THE DESIRE FOR ADVENTURE 19 



the bonus, and you had still the hide of the animal 

 for yourself, and that was worth 12s. or 13s. for 

 leather. 



It was probably rather a bold thing for me to 

 undertake kangaroo-shooting without having had any 

 particular practice, either as a bush-man or as a 

 shot. But I was one of a party which included 

 several experts, and seeing that each of us got his 

 returns in accordance with the number of kangaroos 

 he had shot, there was no injustice to my mates in my 

 incompetence. It simply meant that I shot fewer 

 kangaroos and earned less money. 



In this, my first independent enterprise, I did not 

 make a fortune, but the life was very jolly, and I was 

 able to do a little Natural History collecting at the 

 same time as I was shooting kangaroos for their 

 pelts. Kangaroo-shooting would hardly be classed 

 as a sport, however. There was not much idea of 

 giving a sporting chance to the kangaroo. Our 

 system was to make moccasins of bullock-hide with 

 which to cover our boots so as not to make a noise. 

 We would then slink round the gidyea scrub on the 

 look-out for kangaroos and shoot them as they 

 squatted. The kangaroos would keep to the gidyea 

 scrub during the hot hours of the day, making wallows 

 for themselves in the dust, and come out in the 

 evening and early morning to feed. By following 

 up the edges of the gidyea scrub we were able often 

 to intercept the kangaroos on their way from the 



C2 



