434 FRUITLESS KANGAROO HUNT. [chaITxh 



superintendent, had the kindness to take me out kangaroo 

 hunting. We continued riding the greater part of tht 

 day, but had very bad sport, not seeing a kangaroo, o; 

 even a wild dog. The greyhounds pursued a kangarot 

 rat into a hollQw tree, out of which we dragged it ; i 

 is an animal as large as a rabbit, but with the figun 

 of a kangaroo. A few years since this country aboundec 

 with wild animals ; but now the emu is banished to a 

 long distance, and the kangaroo is become scarce ; tc 

 both the English greyhound has been highly destructive. 

 It may be long before these animals are altogether ex- 

 terminated, but their doom is fixed. The aborigines are 

 always anxious to borrow the dogs from the farmhouses ; 

 the use of them, the offal when an animal is killed, and 

 some milk from the cows, are the peace-offerings of the 

 settlers, who push farther and farther towards the interior. 

 The thoughtless aboriginal, blinded by these trifling 

 advantages, is delighted at the approach of the white 

 man, who seems predestined to inherit the country of his 

 children. 



Although having poor sport, we enjoyed a pleasant 

 ride. The woodland is generally so open that a person 

 on horseback can gallop through it. It is traversed by 

 a few flat-bottomed valleys, which are green and free 

 from trees ; in such spots the scenery was pretty like 

 that of a park. In the whole country I scarcely saw a 

 place without the marks of a fire ; whether these had 

 been more or less recent — whether the stumps were more 

 or less black, was the greatest change which varied the 

 uniformity, so wearisome to the traveller's eye. In these 

 woods there are not many birds ; I saw, however, some 

 large flocks of the white cockatoo feeding in a corn-field, 

 and a few most beautiful parrots ; crows like our jack- 

 daws were not uncommon, and another bird something 

 like the magpie. In the dusk of the evening I took a 

 stroll along a chain of ponds, which in this dry country 

 represented the course of a river, and had the good 

 fortune to see several of the famous Omithorhynchus 

 paradoxus. They were diving and playing about the 

 surface of the water, but showed so little of their 

 bodies, that they might easily have been mistaken for 

 water-rats. Mr. Browne shot one: certainly it is a most 

 extraordinary animal ; a stuffed specimen does not at 

 all give a good idea of the appearance of the head 



