KANGAROO-CHASING 41 



miles. The country to be ridden over is generally of a 

 nature to try severely the nerves of a stranger. It is 

 studded with fallen tree-trunks, and other formidable 

 obstacles, over which the kangaroo goes in a series of 

 easy, graceful-looking hops, that are often at least thirty 

 feet in length ; but he cannot clear an obstacle of greater 

 height than about four feet. Fences, therefore, are an 

 insuperable obstacle to kangaroo-chasing. 



If accidents are to be avoided, trained horses must be 

 used for this sport — as they always are by the colonists. 

 The rule is to let the horse have its head ; and a well- 

 trained horse becomes so clever that if an accident does 

 occur, it is almost surely the rider's fault. My experience 

 of kangaroo-chasing is that a spill is more fatal to the 

 horse than the man. The upset generally occurs at 

 fallen timber, and the horse has two bad chances to face — - 

 it may break its back, or be impaled by a projecting snag. 

 Of course the man has the same risks ; but it is child's 

 play for an old stock-rider to clear a falling horse. 



