44 NATURAL HISTORY SKETCHES. 



The best rugs are those which come from Van Die- 

 men's Land, made by the shepherds of snared skins ; 

 and as these can be bought in Melbourne, properly 

 dressed and tanned, for about 50s. each, it is hardly worth 

 making them here for sale : still, every bushman should 

 make one for his own use ; for of all the coverings in dry 

 cold weather, an opossum-skin rug is the best, as I can 

 well testify; for, the winter after leaving Australia I 

 spent in Sweden, and many a night, when the cold north 

 wind came howling through the pine forests, dashing the 

 snow and sleet against my window, the temperature of 

 the air many degrees below zero, I used to wrap myself 

 in my old opossum-rug and contrast the wild inclemency 

 of the northern winter with the sunny and cloudless 

 skies under which I secured these skins. If any blacks 

 are handy, it is best to get them to sew the skins, for a 

 black's rug beats any other. It takes about eighty skins 

 to make a good rug, and I have seen a hundred and 

 twenty used : of course, if the belly is used, much fewer 

 will do ; but although the red colour gives the rug a rich 

 appearance, the skins are always thinner in this part. It 

 is best to tan the skins by throwing them, wJien green, 

 for three days, into a tub Avith a strong decoction of cold 

 boiled wattle-bark before stretching them. A good rug 

 should be at least eight feet by six, and when lined and 

 bound, it has a very rich appearance. To dry the skins, 

 nail them out against a tree with the fleshy side to the 

 sun, and they will dry in a day. As the back is the best 

 part, stretch the skins long but not broadwise : the more 



