

1836.] KANGAROO-HUNTING. 423 



a thousand feet, and consisting of granite. With the change of 

 rock, the vegetation improved ; the trees were both finer and stood 

 farther apart ; and the pasture between them was a little greener 

 and more plentiful. At Hassan's Walls, I left the high road, and 

 made a short detour to a farm called Walerawang ; to the superin- 

 tendent of which I had a letter of introduction from the owner in 

 Sydney. Mr. Browne had the kindness to ask me to stay the 

 ensuing day, which I had much pleasure in doing. This place 

 offers an example of one of the large farming, or rather sheep- 

 grazing, establishments of the colony. Cattle and horses arc, how- 

 ever, in this case "rather more numerous than usual, owing to some 

 of the valleys being swampy and producing a coarser pasture. Two 

 or three flat pieces of ground near the house were cleared and 

 cultivated with corn, which the harvest-men were now reaping : 

 but no more wheat is sown than sufficient for the annual support 

 of the labourers employed on the establishment. The usual number 

 of assigned convict-servants here is about forty, but at the present 

 time there were rather more. Although the farm was well stocked 

 with every necessary, there was an apparent absence of comfort ; 

 and not one single woman resided here. The sunset of a fine day 

 will generally cast an air of happy contentment on any scene ; but 

 here, at this retired farm-house, the brightest tints on the sur- 

 rounding woods could not make me forget that forty hardened, 

 profligate men were ceasing from their daily labours, like the slaves 

 from Africa, yet without their holy claim for compassion. 



Early on the next morning, Mr. Archer, the joint superintendent, 

 had the kindness to take me out kangaroo-hunting. We continued 

 riding the greater part of the day, but had very bad sport, not 

 seeing a kangaroo, or even a wild dog. The greyhounds pursued 

 a kangaroo rat into a hollow tree, out of which we dragged it : it 

 is an animal as large as a rabbit, but with the figure of a kangaroo. 

 A few years since this country abounded with wild animals ; but 

 now the emu is banished to a long distance, and the kangaroo is 

 become scarce; to both the English greyhound has been highly 

 destructive. It may be long before these animals are altogether 

 exterminated, but their doom is fixed. The aborigines are always 

 anxious to borrow the dogs from the farm-houses : 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 



