THE KANGAEOO. _ 17 



there are no more signs of the plough than in the deserts 

 of Siberia, and where the pastures are not half stocked 

 with cattle, one w^ould imagine there was plenty of room 

 for a few kangaroos. I cannot but think that the value 

 of this animal is not yet properly appreciated : the leather 

 is acknowledged to be finer than calf-skin, and the hides 

 run nearly as large ; yet the dealers grumble to give 

 more than Is. 6d. per skin ; and as for the meat, it is 

 valued little more than carrion, and this in places where 

 it can be got for nothing, while beef and mutton cost 

 5d. per lb. If, however, the preservation of the kangaroo 

 becomes a question between the occupier of the land and 

 the shooter, and it can be proved that they are injurious 

 to the settler in the pastoral districts, I have nothing 

 further to say on the subject ; but I do not think this is 

 the case ; and it will, perhaps, be a matter of regret, at 

 no very distant day, that the kangaroo, w^hich, although 

 not to be compared to the deer, is still a valuable animal, 

 affording good meat, and, to say the least of it, forming a 

 very pretty and interesting feature in the Australian 

 forests, shall have become, like many animals and birds 

 in the Old AVorld, a theme of bygone days and a mere 

 matter of history. 



Although harmless and inoffensive when unmolested, 

 nature has furnished the kangaroo with a dreadful weapon 

 cf defence in the powerful hind claw, with which it can 

 rip up a dog, like the tusk of a boar ; and I have seen a 

 large kangaroo take up a powerful dog in its fore claws, 

 bear-fashion, and try to bite it. I never but once had 

 c 



