a dark stripe on its 

 yellowish breast, and what pleased me most were 

 its eyes. Soft, wistful eyes, of a dull reddish-brown; 

 eyes that pleaded for kindness and sympathy, 

 dreamy pathetic eyes, gentle, far-seeing eyes. This 

 was the impression they gave me when, as it often 

 did, the creature put its two little black hands on 

 my arm and gazed up into my face ; but in reality 1 

 think, the expression was partly caused by the fact 

 of Marco scarcely seeing at all by daylight ; but as 

 darkness came on his nocturnal habits came 

 strongly upon him, and he would tear and race 

 about his cage, and his eyes would shiue like little 

 lamps. 



At our first interview I was informed by my 



friend that the opossum was savage and dangerous, 

 but I could not believe it of a creature of such 

 gentle aspect ; and as it happened, his appearance 

 did not belie him. I put on a pair of thick gloves, 

 opened the hutch-door, and lifted Marco out, he 

 offering no resistance beyond clinging to the sides 

 of his nasty old house with his long, sharp claws. 

 His little hands were beautiful, and he had full fur 

 " bishop " sleeves down to the wrist, which were 

 exceedingly neat and pretty ; his tail had only fur 

 on the upper side, beneath it was black, hard skiu ; 

 it had a sort of finger-like point, to assist his pre- 

 hensile habits. I put him in a good-sized house, and 

 gave him a collar and chain, so as to let him have 

 tolerable liberty. Now and then he had a scramble 

 about a room in the dusk, and wonderful it was to- 

 see him climb and twist about the furniture. He 

 was an object of interest and curiosity to our 

 visitors ; but I grew very tired of always hearing 

 over and over again the visitor pronounce with a 

 satisfied and witty air, " Oh ! ' 'possum up a gum- 

 tree,' I suppose." No matter who came, or to whom 

 I mentioned my opossum, I was nearly sure to hear 

 the same little joke given out, as if a happy and 

 original notion. 



His diet was a matter of some anxiety to me at 

 first ; ship biscuit was the only provision 1 could 

 find in his old house. 



I visited the Zoological Gardens with a letter of 

 introduction to Mr. Bartlett,the superintendent, who 

 kindly took me to the opossum cages, aud I had an 

 interview with their keeper. There were pleuty of 

 the pretty creatures there, and they increase only 

 too rapidly. I finally kept Marco Polo on bread, 

 which he liked exceedingly, carrots, boiled potatoes, 

 and any vegetables and fruit he seemed to like. 

 The opossum is said to eat animal food, such as 

 small birds, but 1 kept only to vegetable diet, bread 

 being the standing dish. I went to see the opossum 

 at the Crystal Palace, he seemed to lead a dull life, 

 asleep at the back of his hutch ; he was fed entirely 

 on boiled potatoes. 



My first business every morning was to look after 

 Marco Polo, and pet him and talk to him. We were 

 living in a very pretty, little country-house, grown 

 over with creepers, standing on a terrace with a 

 lawn sloping down to a wood. Under a tree on the 

 terrace was the piping-crow's wicker cage, and 

 near him was the opossum. They both came into 

 the conservatory at night, and had broken several 

 pots of flowers between them. The crow's name 

 was " Friday," he belonged to one of my younger 

 sisters. We had a very engaging aud beautiful little 

 kitten called " Joy." Joy's pleasure was to climb 

 up the trunk of the tree against which Friday hung, 

 and dodge him round and round it. Friday would 

 take aim with his sharp beak, and snap and peck at 

 her or any bit of her tail or paw that came within 

 his reach. The tree was a may-tree, and came out 



