4* 



* 



MARSUPIALS AND THEIR SKINS 257 



' native bears.' At another sale over one hundred 

 thousand wallaby skins and seventy-three thousand 

 wombat skins were offered, the former being only half 

 the number accumulated for the corresponding half of 

 the year before. 



To point out that the marsupials ought to have a 

 value as fur-bearing animals may not lead to any less 

 wholesale destruction than goes on at present. There 

 is no surer way to diminish the quantity of any natural 

 product than to create a demand for it in Europe.* In 

 the early days they were killed by the squatters and 

 not even skinned. The carcases were left to rot. 

 Later, they have been slaughtered partly as vermin, 

 partly for the sake of the leather. In the future, it 

 may be hoped that if it be necessary to kill them, they 

 will be hunted when the fur is in condition, and that 

 the stock of handsome, warm, and inexpensive fur of 

 the larger marsupials will find a place among the 

 regular winter clothing of English wearers. 



* Two thousand kangaroo tails were received in condition to 

 make soup of by a London firm in the summer of 1898, and sold 

 so well that a fresh consignment was ordered. 





