A Kangaroo Hunt 



interest which belongs to things of other 

 days. They are still to be found in the 

 remote parts of Gippsland, in Queensland, 

 and notably in the unsettled portions of 

 western Australia ; but to be found at all 

 in the year of grace 1890, they must be 

 sought for diligently, and the sportsman 

 who comes to Australia to-day with the 

 expectation of finding kangaroos behind 

 every bush, will stand a very fair chance 

 of disappointment. 



For this state of affairs the kangaroo has 

 only to thank his own abnormal appetite. 

 In the early days he was not only tolerated 

 by the colonists, but was even regarded 

 with a certain degree of favor, as a harm- 

 less creature who could be counted upon 

 to furnish them with a never-failing sup- 

 ply of fresh meat ; but when a little closer 

 acquaintance discovered the fact that he 

 was a most voracious feeder, — that one 

 kangaroo, in fact, devoured as much grass as 

 four or five sheep, — the squatters declared 

 war upon the whole stupid, mild-eyed 

 tribe, and inaugurated a system of exter- 

 mination whose relentless prosecution has 

 finally resulted in the nearly total extermi-- 

 of the species — in Victoria, at least. Re- 

 garded from the sportsman's point of view, 

 their disappearance is certainly to be re- 



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